The World of College Football

[kreed5120]

30 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

 

I think there is still value in college athletics as it keeps alumni engaged, enhances the college experience, and provides marketing for the University. 

 

All of this said, the costs have got out of hand. I get why the Nick Saban's and Urban Meyer's of the world made what they did. Their programs were highly profitable and they were highly successful.

 

I don't think athletics necessarily needs to turn a profit, but it also shouldn't be financially crippling schools. IMO no MAC football coach is worth $600K+, yet you have multiple making $1M+. They're only able to command that because MAC Universities, along with most of the G5, are heavily subsidizing athletic departments to the tune of ~$25M+/year. If that subsidy was something more manageable, let's say $10 million, staffing costs across all sports and building costs would be greatly reduced.

Edited August 29 by kreed5120

[exit322]

54 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I think there is still value in college athletics as it keeps alumni engaged, enhances the college experience, and provides marketing for the University. 

 

All of this said, the costs have got out of hand. I get why the Nick Saban's and Urban Meyer's of the world made what they did. Their programs were highly profitable and they were highly successful.

 

I don't think athletics necessarily needs to turn a profit, but it also shouldn't be financially crippling schools. IMO no MAC football coach is worth $600K+, yet you have multiple making $1M+. They're only able to command that because MAC Universities, along with most of the G5, are heavily subsidizing athletic departments to the tune of ~$25M+/year. If that subsidy was something more manageable, let's say $10 million, staffing costs across all sports and building costs would be greatly reduced.

 

Yes, yes, and yes.  And one more yes

[Blue & Gold]

https://thecollegefrontoffice.substack.com/p/college-sports-needs-a-price-for?r=22guzg

[Blue & Gold]

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

The bottom half of the teams are genius. Per Google for FY2024-25, here is the media payout per school: 

Ohio State: ~$91.55 million (highest, boosted by postseason performance)

Penn State: ~$88.9 million

Next 14 Fully Vested Members: $76 million to $80 million each

Oregon: ~$48M

Washington: ~$46M

 

There are ~20-40 teams from that graphic that will likely break away from the NCAA to form their own super league at some point. Most of the Big Ten teams will not be part of that "cool club". When they remain in the NCAA with the rest of us peasants, they'll have ample resources to outspend the Akron's of the world. Effectively, they're playing the long game. Well done. 

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

Now do MLB...

[Blue & Gold]

To be fair this was last week in the rain. But all things considered we did awfully well in comparison.

Edited Thursday at 07:22 PM by Blue & Gold

[72 Roo]

This attendance was horrible for a school as steeped in history as Pitt. It gives me hope that we will overcome our attendance issues in the years to come because we continue to make incremental improvements to the program and the event experience.

[exit322]

19 minutes ago, 72 Roo said:

This attendance was horrible for a school as steeped in history as Pitt. It gives me hope that we will overcome our attendance issues in the years to come because we continue to make incremental improvements to the program and the event experience.

 

I'm not sure the Game 1 event experience improvements were incremental, honestly. It was a big shift.

[UAZipster0305]

3 hours ago, 72 Roo said:

This attendance was horrible for a school as steeped in history as Pitt. It gives me hope that we will overcome our attendance issues in the years to come because we continue to make incremental improvements to the program and the event experience.

Now move the game from Thursday to Tuesday night and add a much earlier sunset, much colder temperatures, and stronger potential for bad weather, and that's the attendance handicap created by MACtion.

 

Also, tonight's contest between Pitt and Syracuse is a bit of a Haley's comet moment in terms of its rarity...it is a game of P4/5 teams that have both been defeated by the Zips! 🤘💪

[exit322]

1 minute ago, UAZipster0305 said:

Now move the game from Thursday to Tuesday night and add a much earlier sunset, much colder temperatures, and stronger potential for bad weather, and that's the attendance handicap created by MACtion.

 

But but but TV money.  Never mind you can't build a fan base because fans can not come to all the games...so they just don't come to any.

[GP1]

7 hours ago, exit322 said:

 

But but but TV money.  Never mind you can't build a fan base because fans can not come to all the games...so they just don't come to any.

Exposure.......

[GP1]

11 hours ago, 72 Roo said:

This attendance was horrible for a school as steeped in history as Pitt.

I guess Pitt is steeped in history in the way a Lipton tea bag has been soaking in a glass of pee for a month. I read an article about the history of Pitt football about 10 years ago. At that point Pitt had winning records in only 38% of seasons in their history. It's a historically horrible program deserving of low attendance. The only thing making them interesting now is the ability to schedule more cupcakes at the beginning of the year and playing in the ACC that allows for lots of average teams to make a bowl. 

[exit322]

13 minutes ago, GP1 said:

Exposure.......

 

Yes.  Playing when fans can't make it to games means you don't get any where it matters.

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, GP1 said:

I guess Pitt is steeped in history in the way a Lipton tea bag has been soaking in a glass of pee for a month. I read an article about the history of Pitt football about 10 years ago. At that point Pitt had winning records in only 38% of seasons in their history. It's a historically horrible program deserving of low attendance. The only thing making them interesting now is the ability to schedule more cupcakes at the beginning of the year and playing in the ACC that allows for lots of average teams to make a bowl. 

 

I suppose a terrible history is still history. Just like Akron is a storied FBS program. The story is just how not to run a program.

[zippy5]

18 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

To be fair this was last week in the rain. But all things considered we did awfully well in comparison.

This is going viral and the team entered the field as fans were in the concourse and not allowed in seats yet because of a lightning delay. A bit misleading.