The Ohio football program does not fully fund itself through tickets sales, Hocutt said. Generally, fewer than 10 percent of the NCAA Division 1-A college football programs are able to support themselves through ticket sales, he added.
"To say that football supports itself is very hard to say," Hocutt said. While the Ohio football program does not fund itself through ticket sales, the program does raise money for athletics in other ways. The university has seen an increase in merchandising sales and donations, and those increases are likely related at least in part to the success of the football program, Hocutt said.
The only football programs that support themselves just through ticket sales are the big programs that charge high prices for tickets and can have much larger stadiums, Hocutt said.
"At Ohio, we are taking steps to become the team that southeast Ohio supports. We want to reach out to the families of this community," Hocutt said. The department has created inexpensive ticket packages to attract families to the games.
The department also created the Ohio Bobcat Club, which is a new fundraising program that has been successful, and Solich has traveled around the country promoting OU and the athletics department, according to Hocutt.
The private fundraising programs will continue and become more aggressive as the department looks for new ways to increase its revenue in order to pay for the planned facility improvements and other changes to the athletic programs, Hocutt said.
http://athensnews.com/index.php?action=v...y_id=27229
Airport KC Wrote:fewer than 10 percent of the NCAA Division 1-A college football programs are able to support themselves through ticket sales, he added.
The rest of the Haves support themselves with BCS bowl and TV revenue. DUH!
Do you seriously take that quote to mean that 90% of football programs lose money?
I wonder how many baseball programs support themselves with their ticket sales, or track, or wrestling, or swimming, or tennis....
Quote:I wonder how many baseball programs support themselves with their ticket sales, or track, or wrestling, or swimming, or tennis....
This statement got me thinking about OU and their swimming program. Swimming is a non-revenue sport hence they bring in zero dollars to the athletic program. OU athletics is going to save $60K a year(coaches stay the same for coaching women and was a non-scholarship program) with the elimination this 25 athletes; however, OU will lose the tuition money of those 25 athletes at $10,000 each. I know that OU is able to replace those athletes with other students from their waiting list, but swimmers were not getting any academic breaks to get into school. In a very small sense OU lowered their academic entrance for $60K a year.
Swimming, wrestling, tennis and track might not bring in dollars for the athletic department, but they bring pride and recognition for a very small price. These programs are already poorly funded and plenty of athletes ready to go out and compete. A sport does not need to be profitable to have value. This is apparent because we have football and basketball and no one(almost no one) would suggest dropping these sports because of the value they bring to the University.
I don't advocate the dropping of any athletic team. If you want to see some pissed off people. Talk to the swimmers, track, or lacross players at OU. I would suggest reducing football and basketball budgets before more stuff like this happens within our conference. I don't want football or basketball dropped but I feel like our conference is over extending itself to be a power conference.
zipsfan Wrote:This statement got me thinking about OU and their swimming program. Swimming is a non-revenue sport hence they bring in zero dollars to the athletic program. OU athletics is going to save $60K a year(coaches stay the same for coaching women and was a non-scholarship program) with the elimination this 25 athletes; however, OU will lose the tuition money of those 25 athletes at $10,000 each. I know that OU is able to replace those athletes with other students from their waiting list, but swimmers were not getting any academic breaks to get into school. In a very small sense OU lowered their academic entrance for $60K a year.
Swimming, wrestling, tennis and track might not bring in dollars for the athletic department, but they bring pride and recognition for a very small price. These programs are already poorly funded and plenty of athletes ready to go out and compete. A sport does not need to be profitable to have value. This is apparent because we have football and basketball and no one(almost no one) would suggest dropping these sports because of the value they bring to the University.
I don't advocate the dropping of any athletic team. If you want to see some pissed off people. Talk to the swimmers, track, or lacross players at OU. I would suggest reducing football and basketball budgets before more stuff like this happens within our conference. I don't want football or basketball dropped but I feel like our conference is over extending itself to be a power conference.
Without looking it up:
Can you tell me who won the NCAA women's lacrosse championship?
How about the team voted #1 in NCAA 1-A football?
(Don't bother answering the rhetorical questions.)
Any athletic director with an ounce of sense will recognize that the public cares more about the money sports more and that they will bring the most revenue and recognition for the budget dollar. If there is a budget crunch, it's not a shock that the non-revenue sports will be cut before the FB or BB budgets are seriously affected.
If you want to change the perceived value of sports like collegiate volleyball, you have to change the way the public feels about them. Good luck with that.
-Dan
Quote:Any athletic director with an ounce of sense will recognize that the public cares more about the money sports more and that they will bring the most revenue and recognition for the budget dollar. If there is a budget crunch, it's not a shock that the non-revenue sports will be cut before the FB or BB budgets are seriously affected.
