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What's Going to Happen Now?


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If it's all about winning games then why take a paycheck to play at any blue blood school as that will pretty much be a guaranteed loss? Just schedule 1 FCS opponent and 3 cupcake G5s and go 3-1 or 4-0 every OOC. The reason being winning is important, but so is the money in playing those games. It's about finding the middle ground between the two that you think is the best fit.

 

You speak of enthusiasm, but the most excited I've been as a Zips football fan in the last 10 years was this year when we knocked off Northwestern. A game that very well may not have even been played in the first place had we said we're only going to play one paycheck game this season. Personally, I think we should accept a large paycheck to play one blue blood and a slightly smaller paycheck to play at an Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Rutgers, Duke, etc. Those weaker P5 opponents aren't guaranteed losses and still pay in excess of $1 million. Just because someone else places a slightly more importance on the University financial well being than you do that doesn't mean their opinion is irrational or dumb.

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4 hours ago, zippy5 said:

Further, even suggesting paying a team to come to Akron is hypocritical to your argument. If it's all about dollars, why not just play 4 buy games and bring in $6 million?

 

 

For fucks sake no it isn't!  It's called reading comprehension dude.  I'm merely trying to suggest an avenue to become more solvent.  and then you go off and strawman at every opportunity you get.

I regret coming back to this crap show.  

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40 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

That makes two of us :lol:

 

For the record: still waiting on your suggestions for how to deal with the financial disaster and waterfall of a leak that is Akron Zips football... considering this is the "What's going to Happen Now" thread.  

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15 minutes ago, Balsy said:

 

For the record: still waiting on your suggestions for how to deal with the financial disaster and waterfall of a leak that is Akron Zips football... considering this is the "What's going to Happen Now" thread.  

I already answered that. We need to win and get butts in seats and donations coming in because people are starting to care. If we're in the MAC, we're going to lose money. That's the reality. The moment our program starts becoming about saving money is the moment we should just get rid of football and move to FCS. When you start limiting who you play, recruiting only in state, cheap equipment decisions, etc.. fans and recruits will see right through it and we'll be getting whacked by 40+ with no one in the stands, and guess what, we'll still be losing money. So if there's a debate over moving down, then sure have at it.. I'd hate to see it, but that's probably more of a valid point than cutting costs and staying in the MAC.

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2 hours ago, zippy5 said:

get butts in seats and donations 

 

You're more delusional than I am if you think this is a better viable solution.  Whom and from whom?  The Akron community already has shown it doesn't care (butts in seats), the Alumni already for the most part show that they don't care (butts in seats and donations).  This is a pipe dream.

Sports costs the University some 24,000,000 it could use elsewhere (that come from student fees/tuition).  30,000 total fans can attend the game...minus 5000 for the various student sections...

Even if you were SELL OUT on season tickets (and I'm just spitballing here): 

16 Suites ($20,000 ea = $320,000)
Some 600 Club Level seats (200 at $1000 = $200,000) (400 at $500 = $200,000)
Some 400 Priority Reserve ($250 = $100,000
Some 600 Priority Upper Reserve ($200 = $120,000)
Some 1200 Reserved ($150 = $180,000)
Some 1200 other reserved ($120 = $144,000)
Some 1200 Other Reserved ($90 = $108,000)
And the rest of the stadium, some 19,000 at the GA Season Ticket (price of $60 = $1,140,000)

You get a grand total of $2,312,000.  For the whole season, not even the value of two pay-day games.  With a program that has an annual budget around $33,000,000 with the Student Body subsidizing that by about 70%;.  And the numbers I present here are "best case scenario".  And we all know well that we will never fill that stadium 100%.  We won't even scratch 60% if they're doing well ($1,387,200) which doesn't amount to a pay-day game.

Donations I won't even attempt to quantify; because it's just not realistic.  Who in the hell is going to give money to a glorified Community College that continuously cuts full-time staff and programs with no sense of vision or direction, to flush $24,000,000 down the toilet on football, under rudderless leadership?  I sure as hell am unwilling to give more of my money to the University of Akron; and I'm a freaking  Akron diehard.  Your "plan" just seems like the same cluelessness Akron leadership has had for the last two-decades.

See what you did...you brought out the bitter 20-something again.  :rolleyes::CK_brew:

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16 minutes ago, Balsy said:

 

You're more delusional than I am if you think this is a better viable solution.  Whom and from whom?  The Akron community already has shown it doesn't care (butts in seats), the Alumni already for the most part show that they don't care (butts in seats and donations).  This is a pipe dream.

