Deb Farris: WSU To Look into Bringing Football Back in Next 3-4 Years

[SpanglerFan316]

I suggest the formation of an exploratory committee, which is chaired by Cold, to determine the viability of immediately joining the S.E.C.

There you go again, having lowered expectations. Cold should investigate having WSU replace the Chiefs immediately.

[Ricardo del Rio]

There you go again, having lowered expectations. Cold should investigate having WSU replace the Chiefs immediately.

Or Cowboys.

[ShockerInKC]

There are schools in much smaller TV markets that have added FBS football lately. Two that come to mind are Troy (in the metropolis of Troy, AL) and Texas State (in the metopolis of San Marcos, TX).

Troy has been FBS for awhile and I believe that Texas St is going FBS next year. Texas St is one of those that I believe went FBS in a very short amount of time.

I think Royal's 7 point plan is right on the money. But I also believe that if we want to make sure football doesn't hurt the other sports, we really need to have the goal of getting to FBS quickly.

FCS schools lose money, FBS schools make money or at least break even. Very few FBS schools lose money on football even most of those in conferences like the MAC, Sun Belt and WAC tend to break even or make a little bit.

"Last year only 25 fbs schools made money on football"
This is what dr bardo said in response to my question about adding football.

[Veritas]

Last year only 25 airports in the country made money.
Said in jest, but while FBS football in itself might lose money, what else does it bring to the community, campus, school, etc...

Let's face it... WSU is getting its AXX kicked in the past 25 year enrollment trend. Do traditional students even attend WSU as the majority anymore? Are the majority of those traditional students from Kansas or outside the country (who couldn't care less about football)? Does WSU endeavor to attract Legacy Students. As the states' largest city, WSU should see booming enrollments during economic recessions at the expense of KU and K-State. Is it happening?

If WSU had chosen to invest money into other athletic programs and facilities, I can understand the argument for dropping football. What have been the benefits to WSU for dropping football? Let's face it. Lew Perkins made a very bad decision.

[Aargh]

Last year only 25 airports in the country made money.
Said in jest, but while FBS football in itself might lose money, what else does it bring to the community, campus, school, etc...

Let's face it... WSU is getting its AXX kicked in the past 25 year enrollment trend. Do traditional students even attend WSU as the majority anymore? Are the majority of those traditional students from Kansas or outside the country (who couldn't care less about football)? Does WSU endeavor to attract Legacy Students. As the states' largest city, WSU should see booming enrollments during economic recessions at the expense of KU and K-State. Is it happening?

If WSU had chosen to invest money into other athletic programs and facilities, I can understand the argument for dropping football. What have been the benefits to WSU for dropping football? Let's face it. Lew Perkins made a very bad decision.

You're comparing having an airport to having a school with a FB team? Airports are municipal projects. FB programs are functions of Universities. It's a pretty safe bet that the public whim wants transportation in and out of the city. Funding a FB program on public money is not brilliant. The public could change their mind any time and pull the plug.

What FBS FB brings to a University is debt. WSU isn't just getting their AXX kicked in the last 25 years for the traditional student market. That's been going on through the entire history of WSU and WU. I don't know of any time in the history of WSU that traditional students made up a majority of the enrollment.

When WSU dropped FB, investing money into other programs wasn't an option. The athletic department was in serious financial problems and the lenders were calling the loans. There wasn't any possibility of investing in athletic programs until the debt was paid . (I think the debt was around $3 mill - in 1980's $$).

I agree that Perkins made a bad decision. Armstrong was as much to blame as Perkins. Perkins' only other option was to go out and raise the money to keep FB. Perkins didn't want to do that. That would have required "work" in a community that was showing very little support for WSU FB.

The benefit for WSU dropping FB is that WSU still has an athletic department. With Armstrong and Perkins running the show, if FB had continued under their watch, the athletic department would have been bankrupted. WSU probably would have recovered and come back but the athletic department would probably look more like Evansville's than like WSU's current athletic department.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Last year only 25 airports in the country made money.
Said in jest, but while FBS football in itself might lose money, what else does it bring to the community, campus, school, etc...

Let's face it... WSU is getting its AXX kicked in the past 25 year enrollment trend. Do traditional students even attend WSU as the majority anymore? Are the majority of those traditional students from Kansas or outside the country (who couldn't care less about football)? Does WSU endeavor to attract Legacy Students. As the states' largest city, WSU should see booming enrollments during economic recessions at the expense of KU and K-State. Is it happening?