This is obviously-the decision that has been made at OU already. I feel that at $60K of a $17M budget, it was not the right decision. You might be in agreement with the AD at OU that football and basketball budgets are untouchable, but I feel that the elimination of programs should be the untouchable part. OU lost the men's swim team for 0.35% of the athletic budget.
zipsfan Wrote:This statement got me thinking about OU and their swimming program. Swimming is a non-revenue sport hence they bring in zero dollars to the athletic program. OU athletics is going to save $60K a year(coaches stay the same for coaching women and was a non-scholarship program) with the elimination this 25 athletes; however, OU will lose the tuition money of those 25 athletes at $10,000 each. I know that OU is able to replace those athletes with other students from their waiting list, but swimmers were not getting any academic breaks to get into school. In a very small sense OU lowered their academic entrance for $60K a year.
Ohio University and the Athletic Department are separate entities. The Ohio Athletic Department does its own business separate of the University. Athletic Departments are funded on their own. The Athletic Department was doing what's best for them, not the University.
epasnoopy Wrote:Ohio University and the Athletic Department are separate entities. The Ohio Athletic Department does its own business separate of the University. Athletic Departments are funded on their own. The Athletic Department was doing what's best for them, not the University.
I doubt to a near certainty that this is true, and, if it is, it would be the most dispiriting thing I've seen or heard in the past three years as OU appears to have drifted toward the win-at-all-costs model in football.
DevilGrad Wrote:I doubt to a near certainty that this is true, and, if it is, it would be the most dispiriting thing I've seen or heard in the past three years as OU appears to have drifted toward the win-at-all-costs model in football.
Care to try support this potshot?
Hmmmm. Let's see. Your university has:
-- Thrown a ton of money (by MAC standards) at a coaching staff;
-- Spent heavily on football facilities while apparently running up a $4 million overall athletic department deficit;
-- Badly mismanaged the PR fallout from the head coach's drunken driving arrest and tacitly condoned his assinine attempt to say he'd been drugged with GHB;
-- Tolerated 17 arrests in nine months amongst football players, only shame-facedly taking away player disciplinary responsiblity from the coach after the state's largest newspaper made y'all a front-page feature -- and mockery; and
-- Sacrificed four sports to the alleged altar of financial mismanagement and Title IX compliance while continuing to spend on football (bowl game net losses and rumored coaching staff bonuses).
So, whatever could have given me the idea I expressed above?
All I'm saying is that we'll know the transformation is complete when y'all hire Lawrence Phillips as the running backs coach . . . or just go ahead and put the green M's on the helmets.
DevilGrad Wrote:-- Thrown a ton of money (by MAC standards) at a coaching staff;
Source? I don't believe our coaching staff is significantly higher-paid than other MAC squads. I don't even think Solich is the highest paid head coach in the league (although I might be wrong on that). Regardless, considering that one of the biggest issues facing the MAC is the coaching pay scale disparities between the haves and have-nots, I fail to understand why this is something to be embarassed about.
DevilGrad Wrote:-- Spent heavily on football facilities while apparently running up a $4 million overall athletic department deficit;
All football facility upgrades have been paid for through either private fund-raising or through proceeds from the Rutgers, Illinois, and Missouri games played this past season. Any deficits were run up under the previous administration (Presidential and Athletic Directorship). Hardly damning evidence of a recent "win at all costs" mentality. Moreover, much of the need for such upgrades are the result of years of neglect. In most cases, OU is simply catching up to the rest of the MAC, not going above and beyond what the resources of the rest of the conference.
DevilGrad Wrote:-- Badly mismanaged the PR fallout from the head coach's drunken driving arrest and tacitly condoned his assinine attempt to say he'd been drugged with GHB;
I'm not sure why you think the arrest was badly mismanaged. The initial reaction was proper. Firing Solich wasn't called for, based on his moral track record. He was a first time offender. The issue was addressed almost immediately.
The GHB issue was stupid, I grant you, but to me reflects on Solich, not the University. I'm not sure how much power the University had (or should have exerted) over Solich if the man wants to pursue a nutty reexamination of the case. In your mind, should the University have fired Solich for trying to exonerate himself? I would also offer that the fact the story took so long to surface indicates that Solich did get as much push-back from the University as possible (which meshes with what I've heard privately). I don't see that as any evidence of a university that is "winning at all costs."
DevilGrad Wrote:-- Tolerated 17 arrests in nine months amongst football players, only shame-facedly taking away player disciplinary responsiblity from the coach after the state's largest newspaper made y'all a front-page feature -- and mockery; and
And has subsequently adopted as stringent a disciplinary policy (Athletic Department wide, I might add) as any school in the conference. If we're trying to "win at all costs," we wouldn't have taken such a drastic action. Marshall never enacted anything close to what OU has put into place.
DevilGrad Wrote:-- Sacrificed four sports to the alleged altar of financial mismanagement and Title IX compliance while continuing to spend on football (bowl game net losses and rumored coaching staff bonuses).
