re: SIAP: Paul Bryant Jr's Bank Tie That Binds UA BOT

So it started out with and article on how the BOT has a lot of Bryant bank people on it and it morphed into Auburn people going "hisssssss hissssss Bama EEEEEEVIL BAMA EEEEEVIL" and Alabama people going "NUH-UH" for 7 pages

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There are no deflections.

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Let's change course for a second. Do you believe, at this point in time, that Ray Watts can be an effective President at UAB?

The hits keep coming. He has lost the trust of the student body, faculty and alumni. Putting football aside, if he really cared about the University, would it not be best for all parties for him to retire at this point? Imagine if Robert Witt, had been caught lying to Alabama boosters? How long would he have been President. I bring him up because he was a great President and comparing him to Watts shows how bad an administrator Watts is.

LINK

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The cost of killing UAB football, rifle and bowling includes paying coaches not to coach, an athletics director not to direct athletics and opponents not to play, as well as footing the bill for student-athletes to continue as students but not athletes.

It includes paying an outside consulting firm to run numbers to justify the decision, one outside PR firm to devise a plan to announce and sell the decision and a second PR firm to lessen the fallout.

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This is not just chat room banter, it is on the front page of the largest media org in Alabama.

Fans don't just show up to see the worst football product in the country for years for the heck of it. You know that. People get tired of dealing with the garbage. They stop showing up. Money coming in goes down.

But yes, blame the fans for having no control over their own athletic program. "You should've shown up to watch one of the worst teams in the country for a decade straight! It's not our fault we wouldn't let you hire a good coach for pocket change, or even think about building an on campus stadium instead of playing in the ghetto, or allow you to do fundraisers! You should've come to watch your team play and lose because they recruit so poorly due to bad facilities!"

Yeah, we got it.

As far as your question: The UAB Football Foundation began taking season ticket pledges during the CUSA basketball tournament in Birmingham. They sold 4,300 in 48 hours before the operation was frozen. 10,000 season tickets would put UAB as the highest number of season tickets in CUSA. Above Marshall, Southern Miss, etc.

If UAB had it's own 25,000-30,000 seat on campus stadium like they tried to get in 2011, there wouldn't be 70,000 seats for anyone to sit in. For at least half the games a year (which would be sellouts) you would have to get a ticket in advance. It's supply and demand. And I know countless people who just wouldn't go to UAB games due to it's location. Wrong or right? That's just how it is. More students would have gone to games. I don't see how anyone can argue those points. Region's Field is doing really well where it is and the UAB stadium was going to be built right next door to it. UAB football needed a stadium to survive and not getting it approved in 2011 was pretty much the death of the program right there.

edit: and just for the record, I've been to 60+ UAB football games in the past 10-12 years. I'm not just some sidewalk fan yelling for no reason.

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My only argument this entire time is that if fans would show up to the games, there wouldn't be an issue.

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what exactly do you consider an acceptable level of tickets sold/attendance?

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You should've shown up to watch one of the worst teams in the country for a decade straight! It's not our fault we wouldn't let you hire a good coach for pocket change,

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I'm an Alabama fan and I attended every Alabama football game through the Dubose scandals; Fran's skipping out, Price's stripper scandal; and poor Shula's rape by every SEC program.

Not only did I attend the games while the rest of the country and our SEC brethen laughed at the program, but I donated money and put my butt and my family's butts in the seats to support them.

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or even think about building an on campus stadium instead of playing in the ghetto,

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I attended many Alabama games in that ghetto. Besides, that ghetto, is just a few blocks from the UAB campus.

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quote:The cost of killing UAB football, rifle and bowling includes paying coaches not to coach, an athletics director not to direct athletics and opponents not to play, as well as footing the bill for student-athletes to continue as students but not athletes. It includes paying an outside consulting firm to run numbers to justify the decision, one outside PR firm to devise a plan to announce and sell the decision and a second PR firm to lessen the fallout.

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If you'd stick to President Ray Watts and stop interjecting the football/rifle/bowling teams into the discussion - most folks would probabaly agree with you.

I understand that UAB people want Watts gone and you believe his actions have been detrimental to UAB as a whole.

But it sounds like y'all are using the platform of the lost football team and the media driving it to further your agenda to oust the man.

Why not just highlight the shite job he has done on the academic side and let those actions speak for him incompetance?

The largest media org in Alabama sucks and has for a very long time, but that's all UAB has at the moment. And it's really a shame that UAB supporters have to hitch their wagon to Rep. Jack Williams "jihad" movement to shake up the UA BOT and reinstate UAB football through State legislation.

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Fans don't just show up to see the worst football product in the country for years for the heck of it. You know that. People get tired of dealing with the garbage. They stop showing up. Money coming in goes down.

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You had 9 freaking thousand ANNOUNCED for La Tech just weeks after they said your program might be shut down. Why doesn't UAB ask for a 50,000 seat dome with a screen bigger than Texas Stadium's? I mean if there is literally zero risk in spending millions on the football program then why not?

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or even think about building an on campus stadium instead of playing in the ghetto,

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Bama was able to sell out that stadium in the ghetto for YEARS. Hell Soccer got better attendance at Legion than UAB football

Again, 99% of college football programs aren't Alabama. Comparing a small non power football program to one of the most profitable in the country just isn't feasible. It will make almost any program look bad.