NSIAP - UAB cutting football program may end up costing the school more

Oh no

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NSIAP - UAB cutting football program may end up costing the school more

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What school? We all know there is only one school benefiting from this

Cut to the chase....

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Why does this matter? Because it puts to lie the ludicrous notion that if the Alabamas of the college football world keep making more and more money—and potentially spend more and more of it on elite players—UAB and its ilk will have to drop the sport...
Nonsense.
We wouldn’t expect a mom-and-pop store that has grown from $1.4 million to $6.5 million in annual revenues (which is what the typical school in the bottom quartile of the FBS has experienced) to go belly up just because a big box store across town grew from $24 million to $58 million (what the typical upper quartile FBS school has experienced) in the same time frame, nor would we expect the mom-and-pop to keep pace with what the big box spends on marketing and employee bonuses. Why would UAB, or any other mid-major football school, be different? The Blazers don’t compete against the Crimson Tide or the rest of the SEC for the very best high school recruits; they compete against the rest of C-USA, against schools that choose to spend about as much on football as they do.
You don’t need to outrun a hungry bear. You just need to outrun the guy sprinting next to you. (Moreover, in UAB’s case, it should do just fine against its C-USA competition just by positioning itself as a great place to transfer in the event that Nick Saban decides you’re not good enough to break second-string on Alabama’s depth chart.)

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On a larger scale, this same sort of hide-the-profits accounting is—in my experience—all too common in college sports. It’s the kind of financial trickery that allows a swimming-in-the-black industry enjoying billions more in revenues than expenses to claim that more than 80 percent of FBS schools lose money on sports, the better to seek exemptions (via the federal courts or Congress) from the laws (antitrust or labor) that require all other entertainment industries to pay their talent free-market wages. Whether the school is trying to fool outsiders with its funny numbers or just managed to fool itself is hard to say, but one thing is certain: bad accounting drives bad decisions.

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Ask yourself a simple question: if things are really so tough, if UAB is the canary in the coal mine, so to speak, why are so many schools seeking to start football programs, or trying to move up to Division I?

LINK

Auburn board.

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why are so many schools seeking to start football programs, or trying to move up to Division I?

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A lot of it is due to the poorly conceived yet popular notion that a football program creates an identity for a school (generally a commute school like UAB or Georgia State) that will resonate with students and alums and create a stronger bond with the school. This will in turn churn up more donations to the athletic department and the school in the future as alums will feel more connected to the University. In addition they think that it will give them a new public presence across the country with which to sell their University.

I think, based on the majority of new programs in the past 10 years, that these are very, very flawed and unrealistic expectations, but those are the reasons why places like Georgia State, UTSA, UAB, etc want Division 1 football.

Free UAB from UA BoT and you wouldn't have to defend any of the nonsense.

Also, then they would have to pay their own bills and take responsibility for decisions.

Why are some UA fans so against this?

UAB

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This is a public university and it ought to be run for the public's benefit.

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Good point....I would like you to submit Auburn's athletic budget for 2015 for our review. We want to review your football related expenditures. We think you are budgeting too much for that defensive coordinator position.

I'm glad UT- Chattanooga hasn't ended UT- Knoxvilles football program. It would show major insecurities on their part.