Officials say ULM won't be following UAB's football footsteps

[Harry]

UAB's decision last week to discontinue its football program continues to receive backlash from not only its players but the student body who continues to protest the decision.

The school is the first to cut football since Pacific in 1995 with the school citing the rising costs in college athletics.

As the Blazers' coaching staff and football players pick up the pieces and look for a new school to call home, the decision hits close to home in the Monroe area.

UAB's athletic budget ranked 83rd among FBS schools, and first-year head coach Bill Clark was drawing a $500,000 paycheck annually with a staff expense of $1,011,000.

If UAB can make the decision to cut football, does it make schools like ULM that much more likely to fall in line?

The ULM athletic budget remains the lowest among FBS schools with its most recent revenue recorded at $11,231,311 UAB reported a total revenue of $28,159,249.

Head coach Todd Berry earns an annual salary of $358,250 and a staff pay total of $724,300, while playing three money games a year.

Read more: http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2014/12/10/uab-discontinues-footballis-ulm-next/20222149/

[DeepGreen]

Damn interesting.

[FirefightnRick]

If they are so poor how are they able to bring in Baylor and Wake Forest the past two seasons? I mean, if we're paying Immaculate Conception $425k what did they have to pay them?

Rick

[Arkstfan]

The thing is college sports aren't a business. If it is a business its a terrible business to be in because there aren't any schools that can justify the net profits on what they've poured in the last hundred years.

If presidents in the P5 told their ADs that they would get zero from the school or students and finish the fiscal year with $4 million cash on hand and turn $2 million of that over to academics they could all do it. Now assistants might not make a million and head coaches might not make three million and the locker room craze wouldn't be so crazy but they could do it and most of the G5 could run at or close the break even if commanded to do so. Salaries would be more like the MAC and teams would be more interested in how many bus trips they can make.

There will be others who fall. They may be carrying too much debt or unable to afford what they do now because enrollment falls.

[VideoEagle]

I don't have a good frame of reference for the $425k for IWU. Is that good or bad or average? If you look at Metroplex home prices, I know what I get for $300k vs $250k vs $200k. But then I look at Buffalo and a $200k here is $1.1 million there.

I keep reading that we are overpaying, but I don't see anyone with comparsble deals. Because we are in the Metroplex with TCU, SMU and Jerryworld our market is very different from Monroe, LA. That is no excuse for not getting quality teams in Denton, but I don't know if we are getting good deals or not.

[UNT90]

Isn't that Willie guy from Duck Dynasty a ULM grad?

I know he had been a special guest at ULM functions. If he cares about that program, it isn't going away.

[UNT90]

I don't have a good frame of reference for the $425k for IWU. Is that good or bad or average? If you look at Metroplex home prices, I know what I get for $300k vs $250k vs $200k. But then I look at Buffalo and a $200k here is $1.1 million there.

I keep reading that we are overpaying, but I don't see anyone with comparsble deals. Because we are in the Metroplex with TCU, SMU and Jerryworld our market is very different from Monroe, LA. That is no excuse for not getting quality teams in Denton, but I don't know if we are getting good deals or not.

The fact that we aren't scheduling at home equal to ULM is the big deal, not what we paid for an FCS team.

ULM isn't paying Baylor to come to Monroe, they are scheduling series with them. They understand that since they can only play 5 home ganes some years, they need to bring in teams that matter for their fans.

At UNT, we just give the fans crappy FCS teams as the line home OOC during those crappy 5 home game schedules.

This signals a basic misunderstanding by our AD on how to increase attendance and build a fan base.

Frustrating.

[meangreanmick]

If they are so poor how are they able to bring in Baylor and Wake Forest the past two seasons? I mean, if we're paying Immaculate Conception $425k what did they have to pay them?

Rick

I don't know. Maybe part of the answer is that they only play 5 HOME GAMES EVERY YEAR. In fact, the only 6 home game schedule in the last 6+ years was because Arkansas let ULM count the game in Little Rock as a home game.

[VideoEagle]

The fact that we aren't scheduling at home equal to ULM is the big deal, not what we paid for an FCS team.

ULM isn't paying Baylor to come to Monroe, they are scheduling series with them. They understand that since they can only play 5 home ganes some years, they need to bring in teams that matter for their fans.

At UNT, we just give the fans crappy FCS teams as the line home OOC during those crappy 5 home game schedules.

This signals a basic misunderstanding by our AD on how to increase attendance and build a fan base.

Frustrating.

At least once in the last three years, ULM had a five game home schedule with the only OCC game being an FCS team so they seem to have exactly the same problem. Based on their schedules, they are working the problem better than we are, but they are doing it with 2 and 3 for 1s.

Others have suggested we are over paying for Portland State and IWU but I haven't found the information to decide if that is correct or just internet obsessed ramblings.

[meangreanmick]

The fact that we aren't scheduling at home equal to ULM is the big deal, not what we paid for an FCS team.

