For the life of me - I hope that the UC Athletic Dept. is charging Mike Brown an arm and a leg to use the Bubble/Indoor Practice Facility. Plus extra for heat!

A few hundred bucks is all. It is the listed rate to rent the facility for everyone.

That seems low. I'm assuming the university has done some analysis to figure out what it takes to operate the bubble (heat/electricity), what the wear and tear on the field amounts to, any insurance costs, plus a reasonable profit margin in determining what to charge. Factoring all of that in I would've thought it to be much higher than a few hundred bucks to rent the facility for 2-3 hours.

(01-02-2013 12:55 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  A few hundred bucks is all. It is the listed rate to rent the facility for everyone.

If that is the case, what a great place to have a Kids Birthday Party! That's cheaper than Chuckie Cheese.

(01-02-2013 12:55 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  A few hundred bucks is all. It is the listed rate to rent the facility for everyone.

Quote:joe Reedy ‏@joereedy
RT @jamielin513: @joereedy do they have to give UC money to use their facilities?>$5,000 for 8 hours; $2,500 for four; $625 per hour

(01-02-2013 01:00 PM)JunctaJuvant Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 12:55 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  A few hundred bucks is all. It is the listed rate to rent the facility for everyone.

If that is the case, what a great place to have a Kids Birthday Party! That's cheaper than Chuckie Cheese.

LOL. I was going to say something similar. We rented a stretch hummer for my buddy's bachelor party last summer for a few hours and with the tip it came close to $900.

(01-02-2013 01:08 PM)eroc Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 12:55 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  A few hundred bucks is all. It is the listed rate to rent the facility for everyone.

Quote:joe Reedy ‏@joereedy
RT @jamielin513: @joereedy do they have to give UC money to use their facilities?>$5,000 for 8 hours; $2,500 for four; $625 per hour

That's a lot higher than I thought it was.

it's more than I thought but in the grand scheme of things I was right-it is a set amount.

For an NFL franchise $2500 or $5000 is peanuts.

My question now is does that cover the operating costs of the facility or does UC make a little extra on the side from it?

We should charge Mike Brown the same he charges us to play at his
Hamilton County tax payer paid stadium....

Given the low rent, Mike Brown and his organization could score some much needed PR by making a contribution to UCATS in appreciation for the facility usage. Even a relatively small gift of $5,000-$10,000 would be trumpeted through the local media and viewed positively in the community. But the Bengals organization is so clueless in this regard UC shouldn't expect a penny more than the stated rental rate.

(01-02-2013 01:27 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  My question now is does that cover the operating costs of the facility or does UC make a little extra on the side from it?

This is a good question for an introductory business course. The answer is that it depends on how you do the accounting.

If you're asking if it accounts for the whole cost of a few hours of using the facility, including fans, heating, depreciation, set-up/take-down in the fall/spring, then the answer is probably no. It can't possibly cover all that. (if the bubble itself cost $2 million, and if it has a 20 year lifespan, the depreciation cost alone is $273 for every hour of the day)

But you might figure that fans, some of the heating, depreciation, and set-up/take-down are sunk costs. UC pays them regardless of whether or not the Bengals are using the facility. If you take away those costs, I bet we do make money.

But it stinks that UC has to absorb all of the sunk costs. We offered to build it together with Mike Brown, and both teams (UC and the Bengals) get equal use out of it.

(01-02-2013 01:22 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  it's more than I thought but in the grand scheme of things I was right-it is a set amount.

For an NFL franchise $2500 or $5000 is peanuts.

$5k a pop is nothing. Granted it probably cost them a little more to bus the team up there each time, but that is still nothing compared to if Mikey Boy had to build his own, heat it, maintain it, etc. UC building a practice bubble is the best thing to happen to MB. He gets the luxury of using a bubble at a fraction of the cost.

(01-02-2013 02:03 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 01:27 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  My question now is does that cover the operating costs of the facility or does UC make a little extra on the side from it?

This is a good question for an introductory business course. The answer is that it depends on how you do the accounting.

If you're asking if it accounts for the whole cost of a few hours of using the facility, including fans, heating, depreciation, set-up/take-down in the fall/spring, then the answer is probably no. It can't possibly cover all that. (if the bubble itself cost $2 million, and if it has a 20 year lifespan, the depreciation cost alone is $273 for every hour of the day)

But you might figure that fans, some of the heating, depreciation, and set-up/take-down are sunk costs. UC pays them regardless of whether or not the Bengals are using the facility. If you take away those costs, I bet we do make money.

