(02-02-2016 03:52 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(02-02-2016 03:38 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Obviously I meant so long as people want to pay to watch telecasts of games. Pirates are of little concern.

Thank you transfer from a JC, or even another four-year institution, doesn't mean you can't develop an affinity for the team at the "large university".

The price/cost will get better, for lower and middle class children. The federal govt will see to that.

I don't think people do want to pay these costs. It's why people are showing more interest in alternatives to the cable and dish models.

But why would anyone develop an affinity for the large university sports teams? Unless you grew up as a fan of said school, it's not a foregone conclusion. With the higher education relationship becoming more transactional due to the rising costs, there is nothing incentivizing a student to become a fan of a school athletic program simply by going to the school alone. People going the 2 year JC route will most likely commute to the big school in years 3 and 4 (and 5). Without immersion into the college campus culture, the affinity is not the same.

Don't hold your breath if you think the gov't is going to make costs more affordable for the full service universities.

Cosign. I went to "The" George Washington University. Maybe half of my friends around the country are people I met at GW. I met my wife through the girlfriend of a GW friend.

But even though GW basketball has been about as successful as St Johns' basketball, I don't care. I didn't care when I went there--we all went to the student center to see the Sweet 16 game on the big screens, but a week later no one cared.

I grew up watching and following ST Johns basketball with my mother, who went there.

Unless athletics is a big part of the social scene at your school, your alumni are not going to want to pay a bunch of money to see the games after they graduate.

Social life revolving around the big game(s) is the case for a lot of the P5 schools, the Big East schools and a handful of the G5 and "midmajor power"* schools. I'm not sure how easy it is to develop that if you don't have it already.

*(No disrespect to the power programs not in BCS conferences. You know who you are, and I'm saying your conference is midmajor, not your program.)