The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

While they are asking for everyone to step up on the donations; where is accountability for the $10 million dollar mess that Watts made?

In the end, this push is a way for Watts and the BOT to rub our noses in the fact that college football is a business. Expect a new deadline every time we make one that they set. That is how they are going to treat it; strictly as a business. No love, no mercy, no help.

"Balanced budget" - that's a laugh. If UA had to run a balanced budget, they would have to deal with a yearly deficit of $500 million.

It isn't a business, it has nothing to do with money. If Donald Trump dropped out of the presidential race and flew into Birmingham with a helicopter full of $500 million and dropped it on the landing pad at UAB Hospital and designated it for football, there would be some other reason why we couldn't accept it.

Well the last football revenue and expense report had UAB in the positive so with all the new money coming in they can't play the poor ole budget in the red card......primarily because it never was. We don't facilities cost because they haven't invested in the program since inception so where is all the money going...someone please enlighten me!

They are asking for the initial pledge to be in by September 1st and the 2nd year pledge by January 15th and the 3rd year pledge by July 1st. Who does this......let me guess Dr. Plain Ole Watts. So my pledge was for 5 years and now they are asking me to do 3 years worth in 11 months.

The way Hatton Smith has been throwing around the idea of facilities and a stadium, it makes me think this is a way to "rate and evaluate" how well they can lean on the pledges for a future capital project.

I found these nuggets from fundraising guru Tony Podaris:

Quote:Few situations are more damaging to the image of an organization than announcing the planned construction of a new facility and then failing to raise the money to build.

Quote:Because of its substantial goal and small number of large donors, rating and evaluating prospects is extremely important in a capital campaign, which leads us to the most common mistake made in capital campaigns: setting a goal that is not reasonable. The motivating force for a capital campaign is the cost of the asset to be acquired. All too often, organizations make that cost figure the goal of the campaign without evaluating their donor base. It does no good to set a goal of $1 million if your donor base can provide, under the best of circumstances, only $500,000. You have to make the decision to commit to a capital expense based on your ability to raise the money to pay for it, not decide how much you need to raise based on the expense. It is vitally important not to let the tail wag the dog.

I replied to the email, but changed the send address to Ingram, to emphasize the need for Clark to have a new contract.

(08-14-2015 03:17 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  This is bull**** to the highest degree.

That's my first impression as well (my copy just arrived), but I'd like to hear from Justin Craft before giving free reign to my unbridled rage.

I don't doubt there would be a benefit to more money sooner. The problem continues to be with the process.

This will only galvanize the support. This is Birmingham's team now. Ain't nothing stopping it if we remain united in our fury and honor commitments. New supporters will soon join us and the momentum will build.

I, for one, am glad they (the administration) are pulling little stunts like this. It will help make sure the stakeholders don't become complacent in the fight to free UAB.

(08-14-2015 05:06 PM)Agent Orange Sauce Wrote:  This will only galvanize the support. This is Birmingham's team now. Ain't nothing stopping it if we remain united in our fury and honor commitments. New supporters will soon join us and the momentum will build.

But if the funds needed ever come up short in the future for any reason it is over.

(08-14-2015 02:44 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  

(08-14-2015 02:38 PM)Hopeful Wrote:  

(08-14-2015 02:27 PM)kdblazer Wrote:  

(08-14-2015 02:21 PM)price4UAB Wrote:  See picture

They should not ask another municipality for anything. UABs budget dwarfs even the city of Birmingham's budget. This is getting very stupid. Someone needs to call their asses out on this stuff. Watts said he would maintain the current level of funding for the athletic department after the three sports were cut. So if the school is still going to provide 20 million and the boosters and friends of the program are providing a least 5 million/yr over that what's the DAMN problem?

Isn't the main issue the cost projections? I think it's not so much the budget itself, but that we have to be able to show we'll be able to carry the programs for the next few years and also make up for the cost used in the botched attempt to kill the programs.

The projections they had were a farce anyway.

I agree.

If I recall correctly, the projections the university opted for were pretty conservative because hey were stilled rooted in the metrics stated in the Carr Report. It's annoying, but the silver lining is that, once we clear the threshold, there would be more money to put forth to other objectives since the figures in reality should be lower than stated.

