Is football the next sport cut @ BGSU?

[CrazyFan]

I would love to see some kind of cost analysis or even like a P&L on the football program. Take all the revenue the team is making on the 2017 season from ticket sales, game day sales (concessions, parking, etc), payouts for playing other teams, espn contract where they whore us out on Tuesday nights, profit sharing for the conference, and whatever else I'm missing and compare it to what it costs to run the program. Coaches salaries, gameday expenses, paying FCS schools to come in and whip our azz, tuition/food/etc for scholarship athletes, travel expenses, etc etc etc. I would bet it would be a very eye opening examination of the current state of our program. I would bet that our expenses exceed our profits and that the football program isn't supporting any other sports. I bet its losing money supporting itself. The remainder of the loses and the other sports are being supported by the student fees. But again, until we can see something like that, that's just my assumption.

[gmartin]

I would love to see some kind of cost analysis or even like a P&L on the football program. Take all the revenue the team is making on the 2017 season from ticket sales, game day sales (concessions, parking, etc), payouts for playing other teams, espn contract where they whore us out on Tuesday nights, profit sharing for the conference, and whatever else I'm missing and compare it to what it costs to run the program. Coaches salaries, gameday expenses, paying FCS schools to come in and whip our azz, tuition/food/etc for scholarship athletes, travel expenses, etc etc etc. I would bet it would be a very eye opening examination of the current state of our program. I would bet that our expenses exceed our profits and that the football program isn't supporting any other sports. I bet its losing money supporting itself. The remainder of the loses and the other sports are being supported by the student fees. But again, until we can see something like that, that's just my assumption.

I haven't seen anything for 2016, first year under Jinks, but I recall in 2015 BG made 2.28 million after all expenses, tuitions, payouts, coaches salaries, etc. BG went 10-4 that year.

2.28 million, but that was also against 3 road P5 schools (Tennessee, Maryland and Purdue). So you take away 1 of them P5 schools and your net profit is 1.28 million which probably is just enough to pay both basketball coaches and assistants and hockey program. So I'm guessing BG profits about 1.5 million a year on average. And that's not much money. Heck OSU or UM makes that just for parking only for ONE game but that money is enough to at least fund the salaries of the coaches in other sports.

[naandre]

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.nwherald ... b97975344/" target="_blank

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011 ... nancially/" target="_blank

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hustle ... s-released" target="_blank

[FalconTurf]

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.nwherald ... b97975344/

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011 ... nancially/" target="_blank

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hustle ... s-released" target="_blank

Each set of numbers varies and I believe "figures lie and liars figure" thus I doubt the reality of a profit exists. The question is do we get enough exposure/advertisement from the program to justify it. I sincerely hope so. On the other hand I do NOT believe football is the funding source of all other sports. Maybe, just maybe, there is the smallest of profits but $100,000 won't even fully scholarship women's golf one of our smallest non revenue teams.

[Clubber]

Even in its best year football isn't making anywhere near a profit. If football was making money and supporting other programs that would be great. Unfortunately, its not the case. A lot of the so called "sponsors" basically just buy tickets at a huge discount so BG can announce fake attendance figures.

It would make for a good Netflix or HBO documentary. Looking at all the ways MAC athletic departments hide how much football costs. It would be a difficult task, there is a lot of creative bookkeeping that goes on.

[gmartin]

Well those reports you listed were from 2009, 2013 and 2014. So I still stand by my knowledge of 2.28 million profited in 2015 because I know the person who told me and I seen the figures first hand. However like I said we had 3 games against P5 schools that year ($1 million, $1 million, and $1.25 million paydays as you call them.)

If you were to take away 2 of those big P5 paychecks from its revenue that year BG would made a profit of $30,000 before replacing those 2 opponents and if BG would have scheduled a home game we would have gained revenue but then pay that school so probably a wash.

So I stand corrected. I was wrong. If you were to take away them P5 games during a season we went 10-4, a MAC Championship and bowl game and our revenue was under $50,000!!!! Wow that's bad.

[CrazyFan]

Well those reports you listed were from 2009, 2013 and 2014. So I still stand by my knowledge of 2.28 million profited in 2015 because I know the person who told me and I seen the figures first hand. However like I said we had 3 games against P5 schools that year ($1 million, $1 million, and $1.25 million paydays as you call them.)

If you were to take away 2 of those big P5 paychecks from its revenue that year BG would made a profit of $30,000 before replacing those 2 opponents and if BG would have scheduled a home game we would have gained revenue but then pay that school so probably a wash.