These moves have been in the works (and necessary) for some time. Hardly evidence of a "win at all costs" mentality. Moreover, Miami has made similar "sacrifices" in recent years; should I take that to mean that Miami is attempting to win at all costs? Didn't Miami eat net bowl game losses for some (all) of its recent bowl appearances? Are you actually suggesting that OU should have foregone the bowl invitation (its' first in 38 years)?
In the future, why don't you just refrain from posting the baseless attack if this is all you've got...
How about I strike a middle ground and refrain from talking to you?
Way to avoid the fact that each of your bases was disproven and/or minimized rather easily... lmfao
epasnoopy Wrote:zipsfan Wrote:This statement got me thinking about OU and their swimming program. Swimming is a non-revenue sport hence they bring in zero dollars to the athletic program. OU athletics is going to save $60K a year(coaches stay the same for coaching women and was a non-scholarship program) with the elimination this 25 athletes; however, OU will lose the tuition money of those 25 athletes at $10,000 each. I know that OU is able to replace those athletes with other students from their waiting list, but swimmers were not getting any academic breaks to get into school. In a very small sense OU lowered their academic entrance for $60K a year.
Ohio University and the Athletic Department are separate entities. The Ohio Athletic Department does its own business separate of the University. Athletic Departments are funded on their own. The Athletic Department was doing what's best for them, not the University.
If this is true, I believe that OU is very close to being in violation of NCAA rules. Years ago, big time programs separated Athletic departments from their schools so that they could raise funds and operate without academic responsibility. Then problems arose like SMU which had FB banned. Many other old Southwest Conf. schools were on the verge. The NCAA then passed a rule called the Lack of University Control rule. It became a violation for universities to allow separation of athletic departments, financing, and administration. In fact, most violations today come down with penalties for "lack of institutional control". Athletic departments by NCAA regs must now be under the direct control of the President and the Board of Trustees. Check it out.
Quote:Way to avoid the fact that each of your bases was disproven and/or minimized rather easily...
Are you serious? You feel you disproved anything Devilgrad said? Statements like "I don't believe our coaching staff is significantly higher paid" are your idea of your concept being minimized. You think projects were paid for by gaurantees but in reality it is a small dent in the football budget that loses money. Your statements are about as accurate as your signature. BobcatFan you are dillusional.
zipsfan Wrote:Quote:Way to avoid the fact that each of your bases was disproven and/or minimized rather easily...
Are you serious? You feel you disproved anything Devilgrad said? Statements like "I don't believe our coaching staff is significantly higher paid" are your idea of your concept being minimized. You think projects were paid for by gaurantees but in reality it is a small dent in the football budget that loses money. Your statements are about as accurate as your signature. BobcatFan you are dillusional.
Please. DevilGrad took a cheap potshot at my school, and when asked to support his opinion spouted off undemonstrable or irrelevant "facts". Once I discredited his points, he chose to feign superiority rather than address any of the counter-arguments. Sadly, this is par for the course for someone who likes to believe he's smarter (and better) than everyone here.
zipsfan Wrote:This is obviously-the decision that has been made at OU already. I feel that at $60K of a $17M budget, it was not the right decision. You might be in agreement with the AD at OU that football and basketball budgets are untouchable, but I feel that the elimination of programs should be the untouchable part. OU lost the men's swim team for 0.35% of the athletic budget.
I guess you missed the Q&A session from the OU AD stating that total cost savings by elimating the three sports is $685k
Now what is 685k times 5 years.......3.43 million
The OU athletic debt going into next season was projected to be 4 million.......that debt was built up over 5 years, or 800k a year. Dropping those 4 sports is going to go a long way toward elimanating the annual budget defict.
I don't understand why its so inhumane to drop olympic sports for you people on here......the kids will still have their scholarships honored until they graduate.
DevilGrad Wrote:-- Sacrificed four sports to the alleged altar of financial mismanagement and Title IX compliance while continuing to spend on football (bowl game net losses and rumored coaching staff bonuses).
1.Financial mismanagement was the legacy of the former AD......he was the one who touted a large budget increase that never happened.....but he continued to spend on 20 scholarship sports like it was money at hand. How much can you blame the current AD for this?
2.The demographics shifting at our school are forcing Title IX adjustments within the athletic department.
3. OU is spending more on football........at the same time football is bringing in more money.
-Football season ticket sales are up 88% in the two years since Frank.
-Ohio Bobcat Club for fundraising was established that is required if you want to be a season ticket holder in football for the desirable seats........this results in unrestricted donations up 73% in one year.
-A new corporate marketing merchandicing agreement has been signed for and 54% increase in revenue.
-OU football has been shown nationally 4 times on ESPN since Frank with 7 more national appearances on ESPNU.........I think MAC schools make something like 150k per apperance on ESPN.....
It is clear OU is stepping up football while containing costs in Olympic sports.......I don't think OU has crossed the line into committing NCAA violations like Marshall......that is what winning at all costs are about.
When you fire Shaner after a couple more 10 loss seasons perhaps at that point Mother Miami will awaken to the idea of paying for a real coaching staff....