Football costs the University some 24,000,000 it could use elsewhere (that come from student fees/tuition).  30,000 total fans can attend the game...minus 5000 for the various student sections...

Even if you were SELL OUT on season tickets (and I'm just spitballing here): 

16 Suites ($20,000 ea = $320,000)
Some 600 Club Level seats (200 at $1000 = $200,000) (400 at $500 = $200,000)
Some 400 Priority Reserve ($250 = $100,000
Some 600 Priority Upper Reserve ($200 = $120,000)
Some 1200 Reserved ($150 = $180,000)
Some 1200 other reserved ($120 = $144,000)
Some 1200 Other Reserved ($90 = $108,000)
And the rest of the stadium, some 19,000 at the GA Season Ticket (price of $60 = $1,140,000)

You get a grand total of $2,312,000.  For the whole season, not even the value of two pay-day games.  With a program that has an annual budget around $33,000,000 with the Student Body subsidizing that by about 70%;.  And the numbers I present here are "best case scenario".  And we all know well that we will never fill that stadium 100%.  We won't even scratch 60% if they're doing well ($1,387,200) which doesn't amount to a pay-day game.

Donations I won't even attempt to quantify; because it's just not realistic.  Who in the hell is going to give money to a glorified Community College that continuously cuts full-time staff and programs with no sense of vision or direction, to flush $24,000,000 down the toilet on football, under rudderless leadership?  I sure as hell am unwilling to give more of my money to the University of Akron; and I'm a freaking  Akron diehard.  Your "plan" just seems like the same cluelessness Akron leadership has had for the last two-decades.

See what you did...you brought out the bitter 20-something again.  :rolleyes::CK_brew:

 

Where are you coming up with this total that Akron is spending $24 million/year on football? We're spending ~$33 million total for all sports. ~3.5 million on men's basketball and ~$2.5 million on men's soccer. No way are we spending only 3 million on all other sports and athletic department admin costs. The number I've heard that is directly attributable to the football department is ~$10 million/year. That $10M includes the ~$4 million/year sunk cost that is known as Infocision. This means the operating cost of the program is really ~$6 million. Between ticket sales, buy games, MAC TV deal, college football playoff pool G5 distribution, advertising, etc, the football program is probably pretty close to paying for itself outside of the large sunk cost. Where the athletic program is bleeding money is the bloated admin costs and all the non-revenue sports that probably cost us something in the neighborhood of $1 million each while generating us next to no revenue. If the goal is to reduce the deficit I have no idea why we added baseball and women's lacrosse. We should have cut more sports to meet the minimum D1 requirements.

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1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Where are you coming up with this total that Akron is spending $24 million/year on football? We're spending ~$33 million total for all sports. ~3.5 million on men's basketball and ~$2.5 million on men's soccer. No way are we spending only 3 million on all other sports and athletic department admin costs. The number I've heard that is directly attributable to the football department is ~$10 million/year. That $10M includes the ~$4 million/year sunk cost that is known as Infocision. This means the operating cost of the program is really ~$6 million. Between ticket sales, buy games, MAC TV deal, college football playoff pool G5 distribution, advertising, etc, the football program is probably pretty close to paying for itself outside of the large sunk cost. Where the athletic program is bleeding money is the bloated admin costs and all the non-revenue sports that probably cost us something in the neighborhood of $1 million each while generating us next to no revenue. If the goal is to reduce the deficit I have no idea why we added baseball and women's lacrosse. We should have cut more sports to meet the minimum D1 requirements.

 

I'm sorry I was quickly writing that.  I mistook the $33million total as football only and not the entire sports department.  I'll correct that.  I changed it to "Sports costs" and not just football.  The $24-million is still the subsidized cost of the entire sports programs.

I still don't see even with a ~$10 million/year budget how football is anywhere close to solvent.  Infocision is a cost being shouldered, and it doesn't even make enough at full capacity to cover it's own cost.  Hence the need for money/pay-day games.  The same article that lists the ~$33 million overall cost, put the total "revenues" at ~$35 million which would make it look like the sports department made money.  But it's really not a "gain" of two-million...it's a net loss of $22-million as a result of the subsidy.  It seems that the entire Sports department is able to gross ~$11-million, which isn't even 1/3 of the operating cost.  Which is why I brought this up.  There has to be a way to be more solvent.

I agree with adding the teams makes absolutely no sense.