My understanding is that, right now, we have a working budget minus the cost related to the loss and reinstatement of the programs, and that the main reason for accelerated fundraising is to show conference officials and other necessary parties we have a real plan backed with real money that won't be reneged on.

It's messed up, especially because of how so much money was straight up thrown away, but we can definitely do this now that we are more united and have the backing of the foundation.

Call me a pessimist, but I wouldn't be surprised if X amount is not received by September 1, then football, bowling and rifle get a final death sentence and it will be blamed on UAB supporters. Then Watts and the BOT could sit back and say see, I told you all the money wasn't there. Ingram gets fired as the fall guy and the BOT laughs their butts off. Man I hope I'm wrong.

I sent my first payment in last week. Despite any threats from Admin., this is our team and we need our coach to succeed. Pay your pledge....please!!!!!

(08-14-2015 05:51 PM)BandGrad Wrote:  Call me a pessimist, but I wouldn't be surprised if X amount is not received by September 1, then football, bowling and rifle get a final death sentence and it will be blamed on UAB supporters. Then Watts and the BOT could sit back and say see, I told you all the money wasn't there. Ingram gets fired as the fall guy and the BOT laughs their butts off. Man I hope I'm wrong.

While absolutely nothing can be put past that group, I just don't see that working.

You are going to "reinstate" on June 1 and give the stakeholders 3 months to put millions of dollars in the bank?

The national media was on our side from the start of this thing, and we won the first battle. Surely they don't think they could win if they did something as drastic as you suggest. Especially since they have not given anyone any reason to believe they have actually started the reinstatement process.

(08-14-2015 06:20 PM)iam4uab Wrote:  

(08-14-2015 05:51 PM)BandGrad Wrote:  Call me a pessimist, but I wouldn't be surprised if X amount is not received by September 1, then football, bowling and rifle get a final death sentence and it will be blamed on UAB supporters. Then Watts and the BOT could sit back and say see, I told you all the money wasn't there. Ingram gets fired as the fall guy and the BOT laughs their butts off. Man I hope I'm wrong.

While absolutely nothing can be put past that group, I just don't see that working.

You are going to "reinstate" on June 1 and give the stakeholders 3 months to put millions of dollars in the bank?

The national media was on our side from the start of this thing, and we won the first battle. Surely they don't think they could win if they did something as drastic as you suggest. Especially since they have not given anyone any reason to believe they have actually started the reinstatement process.

If we had just collected money from the get go we would be in a much better place. We missed a huge opportunity to get money from all over the country when this first went down. Even if it was 5,10,20 dollars at a time, it would've been a huge help.

(08-14-2015 06:05 PM)blzr4life Wrote:  I sent my first payment in last week. Despite any threats from Admin., this is our team and we need our coach to succeed. Pay your pledge....please!!!!!

I pledged a small amount and paid it immediately once I got the letter. The issue is people making 4 and 5 figure donations probably don't just have that money sitting around to send to UAB. Asking for those donations almost immediately is ridiculous. I plan on sending in more than I pledged, but I only pledged what I was certain I could handle without getting in trouble at home. Everybody who pledged isn't in the same financial situation, and some will have an easier time pushing it up than others. Ultimately, I still think it's more important that the pledges are actually honored according to the agreement.

So what happens if the pledges don't make it in by the new and rather abrupt deadline?

One thing to remember is that axing the programs after going through all these financial gyrations would be seen as one huge fraud. Sending out the agreements, people paying (many times ahead of schedule) at the request of the university then saying "sorry not enough we're going back to where we were on 12-2-14" would lead to lawsuits. Every plaintiff lawyer on the planet would be willing to take those cases (or case if we could be declared a class). Lawsuits lead to depositions. Depositions lead to criminal charges.

I understand that there is a start up cost associated with doing what we're doing and I don't really have a problem with asking for the money early. What I do have problems with is Watts essentially making a 10 million dollar mistake and walking away from it and the overall lack of transparency. If they're waiting to see how much money comes in early to negotiate a contract for Clark then someone needs to say so.

I couldn't find a website to make my pledge online. Am I overlooking it ? Seems pretty amateur not to have an online payment option.

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