LosAngelesZipFan

That's what she oh forget it

The track thing seems cra-cra-- Akron has two jewel program in mens soccer and track and field...the latter is consistently nationally ranked and the latter has produced Olympians. So they are skimping on track and field and adding other sports??

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.

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.

Wow-- this is so much like many of my posts of prior years (usually around this time of year when there's neither football nor BB). I have been a huge advocate for Kent and UA merging proactively before the state mandated it. It makes no sense for these 2 almost twin schools to exist 13 miles apart. None. UA and Kent should merge to create a NEO system, with almost 60K students, a handful of synergistic, world-class programs (liquid crystals and polymers), and a huge alumni base in NEO. And of course, one set of sports programs, administrations, etc, would immediately save more than Akron projected deficit. It's hard to make a comparison to the Cali system-- the UC schools are almost all 'better' than Ohio's best public school (though I think rankings are bunk in general). Ohio schools are more comparable to the Cal State schools. And "below" that is Cal Community College system, which is the largest post secondary ed system in the world by itself (over 2.6 million students on 113 campuses; Cal State, the largest 4 yr system in the US, has nearly 500K students across 31 locations, and UC with 240K students at 9 colleges making up the highest ranked public universities and system in the world). What's happened to UA is simply depressing. Hard to see how it's not in a downward spiral caused by incredibly poor leadership. Proenza was a fantastic president and gave UA a sense direction and movement. The 'Landscape for Learning' was a critical investment-- the campus was a total shithole eyesore and the investment in the campus at least made it passable. I can't even imagine where enrollment would be without that. UA spends over $30 million on athletics and saddles its students with over $1000 annually to support those programs. It's nuts. If the will to merge UA and Kent can't be found, they should at least become completely interconnected and federated, sharing programs and ideally fielding a single football program-- that alone would save nearly $10M a year.

Stunning. Gob-smacked. WTF!? Exactly the opposite of what UA needed. Seriously...WTF!?

Really glad he's staying-- UA does not need any more churn. It was definitely disappointing that he was looking to jump so soon, but his explanation of wanting to be back in Orlando made sense. However, I do hope he refrains from tossing his hat in the ring for any other positions for the next 2-3 years. UA needs that time for the 'scar' to heal...

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20180303/news/153716/university-akrons-polymer-college-struggles-faculty-losses

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20180303/news/153716/university-akrons-polymer-college-struggles-faculty-losses

Just for shits and giggle, here are some more liberal talking points: Trump's first 10 months lag Obama's (first and second term) economic performance on most measures of economic performance (jobs created, stock market performance, etc)... https://seekingalpha.com/article/4115465-trump-bump-compare-obama-effect-stock-market?page=2 https://seekingalpha.com/article/4122338-trump-bump-vs-obama-effect-part-2 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/12/14/comparing-the-trump-economy-to-the-obama-economy/?utm_term=.4e900fc2f087 https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndorfman/2017/10/30/trump-ranks-sixth-in-stock-market-performance-behind-obama-and-clinton/#6162b3b6644a To invert Zippy5's point, I don't think having NN in place since 2015 has damaged the internet has it? It has allowed things like Netflix and Amazon to thrive which is good for consumers (and bad for the ISPs that have big investments in TV delivery...). I agree that there is probably too much hyperbole about this-- overturning NN won't cause the downfall of the internet in the near term. But, I know I don't want my access to data and content on the internet to be metered or priced by what I choose to watch or do, which is what NN protected us from.

Just for shits and giggles, here are some more liberal talking points: Trump's first 10 months lag Obama's (first and second term) economic performance on most measures of economic performance (jobs created, stock market performance, etc)... https://seekingalpha.com/article/4115465-trump-bump-compare-obama-effect-stock-market?page=2 https://seekingalpha.com/article/4122338-trump-bump-vs-obama-effect-part-2 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/12/14/comparing-the-trump-economy-to-the-obama-economy/?utm_term=.4e900fc2f087 https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndorfman/2017/10/30/trump-ranks-sixth-in-stock-market-performance-behind-obama-and-clinton/#6162b3b6644a To invert Zippy5's point, I don't think having NN in place since 2015 has damaged the internet has it? It has allowed things like Netflix and Amazon to thrive which is good for consumers (and bad for the ISPs that have big investments in TV delivery...). I agree that there is probably too much hyperbole about this-- overturning NN won't cause the downfall of the internet in the near term. But, I know I don't want my access to data and content on the internet to be metered or priced by what I choose to watch or do, which is what NN protected us from.

https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/941378281407991809

Thx for bringing this up Balsy..interesting discussion. My simplified take on this is that if your local electric company also sold lightbulbs, it would be incented to have its lightbulbs get more electricity, and thus burn brighter, giving its lightbulbs an advantage in the market. This would be fully realizing the benefits of vertical integration. It would also be an unfair business tie-up and unfair to consumers. In the absence of many competitors to provide the electricity, and thus balance the utilities advantaged position, the utility should not be allowed to leverage its position to adversely impact consumers. The role of government is to prevent things like this. I don't want to have tiers of websites like God awful tv bundles. That's where this will lead.

This is awesome to hear: https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/local/ua-welcoming-international-students-in-a-big-way-four-new-recruiters-working-to-boost-enrollment#/

Will Akron BB maintain a connection to LBJ? He is committed to the school via his foundation...let's hope the bb connection continues...