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3 hours ago, Balsy said:

 

You're more delusional than I am if you think this is a better viable solution.  Whom and from whom?  The Akron community already has shown it doesn't care (butts in seats), the Alumni already for the most part show that they don't care (butts in seats and donations).  This is a pipe dream.

Sports costs the University some 24,000,000 it could use elsewhere (that come from student fees/tuition).  30,000 total fans can attend the game...minus 5000 for the various student sections...

Even if you were SELL OUT on season tickets (and I'm just spitballing here): 

16 Suites ($20,000 ea = $320,000)
Some 600 Club Level seats (200 at $1000 = $200,000) (400 at $500 = $200,000)
Some 400 Priority Reserve ($250 = $100,000
Some 600 Priority Upper Reserve ($200 = $120,000)
Some 1200 Reserved ($150 = $180,000)
Some 1200 other reserved ($120 = $144,000)
Some 1200 Other Reserved ($90 = $108,000)
And the rest of the stadium, some 19,000 at the GA Season Ticket (price of $60 = $1,140,000)

You get a grand total of $2,312,000.  For the whole season, not even the value of two pay-day games.  With a program that has an annual budget around $33,000,000 with the Student Body subsidizing that by about 70%;.  And the numbers I present here are "best case scenario".  And we all know well that we will never fill that stadium 100%.  We won't even scratch 60% if they're doing well ($1,387,200) which doesn't amount to a pay-day game.

Donations I won't even attempt to quantify; because it's just not realistic.  Who in the hell is going to give money to a glorified Community College that continuously cuts full-time staff and programs with no sense of vision or direction, to flush $24,000,000 down the toilet on football, under rudderless leadership?  I sure as hell am unwilling to give more of my money to the University of Akron; and I'm a freaking  Akron diehard.  Your "plan" just seems like the same cluelessness Akron leadership has had for the last two-decades.

See what you did...you brought out the bitter 20-something again.  :rolleyes::CK_brew:

I call one post dumb and get FFS, asshole, delusional, clueless thrown at me. 20 something seems a little mature for you actually. Have a good one ✌️

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Football generates enough cash flow to cover its operating expenses except for scholarships every year. This comes from a combination of revenue streams such as ESPN bowl payouts, money games , ticket sales etc....The university charges the athletic department around $26k per athlete for tuition. If those 85 scholarships went away do you really think the university would reduce its operating budget by a corresponding amount? 

Edited by Hilltopper
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5 hours ago, Balsy said:

 

I'm sorry I was quickly writing that.  I mistook the $33million total as football only and not the entire sports department.  I'll correct that.  I changed it to "Sports costs" and not just football.  The $24-million is still the subsidized cost of the entire sports programs.

I still don't see even with a ~$10 million/year budget how football is anywhere close to solvent.  Infocision is a cost being shouldered, and it doesn't even make enough at full capacity to cover it's own cost.  Hence the need for money/pay-day games.  The same article that lists the ~$33 million overall cost, put the total "revenues" at ~$35 million which would make it look like the sports department made money.  But it's really not a "gain" of two-million...it's a net loss of $22-million as a result of the subsidy.  It seems that the entire Sports department is able to gross ~$11-million, which isn't even 1/3 of the operating cost.  Which is why I brought this up.  There has to be a way to be more solvent.

I agree with adding the teams makes absolutely no sense.

4 million of that 10 is something referred to as a sunk cost. We could disband the football program tomorrow and we'd still have to pay that for the next 20 years. Hell we could demolish the stadium to build a new dorm and guess what? We'd still owe that 4 million over the next 20 years. The real cost savings of cutting football entirely would only be the $6 million/yr. Here is some of the revenue streams that football generates.

 

2 paycheck games - ~2.5 million total

MAC TV Deal - 800k

College football playoff pool that G5 teams split - ~$750k-$1.5 million depending on how MAC performs relative to other G5 conferences

 

That right there is ~$4 million dollars and that doesn't factor in parking, ticket sales, concession sales, advertising, or donations as frankly I have no idea what those are. If we were to cut the football program the time to do it would have been before building Infocision, not now.

 

I'm well aware the athletic department lives off of student subsidies. I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to argue here with me? Look back at my post history. I've advocated for us cutting some non-revenue sports. I was outspoken against adding baseball and woman's lacrosse. I said we should play fewer SWAC and NAIA and instead collect 2-3 additional ~100k paychecks in men's basketball. I've probably been one of the most outspoken members on needing to make the athletic program more fiscally responsible. I'm just going to call out incorrect information when I see someone post saying the football program is losing 24 million a year. We don't need the spread of false information. I understand it was something that you misread and that's fine. It happens to the best of us.

