Orlando Sentinel: Gators AD Scott Stricklin: Canceling football ‘would shake financial foundation of college athletics’

[billybud]

Fans vote with their remotes about what they want to watch.

 

[billybud]

Honest question....do you think that national fans would have "skin in the game" for UConn, or Wake, or ODU, or Indiana?

 

[huskymedic]

Chris Vannini on Twitter

“Informative stuff here from Craig Thompson on when college sport can come back. Reiterates it'll happen only when campuses are fully open and operational. https://post original url/cAwjnnwoGq”

twitter.com

 

[gioff2323]

Boise just announced furloughs starting next month for all coaches.

 

[billybud]

Boise just announced furloughs starting next month for all coaches.

10 day furlough....could have been much worse.

Includes academic side...

All staff and 12-month faculty who make $40,000 or more per year will be required to take furlough days between May 3 and July 31 of this year. The number of days to be taken without pay ranges from four to 10 days, based on annual salary. Dr. Tromp’s senior leadership team will take at least two weeks of furlough days and Dr. Tromp herself said she will take more.

 

[huskymedic]

Boise just announced furloughs starting next month for all coaches.

 

[gioff2323]

Tip of the iceberg

 

[ZooCougar]

I hope college football burns to the ground. Maybe UConn can be in a better position when the ash settles. Let that bubble pop baby.

 

[Jimdish255]

I hope college football burns to the ground. Maybe UConn can be in a better position when the ash settles. Let that bubble pop baby.

I love the smell of capitulation in the morning.

 

[ZooCougar]

I love the smell of capitulation in the morning.

It's not capitulation. Let's be one of the few still standing if it comes to it.

We have more control over our schedule than schools in conferences.

We just don't have any kind of TV deal.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[billybud]

Can't blame them...locked into guaranteed payments with no NCAA tournament or most conference tournaments...and now, maybe no football.

 

[Redding Husky]

Sooo...you may be one of the 605k that watched OK State-Tulsa last year....

But most aren't like you...that same week, 3.62 million watched Clemson-Syracuse, and 4.95 million watched Alabama-South Carolina.

Some figures from the 2018 year...

• The 366 regular season telecasts on ABC, beIN Sports, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, FOX, FS1 and NBC during the 2018 regular season averaged 1,802,000 viewers per game while reaching more than 163 million unique fans†
• 
  
• Seven teams played in three or more games ranked in the Top 25 for viewership: Ohio State (7), Alabama (5), LSU (4), Michigan (4), Auburn (3), Georgia (3), Oklahoma (3)

Folks don't watch Nebraska-NIU (201k) or Toledo-Colorado State (185k).

Whatever floats someone's boat is available....but the big numbers are generated by a double handful of teams.

College football is a regional sport.

 

[billybud]

College football is a regional sport.

Yes...South, Midwest...Texas, Oklahoma....the upper east coast, maybe not so much.

But it is a sport nationally watched and thus attractive to TV media puveyors.

 

[Ha Who]

P5 not the virus. If the regional conferences had not gone the way of community banks, things would be difficult but not insurmountable

 

[Jimdish255]

If it takes monetary greed to get people to stay inside or self isolate in their yards/take walks and such, then I'm all for it. Whatever is going to end all of this garbage quicker is fine by me. We all need to be aware and respect what we need to do. The sooner we do that, the quicker this starts to slow down.

You were right but we just didn't have the right stuff. And here we are.

 

[billybud]

The paradigms are changing...already there has been some movement towards watching sports on TV rather than in person....athletes will be receiving money and the facade of the scholar athlete is wavering.

And we have been flirting with "distance learning" for a decade or so. We may be on the cusp of a change in colleges and their sports as we have known them .

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

The paradigms are changing...already there has been some movement towards watching sports on TV rather than in person....athletes will be receiving money and the facade of the scholar athlete is wavering.

And we have been flirting with "distance learning" for a decade or so. We may be on the cusp of a change in colleges and their sports as we have known them .

Disagree, I actually see this moving in the opposite direction for two reasons:

1. Teams at the pro and college level are going to find out real fast how much they don't like playing in front of nobody. That leads to increased appreciation for having people in the seats and increased attempts to get that done at all cost - such as lowering ticket prices, increasing fan experience, etc.
2. Fans now know and will know what it's like to not have the option to see their team play in person. It's not the same. It's a different experience for the fan to decide not to go anymore out of anger or frustration as opposed to having the opportunity taken away externally. Plus, if fans see teams make an earnest effort to *want* them back and get rid of the high costs, smaller seats, absurd parking/food fees, and other nonsense that drove them away for the past decade or two, it can lead them back.

Combine these two factors and if executed correctly, a significant resurgence in attendance a few years down the line is possible once the health crisis passes.

 

[billybud]

Fan surveys at some of the large football schools have listed what would make for more attendance...

FSU's survey responses...

1...winning

2...food service where one can eat, sit with friends and still watch the game (at FSU, "terraces" are being built for season ticket holders.

3...a comfortable seat

4...a beefed up home schedule