If WSU had chosen to invest money into other athletic programs and facilities, I can understand the argument for dropping football. What have been the benefits to WSU for dropping football? Let's face it. Lew Perkins made a very bad decision.

Are you suggesting that WSU should offer football as a loss leader strategy?

Loss Leader Strategy

A business strategy in which a business offers a product or service at a price that is not profitable for the sake of offering another product/service at a greater profit or to attract new customers. This is a common practice when a business first enters a market; a loss leader introduces new customers to a service or product in the hope of building a customer base and securing future recurring revenue.

[Dave Stalwart]

Nice business touch!

Hopefully, we will not be "loss" leaders if we ever do have a program :)

[Veritas]

Are you suggesting that WSU should offer football as a loss leader strategy?

Loss Leader Strategy

A business strategy in which a business offers a product or service at a price that is not profitable for the sake of offering another product/service at a greater profit or to attract new customers. This is a common practice when a business first enters a market; a loss leader introduces new customers to a service or product in the hope of building a customer base and securing future recurring revenue.

Yes... within reason. My point being that football attracts additional positive measurements to a university - whether that is increase in enrollment ($$$), campus environment, attraction of more traditional and legacy students ($$$). Curious as to what kind of studies are out there to prove the positive residual value of having football. Wonder what would happen to a KU, Tulsa, or Colorado State as an example if they dropped football? It would be devastating, and of course KU doesn't need to drop football even though they are certainly losing money. Yet, for many Shocker fans, it is completely acceptable for WSU to not field a team. Puzzling.
.

[shox1989]

"Last year only 25 fbs schools made money on football"
This is what dr bardo said in response to my question about adding football.

Okay I don't know where Dr. Bardo got his information but according to ESPN the magazine only 9 FBS schools failed to break even. And on average they make $137,000 per player per year above all expenses and scholarships.

It is an interesting tidbit of information on page 103 of the JUNE 25, 2012 Double issue.

It is in the article THE TOP 25 ALL-TIME SPORTS DEBATES DECIDED. The question is what should college football players be paid? Their answer is $137,000 per year (the average amount that all FBS football schools make above expenses and scholarships per player per year on football).

But the most interesting part of the article to me is this line:

"Smaller conferences net far less income (although only nine FBS schools failed to break even). "

If this is true that means the vast majority of schools in even the conferences like C-USA, MWC, WAC, MAC and Sun Belt make money on football.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8...-espn-magazine

[The Mad Hatter]

A lot of that depends on how you count the income. From an accounting standpoint, lots of athletic departments get a major chunk of their revenue in funds allotted by the school. In this sense, those schools may have total income that breaks even or exceeds expenditures. But the reality is that the actual revenue produced by the athletic department itself may be deeply in the red without being subsidized by the school. Here is the list of public universities that have completely unsubsidized athletic departments:

LSU, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Purdue, and Texas.

While schools may technically break even or make money with the subsidy, it is a far better measure of the fiscal solvency of the program to look at whether non-subsidy revenue covers expenses, because otherwise a school is just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/story/2012-05-14/ncaa-college-athletics-finances-database/54955804/1

[Ricardo del Rio]

Yes... within reason. My point being that football attracts additional positive measurements to a university - whether that is increase in enrollment ($$$), campus environment, attraction of more traditional and legacy students ($$$). Curious as to what kind of studies are out there to prove the positive residual value of having football. Wonder what would happen to a KU, Tulsa, or Colorado State as an example if they dropped football? It would be devastating, and of course KU doesn't need to drop football even though they are certainly losing money. Yet, for many Shocker fans, it is completely acceptable for WSU to not field a team. Puzzling.
.

"If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow."

[Veritas]

Knute Rockne (or was it T.E. Lawrence) was reported to have said, "Trust in Allah, but tie your camel"

[WuShock Reaper]

Didn't know where else to post this.

So Deb Farris who works with Kake.com tweeted the following after hearing WSU President Bardo speak about the future of the university:

"WSU Pres. says will look into bringing back fball in the next 3-4 years"

Do you believe this? I don't. False hope. For the record though "look into bringing" could mean anything.

Four years later and...?

[Dave Stalwart]

Maybe she meant it more like this: "In 3-4 years, WSU will look into bringing football back"

That would still be an accurate statement. 4 years later and we are continuing to say that we will look into bringing football back. She was a prophet.

[AndShock]

Bardo honoring a 4-year statement is a pretty good sign for the future imo.