ULM isn't paying Baylor to come to Monroe, they are scheduling series with them. They understand that since they can only play 5 home ganes some years, they need to bring in teams that matter for their fans.

At UNT, we just give the fans crappy FCS teams as the line home OOC during those crappy 5 home game schedules.

This signals a basic misunderstanding by our AD on how to increase attendance and build a fan base.

Frustrating.

ULM schedules only 5 homes games EVERY season to pay for that, they play more big payday games on the road. It's trade offs.

[Cerebus]

I don't have a good frame of reference for the $425k for IWU. Is that good or bad or average?

We paid TexSo (FCS) $225K to come here (FBS).

We paid Idaho (G5) $410K to come here (G5).

UT paid NT (G5) $750K $875 to go to Austin (P5).

IMHO:

1) We overpaid for a instate FCS because they had us over a scheduling barrel.

2) I have no idea why the UT payout to us is so low since I know we made more off at least one trip in the Dickey era.

Corrected the UT payout, that same weekend LaTech went to Norman and cashed a $975K check.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Cerebus

[VideoEagle]

We paid TexSo (FCS) $225K to come here (FBS).We paid Idaho (G5) $410K to come here (G5).UT paid NT (G5) $750K to go to Austin (P5).IMHO:1) We overpaid for a instate FCS because they had us over a scheduling barrel.2) I have no idea why the UT payout to us is so low since I know we made more off at least one trip in the Dickey era.

Thanks!

[Cerebus]

Some more high dollar payouts:

Miami(OH) @ Michigan: 1.1M

FAU @ Nebraska: 1M

Ball St @ aTm: 1.2M

FAU @ Wisc 1.2M

BTW: 1 and 1 contracts usually also have a payout for the team that travels. Usually they are the same. The Ohio/NT contract paid the visiting team $125K to cover expenses.

[Cerebus]

Georgia payout to us last year was 975K.

By comparison in 1998 we recieved a TOTAL of 1.28M to go to OU, Arizona St, aTm and Kansas.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Cerebus

[Cerebus]

Here are the Vol's payout for FBS home games in 2014 and 2015:

2014

--

Utah State: 950K

Arkansas St: 1M

2015:

--

UAB 925K (maybe not so much)

NT 750K

Edited December 12, 2014 by Cerebus

[meangreanmick]

I agree with some, but certainly not all of the AD criticism on this board, the scheduling is far from as straightforward as some make it out to be. However, this is clear and measurable, why do we get less? Are payments in these games partially driven by a ranking system? Estimated travel costs? Is there a reason (besides poor negotiating) why we would get paid less?

[VideoEagle]

Been doing some digging and found some interesting stuff. Big 10 paid an average of $438 per FCS game this year, compared to $827 for non-return games against FBS teams. Article includes PDF of some team contract amounts. Here's a link. Includes comments by Barry Alverez about being frequently over a barrel in negotiating as few teams have matching open dates.

Found an older article on some Mountain West teams. SDSU played 23 1 and dones between 2000 and 2010 - over two per year. Zero wins and $6 million in revenue. So much for that Mountain West financial gravy train! Here's a link.

And another article on how losing their coach is a "win-win" for Colorado State. Includes $2 MILLION to play at the Gators with no return game. Here's the link.

Scheduling appears far more complicated that just picking up the phone and demanding an ACC school come play a game in Denton.

Edited December 12, 2014 by VideoEagle

[FirefightnRick]

I believe we paid Idaho $50k more than UTSA paid Arizona. I could be wrong but I think NT03 had the link for that.

Rick

[Rudy]

So basically it sounds as if NT is being pimped out for lass than what we should be getting.

[FirefightnRick]

I believe we paid Idaho $50k more than UTSA paid Arizona. I could be wrong but I think NT03 had the link for that.

Rick

UTSA paid Arizona $300k. We paid Idaho $350k. And we are paying Over $400k for Portland State.

Rick

[FirefightnRick]

Was in the DRC the week of Nov 20th that we are paying Incarnate Word $350K

Rick

[UNTFan23]

UTSA paid Arizona $300k. We paid Idaho $350k. And we are paying Over $400k for Portland State.

Rick

I believe we paid Idaho $50k more than UTSA paid Arizona. I could be wrong but I think NT03 had the link for that.

Rick

UTSA versus Arizona is part of a 2-for-1 deal. There isn't a lot of money trading hands; basically the other team covers the visiting team's travel expenses.

[FirefightnRick]

UTSA versus Arizona is part of a 2-for-1 deal. There isn't a lot of money trading hands; basically the other team covers the visiting team's travel expenses.

Even better, not having to pay a lot of cash to get teams like Arizona into your stadium.

Rick

[gradumacated]

From my outside perspective it seems like there's something rotten in the state of Denmark when it comes to our scheduling versus our peers. There certainly seems to be a large discrepancy that has yet to be adequately explained.

[NT91]

Are season tickets going up? If so I don't want them for 2015. They also should add a ticket to the SMU game.