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10 hours ago, zippy5 said:

I call one post dumb and get FFS, asshole, delusional, clueless thrown at me. 20 something seems a little mature for you actually. Have a good one ✌️

 

You got FFS because you straw manned my entire argument.  You got asshole because you called my post "one of the dumbest you've seen" before you straw manned my position.  You got delusional because your counter to an additional pay-day game was ticket-sales which I broke down...cluelessness wasn't you directly, it was directed at the leadership that UA has had for the last two-decades that acted as if "build it and they will come" by using the creditcard instead of realistically planning a successful future for the UA and athletics. 

I wanted a good back and forth conversation, but you decided to be a jerk first, and I defended my position.  Don't write a check your ass can't cash (a Dr. Phil reference because I apparently have to explain things).

 

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6 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

4 million of that 10 is something referred to as a sunk cost. We could disband the football program tomorrow and we'd still have to pay that for the next 20 years. Hell we could demolish the stadium to build a new dorm and guess what? We'd still owe that 4 million over the next 20 years. The real cost savings of cutting football entirely would only be the $6 million/yr. Here is some of the revenue streams that football generates.

 

2 paycheck games - ~2.5 million total

MAC TV Deal - 800k

College football playoff pool that G5 teams split - ~$750k-$1.5 million depending on how MAC performs relative to other G5 conferences

 

That right there is ~$4 million dollars and that doesn't factor in parking, ticket sales, concession sales, advertising, or donations as frankly I have no idea what those are. If we were to cut the football program the time to do it would have been before building Infocision, not now.

 

I'm well aware the athletic department lives off of student subsidies. I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to argue here with me? Look back at my post history. I've advocated for us cutting some non-revenue sports. I was outspoken against adding baseball and woman's lacrosse. I said we should play fewer SWAC and NAIA and instead collect 2-3 additional ~100k paychecks in men's basketball. I've probably been one of the most outspoken members on needing to make the athletic program more fiscally responsible. I'm just going to call out incorrect information when I see someone post saying the football program is losing 24 million a year. We don't need the spread of false information. I understand it was something that you misread and that's fine. It happens to the best of us.

 

I'm not trying to argue with you :)  I do appreciate that you take the time to write out a thoughtful response, I think we're both talking about the same thing.

I'm just frustrated that UA is in this position, and I'd really like to see more discussion at large of how to rectify it.  I do appreciate your outspoken-ness, and we need more of it from the UA community.


 

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On 6/18/2019 at 12:15 PM, zippy5 said:

So 300 visiting fans instead of 200? 

 

 

The number of Pittsburgh fans almost outnumbered the Zips fans a few years back...

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On 6/18/2019 at 7:04 PM, Blue & Gold said:

How about Illinois State or Indiana State?  I like the idea of playing FCS schools within closer proximity.  Sure, none will likely draw as well as YSU, but none-the-less...

 

IIRC, if YSU was to become a yearly gig, they wanted us to play in Youngstown on alternating years.  Idk the details of that conversation, but I wouldn't be opposed to playing in Youngstown perhaps once every four years.  For the sake of ticket sales we really need another rival.

 

I'd go home-and-home with YSU if that's what it took to get the rivalry going. A 48 mile road trip every other year? Hit the restaurants and/or casino on the way back. 

 

Sign me up.

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I'd like to re-up a heretical suggestion I've made in the past... one massive hurdle we face that is immutable is that we are splitting a stagnant market with another shitty football program and Ohio State.  Even if we rattled off year MAC championships and bowl wins, I am dubious we'd be filling Info. We had the leading BB school for nearly 10 years but still didn't sell out the JAR consistently.

 

My belief has been that UA and Kent are inevitably going to merge or confederate in some way. It just makes no sense for these 2 very similarly scaled public schools to have duplicate administration and overhead, serving the same community providing almost entirely inter-changeable offerings yet in a completely uncoordinated way.  

 

Regardless how you feel about a fully blown UA-KSU merger (and honestly the controversy surrounding the idea would be a good thing for both-- from a marketing perspective would be great to shake up the consideration of both schools in NEO), I think given the economics, UA and Kent should petition the NCAA to offer a joint football program. Not sure if this has ever been attempted or what would need to be changed to enable it, but it would make a ton of sense. Football is expensive. These programs are are nowhere near self-sustaining. They cost their students a ton of money in fees that is really an unfair burden.  UA spent $7.25M on football and Kent something close to that. Akron students pay nearly $5K extra over 4 years to support this. 

