A Naval Academy report being prepared for Congress calls for stricter control over the academy's private athletic association but does not recommend that the federal government take financial control of Navy sports, according to Navy and congressional sources.
Taking over the private, nonprofit Naval Academy Athletic Association would force the government to spend about $25 million to buy Navy-Marine Corps Memorial stadium and its 59 acres from the NAAA.
Also, the Navy sports program would lose control over the money it receives from such sources as the millions of dollars in television rights for Navy football and the annual $223,000 from the state and Annapolis pay to rent its stadium parking lot.
Adm. Charles R. Larson, the academy's superintendent, has yet to approve the report, which would then be sent to Navy Secretary John H. Dalton before the March 15 deadline set by Congress. This year's defense authorization measure calls for shifting control of Navy sports to the government by 1996.
Capt. Tom Jurkowsky, an academy spokesman, said that since the report is still being assembled, "it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the contents."
The report calls for an athletic subcommittee of the academy's advisory Board of Visitors, greater military representation on the NAAA's Board of Control and for one of the "Big Six" accounting firms to oversee NAAA spending.
Board of Visitors Chairman Chase Untermeyer said he has discussed a possible athletic subcommittee with Admiral Larson. "If it helps to unsnarl the problem, we'd be glad to help," he said.
Mr. Untermeyer also said that the academy favors letting NAAA control the sports program. "It seems that the current system has worked well for 100 years," he said.
Last fall, Congress called for a report on the NAAA and subsequent government control of the agency after The Sun reported that in 1992 the association bought a $317,000 condominium for the school's athletic director, Jack Lengyel, who also is the NAAA president. The association also sent 96 academy officials, private citizens and local businessmen on an all-expenses-paid trip to the annual Army-Navy game in Philadelphia.
Five months later, the NAAA, citing costs and other factors, eliminated four varsity sports programs: men's and women's fencing, women's gymnastics and men's volleyball. About 80 midshipmen were affected, and $250,000 was saved.
At the time, Mr. Lengyel strongly defended the expenditures, saying the home was part of his salary package and was purchased as an investment after renovations on his academy-provided housing began. The private citizens attended the game and received hotel accommodations as a reward for supporting Navy sports, he said.
"I don't have a comment because [the report] hasn't been finalized," Mr. Lengyel said yesterday.
The NAAA, founded in 1892, is separate from but closely linked to the Naval Academy.
It does not receive any government money. Its estimated $7 million annual budget comes from TV rights for Navy football, ticket sales, investments, public donations, assessments on 4,000 midshipmen and dues from 11,000 NAAA members. About half of the money is spent on sports, the rest on administration.
The NAAA's Board of Control, which includes Mr. Lengyel and other military and civilian academy officials, decides how to spend the money. The academy superintendent makes the final decisions.
At the time of the 1992 condo purchase, the trip to the Army-Navy game and the sports cutbacks, Rear Adm. Thomas C. Lynch was superintendent.
The recommended shift of academy sports from NAAA to government control was pushed last year by Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., then chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who said that "the appearance of impropriety is difficult to avoid."
Such a change would bring the Naval Academy into line with the Army and Air Force academies.
Mr. Byrd's staff did not return calls yesterday.