Probably just an appeal to sell season tickets, still---you don't hear AD's say things like that very often about their own programs.


Hawaii athletics director Ben Jay painted a grim picture for the future of his football program while speaking to the university’s Board of Regents on Monday afternoon.

"There's a very real possibility of football going away," Jay reportedly told the Board.

Hawaii is currently facing a $2.1 million budget deficit this year and has worked under a budget deficit during 11 of the past 13 years.

And the football program isn’t helping.


https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-...07654.html

I'm confident more Board of Trustees/Regents and other highly ranked administrator types at FBS schools around the country will be having very similar meetings/discussions/conversations as the future of this new collegiate landscape unfolds......

"survival of the fittest" type of situation.....these things will pan out naturally....

Hawai'i
UAB
UMass
Idaho
NM State

Are all likely among the first FBS casualties of the new environment.

I should comment though that those Hawaii football season ticket numbers noted in the article are better than I thought they'd be.

UTEP to the MWC.

There are certain things you should not say aloud.

"There's a very real possibility of football going away" is one of them.

Those comments are going to kill recruiting there. They are going to hurt, not help, season ticket sales. They are going to depress interest in the football program.

And this is bad for the MWC. Every member of a conference has to be pulling in the same direction.

(08-18-2014 06:51 PM)ECMAN79 Wrote:  I should comment though that those Hawaii football season ticket numbers noted in the article are better than I thought they'd be.

Yeah, but they aren't that great when you consider that the nearest professional sport is like 2500 miles away.

And I doubt that they're able to monetize much of that in Aloha Stadium.

And that's the rub -- Hawaii's costs are ridiculous, so if they aren't selling tickets...

Or that's a rallying cry to the Hawaii fanbase/corporate sponsors that they need to step up their support if they want football to exist moving forward? Less band wagoners= better chance of surviving the new landscape....

ALOHA!!!

(08-18-2014 07:00 PM)ECMAN79 Wrote:  Or that's a rallying cry to the Hawaii fanbase/corporate sponsors that they need to step up their support if they want football to exist moving forward? Less band wagoners= better chance of surviving the new landscape....

Yeah, but people don't invest in something when the leader of that venture is talking potential failure.

Trust me, Tulane went through this in 2003. There was a quick boom in ticket sales to "save the program", but the emotional toll fan base and the psyche of the program was too rough in the long term. People don't want to throw money at something when they suspect the managers of it are not committed.

People invest based on optimism.

Hawaii has been struggling for a long time. The stipends will make it much worse for them and it doesn't help that they're paying subsidies to the MWC and Big West.

We'll see what happens.

But where will June go now?

(08-18-2014 07:05 PM)OUGwave Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 07:00 PM)ECMAN79 Wrote:  Or that's a rallying cry to the Hawaii fanbase/corporate sponsors that they need to step up their support if they want football to exist moving forward? Less band wagoners= better chance of surviving the new landscape....

Yeah, but people don't invest in something when the leader of that venture is talking potential failure.

Trust me, Tulane went through this in 2003. There was a quick boom in ticket sales to "save the program", but the emotional toll fan base and the psyche of the program was too rough in the long term. People don't want to throw money at something when they suspect the managers of it are not committed.

People invest based on optimism.

Fair points...perhaps Hawaii's AD shouldn't have sounded that grim. But at the same time, blowing smoke up his fanbases'
a$$es with something like "we feel good about our future" or "no worries, we'll get this figured out" shouldn't do much for people's confidences either. He sounded genuine and realistic. Either way....his fans will read into what he says to the press/Board of Trustees, and spin it to suit their view of things.

(08-18-2014 07:06 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  But where will June go now?

That is awesome!

June should go back there. Tiki Head is some sort of deity out there and only he could save Hawaii football from its ultimate fate

A little more detailed article from the Star-Adveriser. Apparently, they want the state to kick in an additional 3 million in funding to save the program.


http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/break...=271757441

(08-18-2014 07:41 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  A little more detailed article from the Star-Adveriser. Apparently, they want the state to kick in an additional 3 million in funding to save the program.


http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/break...=271757441

oh my....that opens up the door to all sorts of angles on this....he's asking the state government to supply direct funding to help the athletic department out.........
talk about a controversial solution......wonder how non football....non sports fans who are citizens there feel about that idea?

(08-18-2014 06:49 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  Hawai'i
UAB
UMass
Idaho
NM State

Are all likely among the first FBS casualties of the new environment.

You can take UAB off that list. No matter how periless it may seem, UAB Football will not cease to exist nor will it drop to Div II or FCS or whatever that division is called.

(08-18-2014 07:54 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 06:49 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  Hawai'i
UAB
UMass
Idaho
NM State

Are all likely among the first FBS casualties of the new environment.

You can take UAB off that list. No matter how periless it may seem, UAB Football will not cease to exist nor will it drop to Div II or FCS or whatever that division is called.

I would be willing to bet that monetary circumstances matter more than your opinion.

Either way, I still am of the opinion that UAB should not be playing football at the FBS level. But for the sake of UAB basketball, I would say "Join an FCS level conference, like the Southland." But UAB BB should be a at respectable level...

But whatever.