The Haves And Have-nots

[gksmith]

If you have the current Sports Illustrated (March 5, 2007) this shows up on page 59 in the “Portrait of a Powerhouse: The Program” article. I have not read the article but I found this box interesting.

The Haves and Have-nots

The wealth gap between division I powers and paupers has never been larger

*figures in millions

Football

The Rich Revenue* Profit*(Loss)

Notre Dame $61.4 $43.5

Texas $60.9 $42.5

Ohio State $60.8 $28.5

Georgia $58.7 $44.1

Auburn $51.6 $31.5

The Poor Revenue Profit (Loss)

SUNY-Buffalo $0.67 ($3.4)

Akron $0.74 ($3.3)

Kent State $0.82 ($2.6)

San Jose State $0.95 ($3.6)

Utah State $1.15 ($1.7)

For all its success on the field, Boise State ranked 70th in revenue ($8.5 million) and spent just $4.5 million, one fourth as much as Notre Dame. Houston lost almost $3.9 million on football, the most of any school.

Basketball

The Rich Revenue Profit (Loss)

Louisville $21.5 $14.9

North Carolina $17.2 $12.5

Oklahoma State $16.9 $13.1

Arizona $14.9 $11.3

Syracuse $14.3 $7.5

The Poor Revenue Profit (Loss)

San Jose State $0.16 ($0.85)

North Texas $0.18 ($0.85)

SUNY-Buffalo $0.26 ($0.74)

Army $0.30 ($0.37)

Kent State $0.35 ($1.09)

Louisville’s basketball program showed more profit then the football programs at Clemson, Nebraska, Florida State 0 and Louisville. In women’s hoops only seven schools showed a profit, led by UConn at $975,379.

Athletics Overall (Schools with football and basketball)

The Rich Revenue Profit (Loss)

Ohio State $104.7 $2.9

Texas $97.8 $14.2

Virginia $92.7 $0.0

Michigan $85.5 $17.5

Florida $82.4 $4.2

The Poor Revenue Profit (Loss)

VMI $5.5 $0.03

Louisiana-Monroe $7.2 $0.03

Louisiana-Lafayette $8.0 $0.00

Louisiana Tech $10.1 $0.00

Arkansas State $10.1 $0.00

With $19.5 million profit (on $44.8 million in revenue), Central Florida ranked surprisingly third in the nation in profitability, behind Notre Dame ($22.7 million) and Georgia ($20.5 million).

Source: U.S. Department of Education, based on year ending June 30, 2006

[PlummMeanGreen]

And even more the reason we need a 40,000 seat stadium for all the new fans/new faces that UNT has as much opportunity to gain at the turnstiles than most any other school in the bottom half of NCAA D1-A. We can slowly remove UNT from the "haves not" grouping if we play our cards right in Denton. Not saying we will ever match what Notre Dame and USC are doing, but I'm sure most of you get my drift. At some point in time with all the other pieces of our puzzle falling in place (personel-wise) all this growth will translate to such new fans/new faces. Wonder how many more we have today since the hiring of Todd Dodge?

Speaking of Dodge Ball era: A business associate and myself were at a Weatherford eatery a few days ago and I'm wearing my Mean Green gear (including baseball cap) and these 2 black dudes who were heading toward the entrance of the eatery as my friend and I were leaving. Anyway, one of the most amiable guys hollers out at me: "You ready for football season?" of course, I responded with a "YES!" He continued: "You guys are going to do good with your new head football coach." I respond totally agreeing with this person I've never ever seen. How many of you have had similar experiences?

Quite frankly, I've had several similar "comments from total strangers" concerning TDodge and MG football from many who live more than 1 hour from Denton, Texas, America. Another such experience came from a very friendly Middle Eastern dude at a convenience store I was buying a newspaper.

As a large majority of you already know, we really do have something very special happening right now in Denton, in fact, similar to when Hayden Fry was first hired at UNT, but the difference now is we have (dramatically) more enrollment at our main campus and a Denton County population that is 5X's larger than the mid-70's in which to add many, many new fans. As several of you have posted: We just cannot afford to blow this opportunity.

I still defer to my signature statement below:

Edited March 5, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[greenminer]

What's the deal with Houston losing so much through football? Didn't they just win the CUSA?

[the real grad88]

The gap is enormous. We talk sometimes about future conference reoganizations. I think the one that is really going to be "earth shattering" is when the "haves" decide they could HAVE even more if all the "haves" would get together to form a couple of "mega conferences". They then would negotiate for their own media packages that would go up exponentially. Don't get me wrong, they would still throw the "have nots' a bone by playing them in nonconference games...just to allow us to be in their glorious presence...and guarantee their own bowl elgibility.

When that happens, the Baylors and Vandys can kiss it goodbye because they will join our ranks. Maybe THEN we can actually have common-sense REGIONAL conferences...among the "have nots"

[gksmith]

I think that is already in place...it is called the BCS.

If your school is a member of the 6 BCS conferences (B12, P10, B10, BE, ACC, SEC) you have more money, shot at talent, and facilities.

Go beyond the BCS bowl games. Look at the other bowls and how many include one or two BCS teams? I am not sure if there are any conferences that do not share the bowl money, but I am sure all the BCS conferences do, so even the Baylors, Vanderbelts, Washington States, Indianas, et al get some cash while putting in a losing record. Look at the other conferences and how many bowls they go to. Granted, 2 SBC teams went to bowl games in 2006, normally SBC only gets 1 bowl game and that pays less then $500K. That payout is less then what some of the BCS non-bowl teams get. And this is just football.

Basketball is geared the same way. The big conferences get to send the regular season AND conference tournament winners to the NCAAs (plus 3-5 others depending on at-large bids). Smaller conferences only get 1 automatic bid...the conference tournament winner. You know there are other teams that are worthy of going to the NCAAs that get passed over in favor of a big conference team.

Balancing the number of scholorships per school was a way to help level the playing field. Now there needs to be a way to balance the money. The BCS schools will not suffer because they have the name recognition. Kids will still PAY for school to ride the bench for the big schools instead of get a scholorship and play at a smaller school.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

If you have the current Sports Illustrated (March 5, 2007) this shows up on page 59 in the “Portrait of a Powerhouse: The Program” article. I have not read the article but I found this box interesting.

Basketball

The Rich Revenue Profit (Loss)

Louisville $21.5 $14.9

North Carolina $17.2 $12.5

Oklahoma State $16.9 $13.1

Arizona $14.9 $11.3

Syracuse $14.3 $7.5

The Poor Revenue Profit (Loss)

San Jose State $0.16 ($0.85)

North Texas $0.18 ($0.85)

SUNY-Buffalo $0.26 ($0.74)

Army $0.30 ($0.37)

Kent State $0.35 ($1.09)

Louisville’s basketball program showed more profit then the football programs at Clemson, Nebraska, Florida State 0 and Louisville. In women’s hoops only seven schools showed a profit, led by UConn at $975,379.

With $19.5 million profit (on $44.8 million in revenue), Central Florida ranked surprisingly third in the nation in profitability, behind Notre Dame ($22.7 million) and Georgia ($20.5 million).

Source: U.S. Department of Education, based on year ending June 30, 2006

Well that demonstrates how well our fans support the basketball program... and why I started my rant on poor attendance...

[Varsity]

You want to know how to close the gap? Bring back one platoon football.

Single platoon football means less $$$ spent for scholarships and big coaching staffs and would make smaller programs like UNT more competitive with the Texas and OUs of the world. it would also mean that colleges and universities could whore less and raise academic standards.

But, it would also mean less spectacular play. Still, I'm for it.