 

So, put Akron and Kent football together. One set of coaches and scholarships. Instantly save $5M per year while maintaining a healthy MAC scale budget (UA's is nearly $1M below the MAC football average currently). Maybe the shake up will yield a winning program, double the crowds, and give it a shot at getting the NEO support it needs to have any chance of flourishing.

 

And in success, maybe it paves the way for successfully creating a world class educational institution that can be an economic engine NEO desperately needs. 

 

 

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8 hours ago, LosAngelesZipFan said:

I'd like to re-up a heretical suggestion I've made in the past... one massive hurdle we face that is immutable is that we are splitting a stagnant market with another shitty football program and Ohio State.  Even if we rattled off year MAC championships and bowl wins, I am dubious we'd be filling Info. We had the leading BB school for nearly 10 years but still didn't sell out the JAR consistently.

 

My belief has been that UA and Kent are inevitably going to merge or confederate in some way. It just makes no sense for these 2 very similarly scaled public schools to have duplicate administration and overhead, serving the same community providing almost entirely inter-changeable offerings yet in a completely uncoordinated way.  

 

Regardless how you feel about a fully blown UA-KSU merger (and honestly the controversy surrounding the idea would be a good thing for both-- from a marketing perspective would be great to shake up the consideration of both schools in NEO), I think given the economics, UA and Kent should petition the NCAA to offer a joint football program. Not sure if this has ever been attempted or what would need to be changed to enable it, but it would make a ton of sense. Football is expensive. These programs are are nowhere near self-sustaining. They cost their students a ton of money in fees that is really an unfair burden.  UA spent $7.25M on football and Kent something close to that. Akron students pay nearly $5K extra over 4 years to support this. 

 

So, put Akron and Kent football together. One set of coaches and scholarships. Instantly save $5M per year while maintaining a healthy MAC scale budget (UA's is nearly $1M below the MAC football average currently). Maybe the shake up will yield a winning program, double the crowds, and give it a shot at getting the NEO support it needs to have any chance of flourishing.

 

And in success, maybe it paves the way for successfully creating a world class educational institution that can be an economic engine NEO desperately needs. 

 

As Hilltopper and I have both already mentioned, football pretty much pays for itself. It probably generates something between 70%-75% of the athletic departments revenue. I've listed the various revenue sources. It's the 13, soon to be 15, non-revenue sports plus bloated admin costs that's responsible for the large deficit. The real cost savings from Akron or Kent cutting their football program would be from them also being able to cut ~85 scholarships worth of non-revenue women's sports.

 

Edit: By revenue I mean money brought into the department unrelated to student fees & general fund support.

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On 6/24/2019 at 9:40 AM, kreed5120 said:

 

As Hilltopper and I have both already mentioned, football pretty much pays for itself. It probably generates something between 70%-75% of the athletic departments revenue. I've listed the various revenue sources. It's the 13, soon to be 15, non-revenue sports plus bloated admin costs that's responsible for the large deficit. The real cost savings from Akron or Kent cutting their football program would be from them also being able to cut ~85 scholarships worth of non-revenue women's sports.

 

Edit: By revenue I mean money brought into the department unrelated to student fees & general fund support.


Right.  But then there is the $4-million cost for the Stadium.  And I get that we cannot go back in time and not build the damn thing, but yes all athletics costs X, and the vast majority of the money coming in comes from Football.  But it's still a loss.  Combining the two programs (probably using Infocision because it's newer) would get closer to being solvent.

IDK, this is one thing I've struggled with for years now.  I don't want to see the Zips not be the Zips vs. Kent.  But how in the hell is any of this sustainable anymore?  It's time to stop kicking the can down the road and operating like it's 1960s.  Decades of mismanagement by entire generation of leaders putting things on the creditcard has led to this.

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Are we figuring in the corporate sponsorships into the annual cost of the stadium? That was part of the reason the U decided to build new, instead of (completely) rebuild the crumbling 68 year old Rubber Bowl.

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I think a big problem with the Zips is the city of Akron is drawn into the Cleveland television market, and force-fed a continuous stream of Browns/Indians?Cavs propoganda (come spend money on us). Akron is the largest city in the US without it's own television news. In this multimedia generation Akron has become a suburb. I've never been to Ft. Worth or St. Paul, but I wonder if they have the same identity crisis. Or Bowling Green for that matter.

 

A few miles away, we also have the marketing machine of the NFL and the Pittsburgh Steelers at play. I never figured out why there are so many Steelers fans in Canton. When I started working there, I realized if you live south or east of Canton, the Steelers are your home team. 

