(08-26-2017 06:40 PM)Buc76 Wrote: If you have the magic formula to provide 1st class facilities and 1st class amenities with small budgets, please reveal them to all athletic departments. They will love you.
ETSU tried the cheap ticket way throughout the last administration and look at the results, pathetic.
Small budgets don't allow for improvments, good coaches or recruitment of good athletes.
Do you want to go back to five years ago, mediocrity, no football, old looking campus, no administration leadership or vision ?
The ETSU campus, the students and the fan base has been energized. Definitely not solely because of ticket prices. But they do play a major tole in supplying the money for the needed amenities that makes a difference in providing a product that the fan will support.
Record fund raising, record revenues in all ticketed sports, renovated or new facilites, new facilities and more renovations in planning stage and eight championships this past year, a far cry for the cheapo past.
Who said anything about a small budget? We've got a coaching staff (I'm pretty sure) a fair amount larger than ever before. We've got a brand-new high-quality stadium. We've had many people generously donate large chunks of money. We've got a significant student contribution now. This football budget (without looking it up) is *bound* to be MUCH larger than when we dropped football, or at anytime before then, even if one adjusts for inflation.
Methinks you may be under the mistaken impression that ticket sales are a large part of the athletic funding formula. It *may* bigger now than it was (because of increased ticket prices and the success of the basketball program), but it's a distinct minority of the overall income for the program(s). We've discussed this before. Some people used to think the reason the team was shut down back in 2003 was because of poor attendance. While it's not wrong to say that, that was
NOT the financial reason. We discussed that
ad infinitum on the old board. I believe at that time ticket sales (for football) were somewhere in the neighborhood of at most 5-10% (don't quote me on that; that's purely from memory) of the income side of the equation.
Without digging it all up, ticket sales are at most the fourth-most source of funding for football. Student fees are #1; contributions are #2 or 3; ETSU internal funding is #2 or 3.
Ok, I did spend a few minutes poking around. Here's from
The Tennessean, Apr. 17, 2016, so only 1 year out-of-date:
Quote:The majority of East Tennessee State's athletic revenue comes from the university and its students. Of its $15,909,297 total operating budget in 2015, $6,908,494 came from student fees and $5,092,930 came from direct institutional support for a combined total of $12,001,424. ETSU athletics claimed another $1,760,517 in indirect institutional support. The athletic department made just $602,680 in ticket sales and $1,252,217 in donations.The majority of East Tennessee State's athletic revenue comes from the university and its students. Of its $15,909,297 total operating budget in 2015, $6,908,494 came from student fees and $5,092,930 came from direct institutional support for a combined total of $12,001,424. ETSU athletics claimed another $1,760,517 in indirect institutional support. The athletic department made just $602,680 in ticket sales and $1,252,217 in donations.
OK......so $606K out of $15.9 million is under 4%. And yes, it's possible it'll be more this year, although with all the donations, it might actually be less.
So........think about that. Does it really matter much whether/when they tack on extra amounts of monies for parking, etc., nickel-and-diming would be fans?
Why not *encourage* attendance instead of discouraging it? That's exactly etsubuc's point -- you'll win much bigger in the long run if you build your attendance base by making it accessible and affordable. That will pay off BIG TIME down the road. I can't tell you how many *FORMER* fans completely shut off giving to ETSU, and attending ETSU games, after the '93-'94(?) shenanigans. AND THEY'RE STILL GONE. I know them; quite a few. Others on this board have made the same point. ETSU has likely lost what would have been 10-50X the income that they gained from making the extortionary demands they did on season-ticket holders back then.
To be clear, I'm not bitching about the current ticket prices. I think they're slightly high, but they sold well, so that's that. I, like etsubuc, am more afraid of what comes next with Scott Carter. We are most certainly at an inflection point here, thanks to Noland and Sander. We can keep the train/ship moving on up, or we can 'fumble' this momentum by gouging.
(I happen to know at least 3 people who were planning on buying season tickets, but didn't because of the parking costs. They now say they might not come to any games, unless they can find other transportation methods. I'm just sayin'. And these are people that can afford it - they're just upset at the principle of the thing.)