GP1

4 or more is my choice. NHL, NBA, PGA, WNBA, some professional soccer, KBL, throw in the pba if you want. If I had a second choice it would be zero. I don't think there will be an in between. All of the leagues above are professionals with much more mature people involved. They can segregate themselves much better than college kids. The professionals also have much more at risk if they don't play. The more I type this paragraph, the more I think the answer is zero, but I'll stick with 4.

Depends on if you are talking about a Department or classes. I have no problem offering these classes through the Sociology or something else. Not sure where these classes fall. A Department is something completely different. Departments require staff and overhead. Offer the classes without the Department overhead.

How much trouble do they have selling football in the SEC?

I am concerned about the deficit as well. In addition, I am concerned about the revenue stream into Athletic Departments across G5 schools. I despise the Universities are covering the mismanagement of their schools with student fees. In my opinion, the elephant in the room is not in the Athletic Department. I am like you kreed, I have no problem with a deficit in the Athletic Department as long as it is serving a greater purpose and being run reasonably within a public university. Do they need to make changes? Yes, but with schools like Akron, not on their own or it will have catastrophic consequences for the Athletic Department and University and schools like ours. The elephant in the room is the rapid decline in enrollment. This is not the fault of the Athletic Department. A lot of things can cause this decline. One may be the endless drip, drip, drip of bad publicity from the University. I don't know much about the current President, but he seems to be aloof about the PR problem and the relationship of it to the funding of the overall University. Someone needs to dump a bucket of cold water over his head to wake him up. The enrollment problem needs fixed before any crippling cuts are made to athletics. Further, someone needs to stand up publicly for the Athletic Department and feature many of the great things it does for the kids, what the kids do for the University and what those kids' efforts around the community do for NE Ohio. If the Athletic Director could take a break from bean counting for a while, maybe he could develop a PR campaign to assist in this effort.

What if this is all there was for G5 schools with adding in giving the surrounding community something fun to do?

Yes, I can. I also know one school that has gotten good at creating a crap storm of bad pr.

Do you think the students, alumni and surrounding communities think the same as you? Michigan and Notre Dame are top notch academic institutions. I don't think those close to the schools only see the sports. I also don't think they spend much time thinking about what others think of them. If the point of G5 programs is to be like P5 schools, close the doors because that is never going to happen. What do we want to be?

With the exception of around 20 P5 programs, they are failing according to your definition. Almost all lose money. Only about 5-6 schools have the capability of winning a national championship. Everyone else is in the same cycle we are all in. I have season tickets to a P5 school. They produce an excellent product and are probably not one of the schools making money, but it's hard to tell because private school finances are not completely reported. My point is, they see something else. The game day experience is no different whether they are playing Villanova or Clemson. They see a point to all of it other than the money, prestige and keeping people out of prison. Seriously, what do you folks want the point to be?

There are other ways to keep people busy that don't require college athletics. Two years of mandatory public service could do the same thing. Then they could start their life of crime. You seem to be a lot closer than the penny counters though. Seriously, student athletes are much more law abiding than the general student body.

What is the point of college athletics?

If the point is money, every school that loses money should get out. I think that would leave 15 teams. My point is, there is more value than the money. Why can't schools like ours make those points? Why can't we get together and promote the unseen value of college athletics? What is everyone else's point?

I notice it takes you until the end to almost mention the players. Your first two are money centered. That's how it is now. What should we really be about?

So much bean counting, so little reasoning. Simple question. What is the reason for college athletics? I would be interested in responses.

You might want to look at the tuition costs at a place like Mt.Union and multiply that by the number of student athletes. If that school didn't have sports, what would it really be offering?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cleveland19.com/2020/07/24/ohio-athletic-conference-postpones-fall-sports-due-coronavirus-crisis/%3foutputType=amp

Thanks for your response. I think they should talk about kids in school now. I don't mean the staged stuff they promote, but things more substantial.

"If you don't like what is being said, change the conversation." - Don Draper They need to change the conversation. The kids in the athletic department do a lot of great things. Maybe someone around them could stop counting pennies and stand up for them for once and point out some of the good things they do.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardvedder/2020/07/20/the-great-college-depression-begins/amp/?fbclid=IwAR2T6-d0aL1UO9lTqvH2-Y9nKp0pzchKfs3FSGcorylLELL0tJWSZCq6Vow Forbes piles on. A merger with Kent? No thanks. Close Kent.

The ongoing PR mess just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. What would you think if you were a football recruit and you saw this? How would you use this if you were a coach at another MAC school. I don't know much about the head football coach, but how can you ever hope to be successful at Akron when there is a steady drip of this poison coming out of the University? How can so many smart people be so stupid?

I think we are at the "counting paperclips" portion of this ongoing PR disaster. Only a moron incapable of sitting on whatever committee they put together doesn't know how this all went bad, so when they are done they can rehash negative points with the public again. Are we ever going to get a forward looking committee?

It's more interesting talking about getting drunk in bars. Besides, I felt like doing some typing. Slow day.

There is very little evidence that the protests increased the spread of covid. In fact, it supports the evidence that young people getting together in outdoor places is not much of a threat. Further, it supports that the vast majority of people who get covid will have mild symptoms and we should be focused on protecting those most vulnerable (over 60) and let everyone else get on with their lives as long as the health care system doesn't get over stressed. Don't worry, this will all be over come November 4th.

Please reread all of the words in my original comment. It's as if you ALMOST read them all but had a knee jerk need to prove a point against what someone else wasn't saying.

You can look at stats all day, but facts aren't reasons. You can also select stats. If you look at deaths, the governor of NY can only be described as a murderer. This also does not explain the increase in cases in California. Americans were asked to do one thing, bend the curve. We have done that very well. We were never asked to eliminate the virus. Everyone knew there was going to be a spike in the summer and here we are and the health care system has not been overwhelmed.

No. Do your own homework. Better yet, follow Alex Berenson on Twitter. His fact based account helps to navigate the panic porn that is circulating the internet. But to help you JAMA did a study on mask wearing at MA hospitals. As it turned out, infection rates of employees went down.....at the same rate as the general population. Meaning, the decline was probably caused by something else. The second part never gets reported. I have yet to go to a bar/restaurant where the servers didn't touch their masks. That's the worst thing you can do. You're supposed to use the strings to adjust it. Most people don't squeeze the bridge of the nose portion...huge mistake. Some have been worn so many times without washing I'm surprised they don't disintegrate with a stiff breeze. Don't get me started on the Uber drivers. It's laughable to watch the public botch something as simple as putting a mask on. That's not a judgement on whether or not they work, just a general observation. I wear a mask where I need to. I've also never read the operating instructions for the mask and have no idea if I'm using it right or not. Based upon what I see on TV, probably not, but if I need to get to my bar stool to get drunk I need to participate in this public health theater much like going through TSA at the airport. I'm still confused about that data and science that tells me I need a mask to walk to my bar stool, but I don't need one while sitting there in an air conditioned building. After November 4th, covid will still be around for a while. Biden will probably win because Trump is the Oval Office version of The Morton Downey Jr. Show, which only lasted 3.5 year, which is about how long it took for the public to get sick of watching a silly real estate agent with the communication skills of a mid level 10th grader at Barberton High School argue with the press all of the time when things got serious. The day after the election, the news of covid will begin to change from dire to optimistic. It's the most predictable outcome.