 

Add to that the marketing machine and the legacy of Ohio State being the state's official college team does not help. When you're shamed at your own D1 school for not being a Buckeye Honk, you understand why the students look down on their own university.

 

The Zips have an identity crisis. I don't know how to get past that.

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Kreed- could you re-post that analysis on football revenue vs expenses. I'd honestly be surprised to see if at BE or better, but interested to see the data.

 

Yes, the savings would be from having a single coaching/support staff and eliminating the 75 or 80 scholarships-  having one program would immediately save at least $5M.  And after the initial period when the few die-hards would reject this, I think if the team wins you could end up w better attendance, meaning more revenue, more support from local corporations, donors, etc.  Also, the story itself would garner national interest (think of the coverage UAB got when it eliminated football, only to reinstate it because the local community stepped up to support it) which could provide a shot in the arm for recruiting and with some success and momentum, could put the program in line for a more vibrant conference affiliation.

 

I also think that idea of having a true "Northeast Ohio" program to rally around would make an impact- which is what has driven my reasoning about an Akron-Kent combination since I graduated from UA in '89.  TBH, the 4 schools in NEO plus NEOUMED should be combined into a single university system (which would have about 80K students on 9 campuses throughout NEO).  I think that would solve the Cleveland news bias issue.   I mean when you really think about it, Akron's media market is not only subsumed into Cleveland (which as a major league town, is biased to cover major league sports and that means Ohio State gets the college sports coverage), but UA splits that subsumed Akron market with Kent State.  Neither Akron nor Kent can dominate even the Akron media market, let alone making the case to be the dominant college sports player to the larger Cleveland market. 

 

But, I think a logical start would be confederating the football programs, neither of which are thriving or have a history of thriving. Neither program has a donor base that could invest in it to get it out of doldrums. Neither has a dedicated fan base that would consistently bring 25K or 30K fans to games (and really, to be successful, the team needs to be able to draw more like 40K+).  It'd be a good news story, really, where universities are creatively grappling with budget realities to the betterment of their students and communities.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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16 hours ago, LosAngelesZipFan said:

Kreed- could you re-post that analysis on football revenue vs expenses. I'd honestly be surprised to see if at BE or better, but interested to see the data.

 

The football program still loses money, but mainly from Infocision, which we would have to continue to pay regardless.

 

Quote

Where are you coming up with this total that Akron is spending $24 million/year on football? We're spending ~$33 million total for all sports. ~3.5 million on men's basketball and ~$2.5 million on men's soccer. No way are we spending only 3 million on all other sports and athletic department admin costs. The number I've heard that is directly attributable to the football department is ~$10 million/year. That $10M includes the ~$4 million/year sunk cost that is known as Infocision. This means the operating cost of the program is really ~$6 million. Between ticket sales, buy games, MAC TV deal, college football playoff pool G5 distribution, advertising, etc, the football program is probably pretty close to paying for itself outside of the large sunk cost. Where the athletic program is bleeding money is the bloated admin costs and all the non-revenue sports that probably cost us something in the neighborhood of $1 million each while generating us next to no revenue. If the goal is to reduce the deficit I have no idea why we added baseball and women's lacrosse. We should have cut more sports to meet the minimum D1 requirements.

 

 

Quote

4 million of that 10 is something referred to as a sunk cost. We could disband the football program tomorrow and we'd still have to pay that for the next 20 years. Hell we could demolish the stadium to build a new dorm and guess what? We'd still owe that 4 million over the next 20 years. The real cost savings of cutting football entirely would only be the $6 million/yr. Here is some of the revenue streams that football generates.

 

2 paycheck games - ~2.5 million total

MAC TV Deal - 800k

College football playoff pool that G5 teams split - ~$750k-$1.5 million depending on how MAC performs relative to other G5 conferences

 

That right there is ~$4 million dollars and that doesn't factor in parking, ticket sales, concession sales, advertising, or donations as frankly I have no idea what those are. If we were to cut the football program the time to do it would have been before building Infocision, not now.

 

Edited by kreed5120
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Track officials who have worked meets for the U are being told there will be an indoor track season, culminating in the Zips hosting the MAC Indoor Championships, but there will be no outdoor meets n 2020, which means no money spent to refurbish the track for the near future, if at all.  Also, several individuals interviewing for a supposed empty slot in the coaching ranks, most likely distance, which means we may have lost our first assistant coach due to the track situation.  But hey, Women's Lacrosse......

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