Hmmmmm. I doubt that. Take Ohio State, for example. There are also Division I schools at:

Ohio University (Ave attendance: 18,000)
Kent State (Ave attendance: 17,000)
Cincinnati (27,000)
Bowling Green (30,000)
Toledo(20,000)
Akron (16,000)

I've been to all these universities, except Akron. Ohio U, Kent State and Bowling Green are in much smaller communities than ETSU.

Plus, Youngstown State is a power in 1AA (or whatever it's called now).

(08-18-2009 04:56 PM)bucten Wrote:  Not one, but all universities and colleges generate the majority of their athletic revenues from football and basketball. Opps, there is one exception, ETSU. Their plan is for tennis, soccer, softball, volleyball and baseball to supply the revenues, how novel. These sports don't and never will bring in any revelant revenues.

I don't begrudge any sport at ETSU getting facilities, in fact I support them. Lord knows they have gone without decent or no facilities for 20 years or more and that in its self is a crime. But when we hear, can't raise fees, students must vote, no money, other universities, especially in Tennessee, will drop FCB football. We now know what we as a group have been saying is true. This announcement proves that this adminstation will do whatever they want, say whatever they want and could care less what the students, fans and the community want. Football and basketball bring up the rear at ETSU.

On what facts do you base your assertion that "All universities" generate revenue from football? Clearly football is a drag on most universities athletic budget. You either come high (SEC, Big East) or stay home (Southern Conference) on the issue of revenue and football. The other sports are less of a drag, but they certainly never were and never will be a source of revenue. The question is where are you going to put limited athletic dollars...for a p-poor athletic program with football or a darn good one with good facilities for a reasonable program?

It has always been a problem with the mega-attention ut gets around here. I have always been an ETSU only fan but I work with many "cross-over" fans who support both schools. I think it is needless to say that there would be plenty of support for ETSU football at the 1AA level. More than enough. The administration just has to want it.

(08-25-2009 07:46 AM)kevster Wrote:  Hmmmmm. I doubt that. Take Ohio State, for example. There are also Division I schools at:

Ohio University (Ave attendance: 18,000)

I recently became a football season ticket holder for Ohio. Their fans are very similar to ETSU fans. They all sit on their hands and basically are waiting all game for the OSU score to be announced. But, their fans show up at least.

Athens, Ohio is pretty much in the middle of NOWHERE and they make it work. The college is the town, there is not really any other population to speak of.

One of the problems at ETSU was piss poor marketing. The football program wasnt promoted to the Tri Cities at all. With the population we have living in the area, there is no reason we couldnt average atleast 10,000 - 12,000 fans per game if the sport was brought back right.

We should get Fulmer to help get our program going again kinda like Dan Reeves helped Georgia State

Fulmer would just love to get a football program going less than a hundred miles from UT. The fact is that people didn't come to ETSU football games. Never did. Probably never will.