EMU Faculty, Students: Drop Out Of Division 1 Football

[Drew]

"Culturally and geographically, EMU football will simply never succeed from an attendance and financial standpoint," faculty member Howard Bunsis, who helped prepare the report, said in a presentation to the Board of Regents on Friday. "It is a losing proposition – always has been, and always will be. We hardly raise any money for football, and our attendance is the lowest in the country. Some of you believe that we are close to succeeding, if we just throw more money at the situation. This proposition is insane."

 

[NYUConn]

They are 100% right. Now, more than ever, with the TV revenue gap growing, there is little justification for small, directional state universities to be playing FBS football.

 

[Ldandy]

I can't say I disagree. This is not a UCONN stuck in the AAC Debate. There is literally no interest among students, alums, or non affiliated fans to justify the massive expense of a 1A Football Team at Eastern Michigan. Sports might be the front porch of the university as Susan Herbst commented, but I'd be stunned if more than 5 people ever were inspired to attend EMU because of its sports teams.

 

[Adios]

Sad stuff. Some old fogies would remember the 1974 WFL Detroit Wheels played at EMU's stadium. Attendance was horrible for a decent pro league in Ypsilanti, too. They folded mid-season.

 

[Ldandy]

In fairness to EMU, you have to question if the entire MAC should consider doing the same thing? Despite Northern Illinois making a BCS Bowl Game in the last 5 years, and multiple schools being ranked over that time, their media deal puts them hopelessly behind the major conferences from an economic standpoint. We are living in an age where OSU will potentially make 40-50 million a year from TV Deals while Ohio U makes 650K. With that in mind, both schools have facilities to maintain, coaches to pay, travel expenses, and 85 scholarships to award. Cost of attendance is not even a consideration for these schools.

Why not drop football back to FCS Levels, fund 65 Scholarships, and divert precious resources into sports like basketball and hockey where it is proven that smaller schools can compete? Is the prospect of playing a 6-6 B1G Team in Detroit so captivating to fans that they would never give it up? Even if the alternative is their schools being a part of an exciting playoff competing against size appropriate opponents for a title decided on the field? Eastern Michigan is a hell of a lot closer in program stature to Eastern Washington, than they are to The University of Michigan. I think the service academies should consider doing the same. Taking on major college football is a buy in that is too rich for many of the current schools' blood. Sad yes, but still reality.

 

[Dooley]

Over the weekend, I saw a program about this very thing that, ironically enough, included EMU (it also included Rutgers and another school that did drop football and put a farm over their football field). Some good arguments to be made against chasing the football devil. The program was ruthless against Rutgers - they interviewed a few upset professors and a student who eats 3x a week while trying to justify putting their football team at the Hyatt before gamedays. EMU was mentioned specifically for losing so much for so long, is struggling financially as a school, but still managed to find money to dress their football team in 3 different uniform options this past year.

I think the days of the MAC, C-USA, Independents aside from ND and BYU, WAC, MWC, and yes, the AAC, are numbered. You simply cannot compete when you draw $1M/yr or less from your TV deal. Some schools in these conferences can continue scheduling payday games in which they will likely get clobbered but can afford to keep playing. We're moving more and more towards an English Premier League vs smaller leagues model for college sports.

 

[whaler11]

FCS makes even less sense than FBS.

 

[Seaa Blue]

Eastern has had some good basketball teams.

Here's the problem:

University of Michigan .... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ...... ...... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... Eastern Michigan

The other problem being that if they don't field a football team they'll probably get the boot from the MAC.

 

[noeynox]

Eh, state money that isn't spent on EMU football will instead go to Michigan and Michigan State. Currently 85 kids get a full ride there. Like Whaler said playing FCS, is even costlier. The number one pick in the NFL Draft a couple years ago was from Central Michigan. Most schools lose money on athletics. Unless it's bankrupting the school or making tuition totally unaffordable it's worth it.

 

[uconntailgater]

I still remember that UConn versus Eastern Michigan game in the 2000 season when the UConn punter totally botched the punt. I was listening to the game in Mississippi via the Internet., which back in the early millennia was still kind of a new experience.

 

[UConnDan97]

FCS makes even less sense than FBS.

I'd agree with this statement 99% of the time. With Eastern Michigan, I'm still trying to figure out if it falls in the "1%".

If you look at their attendance over the last 10 years, they have had attendance figures as high as 19,000 per game (2008 w/ no P5 home games) and as low as 4,000 per game (2011 and 2012 w / no P5 home games, but with a game against #25 N. Ill.). So here's the argument that I could see to move down to FCS:

1) The tv money would be negligible, since their current deal is such crap (is it something like 200k per school?).
2) If they could establish winning seasons again in the FCS, could they increase attendance by 5k per game per year (30k for 6 games ~ $750k approx. ?). I gave an average of $25 revenue per person per game, when including money on concessions / ticket / parking / etc. Could be smaller. Could be bigger.

If we look at it in that fashion, it starts to make sense to move down. If they could make the FCS playoffs, they could conceivably earn more home games, as the higher seed gets home field. That would equal more revenue as well; as much as 50k for each round that Montana State played in, for one instance. And if they have to travel, they get their expenses covered:

"For the championship, "Each team has an official travel party of 145 persons for the game," Leech told me. "That travel party gets its transportation fully covered and gets a $130 per diem to offset their hotel and meal expenses."
Basically, unlike the bowls, where the athletic departments can get soaked, for the playoffs the NCAA actually subsidizes the experience."

