Shocker Fans: Are you ready for some football?

[shocky]

I have to disagree with your comments tw. All the information that I have seen on this board and other sources indicates that college football is a financial looser. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole system collapsed on itself under that financial strain one day. I believe that Ohio State has a 80 million dollar athletic budget. Coaches get multi-million dollar deals. It's the NFL minor leagues and in most cases it's put on the state or students to carry the financial load. That is the reality of big time college sports today.
With that said, football can bring alumni dollars and TV exposure to a university but at a very high price. I will go as far as to say that even a majority of BCS schools put piles of money into football that they will never see again. The question for schools like WSU is how much are you will to loose and how are you going to deal with the losses. That is the question I have. How are we going to deal with the financial looses AND field a successful program AND not bring down the athletic department.
Finally, I believe that 95% of universities in D1A & D1AA end up with a huge overall negative revenue every year. This is directly related to their football programs. There are some good sources of this on this board. See Boise State University..huge success, sellouts, money looser.

[rrshock]

Everyone can throw out all the numbers that they want to. Good points can be made on both sides of the spectrum as well. But no one really knows what will happen at WSU, if football is brought back, until it is brought back. It will probably lose money. I think we all can agree on that to a point.

But WSU stands to gain quite a bit as well from its return. How many students did WSU have when football was around? How many does it have now? If the student body increases up to what it used to be, that is a significant gain for the university and the area in general. Most everyone who has or is attending WSU would have loved for it to be a more traditional atmosphere. Football definitely helps with that.

If $30M can be raised to help start it up again, then the U has to do it. It ain't gonna be cheap, and may lose money, but the potential gains are enormous too. Maybe some boosters from the past will come back. Maybe it will bring about a sense of school spirit that is probably lacking. I'm all for trying it and seeing what happens. If MoSt anc SIU and Indy St. can do it, WSU should be able to also.

[DUShock]

I say scew Title IX and any sport or academic program that is not self-supporting. It is a wsate of money, time, and resources.

Go Shocks!!!!

[DUShock]

Wow, I must confess to being flip in my sarcastic post. It wasn't my intention to kill the thread...

[vbird53]

I have to disagree with your comments tw. All the information that I have seen on this board and other sources indicates that college football is a financial looser.

I have to stop you right there with your first comment...


If football is such a loser, then why do all the BCS schools participate? Why are games attended by 80,000 to 100,000 fans on a single weekend?

Yes, coaching salaries are out of control, but the Universities must be doing ok if 80,000 show up on campus 6-8 times per year.


I know, and understand that a school like Wichita State would not average an attendance that high, but we wouldn't have to.



Believe me, there's a way to make it work. There are many, many schools that do.

[engrshock]

Are college sports around only to make money? What about other college events? Is the library a money maker? Are the labs a money maker? IF using student fees to support the library, labs, buildings, artwork, salaries etc. is how money is made then why not sports if they enrich the college experience? Isn't that the point of college sports? When football was dropped it apparently was not contributing to the life of the university enough to justify the expenses necessary to maintain the program? Has that changed? (I miss football at Cessna Stadium and would like to see it return and would buy tickets but will enough others do so to make football's return feasible without major fee increases for the students?

[SubGod22]

If it were only about being a money maker we'd only have mens basketball and maybe baseball. I've never seen numbers on the baseball team. I haven't seen numbers on volleyball either and I have no idea what kind of expenses they have. But I doubt they actually make a profit.

[rrshock]

Last I knew, men's basketball is the only profitable program at WSU. So I guess we should go ahead and cut all the rest of the programs now.

[RoyalShock]

If $30M can be raised to help start it up again, then the U has to do it. It ain't gonna be cheap, and may lose money, but the potential gains are enormous too. Maybe some boosters from the past will come back. Maybe it will bring about a sense of school spirit that is probably lacking. I'm all for trying it and seeing what happens. If MoSt anc SIU and Indy St. can do it, WSU should be able to also.

We can, if the students want to subsidize it. And I'm not optimistic there will ever be enough support for that.

Raising the start-up funds is one thing, but I don't think you can count on similar contributions to underwrite the ongoing operational costs. The only steady stream of funds for that must come from the university coffers via student fees. I just don't see any other way to do it. It's going to be difficult enough just funding the scholarships from year to year, assuming they aren't all endowed.

[rrshock]

I have just become tired in the past of school administration saying it isn't possible and it isn't gonna happen. WSU is the only regents school in the state without football. If FHSU and ESU can pull it off every year, then WSU certainly should be able to.

And aren't there endowed scholarships for football players now? They just aren't used? If there are some currently, why couldn't there be more? I understand that it costs money and that students may have to kick in some funds, but anything is possible.

The school just doesn't seem to want to listen to anyone and doesn't appear to have looked into it for quite some time. This is irritating and, I feel, might actually be hurting the university as a whole.

[ShockBand]

Before long, the supposed conspiracy of administration opposing football will only need a grassy knoll to achieve legendary status. Oh WAIT! OMG! There is a grassy knoll on the south end of Cessna Stadium! ITS A CONSPIRACY!

FWIW, I don't think the return of football would cause any significant rise in enrollment at WSU. It might a little, maybe a couple hundred that could be attributed to it, but there are other factors that are much more likely to influence WSU enrollment. Tuition and fees relative to other state institutions being a big one.

[shocky]

:wsu_posters: :goshocks: :posterwu: :posterwsu:

[Chico]

The site was launched last night. It really turned out good and as of tonight there have been over 1300 visits and over $40,000 pledged.

[shocky]

I have went to the site and was impressed. I have signed up and made a pledge to the cause. I would love to see Football return to WSU so bad I can taste it. Maybe with a large number of us die-hards giving a little money we can show that the cost of starting a program would be taken care of. I also listened to the founder of this site on KGSO and love his passion. I have no doubt that if the Shocker Nation had half his passion for bringing back football at WSU, plenty of money could be raised. As of this morning over $100,000 has been raised in pledges. You can give as little as $10.00 if you want. Let's do it Shocker Nation. I know that there is enough of us to reach the $15 million goal.

Go Shocker Football!!!!!!

:wsu_posters: :goshocks: :posterwu: :posterwsu:

[rrshock]

$100K isn't bad, considering how long the site has been up. I'll have to think a little bit more. What happens if they reach the goal and WSU still balks at it?