But it stinks that UC has to absorb all of the sunk costs. We offered to build it together with Mike Brown, and both teams (UC and the Bengals) get equal use out of it.

Good explanation and another reason why I always hated accounting in college.

(01-02-2013 02:03 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 01:27 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  My question now is does that cover the operating costs of the facility or does UC make a little extra on the side from it?

This is a good question for an introductory business course. The answer is that it depends on how you do the accounting.

If you're asking if it accounts for the whole cost of a few hours of using the facility, including fans, heating, depreciation, set-up/take-down in the fall/spring, then the answer is probably no. It can't possibly cover all that. (if the bubble itself cost $2 million, and if it has a 20 year lifespan, the depreciation cost alone is $273 for every hour of the day)

$2M / (20 years s/l w/ no resid.) = $100K/year
$100K / 365 days = $274 per day
$274 / 24 hours = $11.42 per hour


Am I missing something?

(01-02-2013 03:23 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 02:03 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 01:27 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  My question now is does that cover the operating costs of the facility or does UC make a little extra on the side from it?

This is a good question for an introductory business course. The answer is that it depends on how you do the accounting.

If you're asking if it accounts for the whole cost of a few hours of using the facility, including fans, heating, depreciation, set-up/take-down in the fall/spring, then the answer is probably no. It can't possibly cover all that. (if the bubble itself cost $2 million, and if it has a 20 year lifespan, the depreciation cost alone is $273 for every hour of the day)

$2M / (20 years s/l w/ no resid.) = $100K/year
$100K / 365 days = $274 per day
$274 / 24 hours = $11.42 per hour


Am I missing something?

Bubble is only up for a few months, not 24/7-365 days of the year.

(01-02-2013 03:23 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 02:03 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 01:27 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  My question now is does that cover the operating costs of the facility or does UC make a little extra on the side from it?

This is a good question for an introductory business course. The answer is that it depends on how you do the accounting.

If you're asking if it accounts for the whole cost of a few hours of using the facility, including fans, heating, depreciation, set-up/take-down in the fall/spring, then the answer is probably no. It can't possibly cover all that. (if the bubble itself cost $2 million, and if it has a 20 year lifespan, the depreciation cost alone is $273 for every hour of the day)

$2M / (20 years s/l w/ no resid.) = $100K/year
$100K / 365 days = $274 per day
$274 / 24 hours = $11.42 per hour


Am I missing something?

My sales commission.

Didn't UC reach out to the Bengals to make the bubble a joint venture and mikey turned his nose up? Now he gets to rent it for a couple thousand bucks a day. Mike Brown wins again...

(01-02-2013 03:29 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 03:23 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 02:03 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(01-02-2013 01:27 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  My question now is does that cover the operating costs of the facility or does UC make a little extra on the side from it?

This is a good question for an introductory business course. The answer is that it depends on how you do the accounting.

If you're asking if it accounts for the whole cost of a few hours of using the facility, including fans, heating, depreciation, set-up/take-down in the fall/spring, then the answer is probably no. It can't possibly cover all that. (if the bubble itself cost $2 million, and if it has a 20 year lifespan, the depreciation cost alone is $273 for every hour of the day)

$2M / (20 years s/l w/ no resid.) = $100K/year
$100K / 365 days = $274 per day
$274 / 24 hours = $11.42 per hour


Am I missing something?

Bubble is only up for a few months, not 24/7-365 days of the year.

I'm not a CPA, but that doesn't stop the depreciation from taking place. Now there are probably multiple acceptable methods to allocate the depreciation. But once UC knows it is charging enough to cover its variable costs, the actual pricing probably becomes more of a supply/demand and market issue. The point is the number cited by CB seems way too high (I suspect he got his days/hours confused but that's just a guess) and I was hoping for an explanation of numbers.

To cinbin's question, I expect it would cover all the operating costs and probably all (or at least most) of the capital costs (e.g. depreciation) with hopefully at least a little profit on top of that.

Price is SOLELY a function of supply and demand. Cost has nothing to do with price.