While Bowls Struggle To Sell Out, FCS Title Game Sells Out In Days

So I'm not sure. Attendance could actually drop if they move down. But is the attendance really being propped up by watching the team lose to Akron??? I think I'd consider the move if I was EMU...

 

[whaler11]

Their current paid attendance is probably just about zero.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I do not disagree with EMU's decision to drop football, and I am certain they will not be the last school to make that decision. Anyone who argued for a second that realignment was good for the kids should explain it to the 85 student-athletes, few if any of whom have NFL dreams, that will not be able to pay for college now.

 

[whaler11]

I do not disagree with EMU's decision to drop football, and I am certain they will not be the last school to make that decision. Anyone who argued for a second that realignment was good for the kids should explain it to the 85 student-athletes, few if any of whom have NFL dreams, that will not be able to pay for college now.

? The group recommended it - they didn't decide to drop it.

Realignment didn't hurt EMU. They have been this bad forever - it's not like realignment changed things for them.

 

[The X Man]

Over the weekend, I saw a program about this very thing that, ironically enough, included EMU (it also included Rutgers and another school that did drop football and put a farm over their football field). Some good arguments to be made against chasing the football devil. The program was ruthless against Rutgers - they interviewed a few upset professors and a student who eats 3x a week while trying to justify putting their football team at the Hyatt before gamedays. EMU was mentioned specifically for losing so much for so long, is struggling financially as a school, but still managed to find money to dress their football team in 3 different uniform options this past year.
.

FYI the program if anyone is interested is Real Sports on HBO.

 

[Dooley]

FYI the program if anyone is interested is Real Sports on HBO.

Yup. Here is a clip from what I saw: Ep. 229 Trailer: Arms Race

 

[TRest]

Don't the MAC schools get a bigger piece of the playoff $ now (as do all the BCS conferences) even if they don't have a team in the one slotted big bowl? That $ alone may be the difference maker over dropping down to FCS.

 

[pepband99]

? The group recommended it - they didn't decide to drop it.

Realignment didn't hurt EMU. They have been this bad forever - it's not like realignment changed things for them.

Yeah, it's shocking he jumped on a "drop football" mantra prematurely..

 

[upstater]

FCS makes even less sense than FBS.

It depends. Rhode Island's total athletic budget was $6m when I checked 3 years ago. Some of these schools are around $12m. But if you can do it for $6-8m, that's a lot more reasonable than losing $20m.

 

[BlueHen]

I do not disagree with EMU's decision to drop football, and I am certain they will not be the last school to make that decision. Anyone who argued for a second that realignment was good for the kids should explain it to the 85 student-athletes, few if any of whom have NFL dreams, that will not be able to pay for college now.

After they drop football I hear that the rest of their sports are going to join the Big East.

 

[huskymedic]

PaulMyerberg 5:30pm via Twitter Web Client
In an open letter, Eastern Michigan admins say: "We have absolutely no plans to eliminate FB or move into any other division or conference."

Open Letter to the EMU Campus Community, Alumni, Friends and Supporters

>>We want to collectively reiterate that any notion, suggestion, or headline that in any way suggests Eastern is considering eliminating football or moving into another conference or division, is absolutely false. We will remain proud members of the Mid-American Conference football family for a long, long time.<<

 

[shizzle787]

In fairness to EMU, you have to question if the entire MAC should consider doing the same thing? Despite Northern Illinois making a BCS Bowl Game in the last 5 years, and multiple schools being ranked over that time, their media deal puts them hopelessly behind the major conferences from an economic standpoint. We are living in an age where OSU will potentially make 40-50 million a year from TV Deals while Ohio U makes 650K. With that in mind, both schools have facilities to maintain, coaches to pay, travel expenses, and 85 scholarships to award. Cost of attendance is not even a consideration for these schools.

Why not drop football back to FCS Levels, fund 65 Scholarships, and divert precious resources into sports like basketball and hockey where it is proven that smaller schools can compete? Is the prospect of playing a 6-6 B1G Team in Detroit so captivating to fans that they would never give it up? Even if the alternative is their schools being a part of an exciting playoff competing against size appropriate opponents for a title decided on the field? Eastern Michigan is a hell of a lot closer in program stature to Eastern Washington, than they are to The University of Michigan. I think the service academies should consider doing the same. Taking on major college football is a buy in that is too rich for many of the current schools' blood. Sad yes, but still reality.

The Sun Belt and maybe C-USA should follow suit if the MAC schools collectively drop to FCS.

 

[UCFBfan]

While folks continue to want to believe that all these schools will want to drop down to FCS, just stop for a minute and look at all the programs that are still moving up from FCS. Why would teams still be moving up if it's not more profitable to be an FBS school in the Sun Belt or C-USA than being FCS??? No one is dropping down anytime soon unless they are forced to for an obscure reason (ie Idaho).

 

[upstater]

While folks continue to want to believe that all these schools will want to drop down to FCS, just stop for a minute and look at all the programs that are still moving up from FCS. Why would teams still be moving up if it's not more profitable to be an FBS school in the Sun Belt or C-USA than being FCS??? No one is dropping down anytime soon unless they are forced to for an obscure reason (ie Idaho).

UB went from losing $7m a year to losing $28m a year after moving up from FCS to FBS. I dn't think I'd call that profitable. Why do they do it? Because administrators would rather keep their 7-figure job than battle out with the people who think this is a good idea.

 

[Drew]