So I stand corrected. I was wrong. If you were to take away them P5 games during a season we went 10-4, a MAC Championship and bowl game and our revenue was under $50,000!!!! Wow that's bad.

And that's a year that we were good and getting better attendance. Think of a year like this year where we suck and attendance will be and is way down. How much money is the program losing from the attendance being down? From the lost parking? From the lost concessions? From the sponsorships that might have happened had the team not looked so horrible last year and this year? Is that loss over the next 3 years greater than the 1.2 million or whatever it is to buy out Jinks? Its time this athletic department and administration start looking at it that way. Sure the buyout "cannot be done", but what about all the revenue that's being lost because this team sucks so bad? It's a business decision that takes the future into consideration. This university is not going to sell many tickets because people do not want to waste their Saturday afternoon or Tuesday night or whatever it may be to come watch a boring, undisciplined, uninspiring team lose most its games. Cut your loses and look towards the future earning potential and get rid of Jinks after this season. We have the money somewhere and with the right hire it will be earned back.

[Roll Along!]

Well those reports you listed were from 2009, 2013 and 2014. So I still stand by my knowledge of 2.28 million profited in 2015 because I know the person who told me and I seen the figures first hand. However like I said we had 3 games against P5 schools that year ($1 million, $1 million, and $1.25 million paydays as you call them.)

If you were to take away 2 of those big P5 paychecks from its revenue that year BG would made a profit of $30,000 before replacing those 2 opponents and if BG would have scheduled a home game we would have gained revenue but then pay that school so probably a wash.

So I stand corrected. I was wrong. If you were to take away them P5 games during a season we went 10-4, a MAC Championship and bowl game and our revenue was under $50,000!!!! Wow that's bad.

Maryland's not a traditional P5 buy game because it was a 2-for-1. I believe almost no money actually changed hands on that deal. That's how Toledo gets Miami (the real Miami) to come to NW Ohio. They forego the big payout.

Football does not make back nearly what their costs are. It's not even close. If this were a business, football would be a bad deal at BG. But it's not and running it like a business has only proven to be unsuccessful. There are stories of AD after AD that was brought in with business success (Michigan and Texas being two of the biggest, with both football programs just beginning to recover from those disasters) and failed miserably at running an athletic department like a business. Besides, there are so many positives to football at BG that are hard to put a dollar figure on. From the marketing and advertising to increased admissions to school spirit to keeping alums attached and giving back. It's not a business. Don't run it like one.

[CrazyFan]

Well those reports you listed were from 2009, 2013 and 2014. So I still stand by my knowledge of 2.28 million profited in 2015 because I know the person who told me and I seen the figures first hand. However like I said we had 3 games against P5 schools that year ($1 million, $1 million, and $1.25 million paydays as you call them.)

If you were to take away 2 of those big P5 paychecks from its revenue that year BG would made a profit of $30,000 before replacing those 2 opponents and if BG would have scheduled a home game we would have gained revenue but then pay that school so probably a wash.

So I stand corrected. I was wrong. If you were to take away them P5 games during a season we went 10-4, a MAC Championship and bowl game and our revenue was under $50,000!!!! Wow that's bad.

Maryland's not a traditional P5 buy game because it was a 2-for-1. I believe almost no money actually changed hands on that deal. That's how Toledo gets Miami (the real Miami) to come to NW Ohio. They forego the big payout.

Football does not make back nearly what their costs are. It's not even close. If this were a business, football would be a bad deal at BG. But it's not and running it like a business has only proven to be unsuccessful. There are stories of AD after AD that was brought in with business success (Michigan and Texas being two of the biggest, with both football programs just beginning to recover from those disasters) and failed miserably at running an athletic department like a business. Besides, there are so many positives to football at BG that are hard to put a dollar figure on. From the marketing and advertising to increased admissions to school spirit to keeping alums attached and giving back. It's not a business. Don't run it like one.

Well, when your losing $500k (??? just a stab in the dark) a year because your losing to FCS programs and your program sucks, maybe it should be more of a business. Granted your examples of Michigan and Texas could be true, but those programs already are big time programs and have a big time following. Their fans still follow them even when they suck. We are a totally different story. We suck, we lose lots of fans. It's only when we get better do we gain new fans and reclaim the old fans. Fans = attendance = money for the program. So when you have low attendance, how much money are you losing compared to higher attendance, and will a buyout of a terrible coach eventually make sense after a few years once you get the program back on the right track. I say yes.

[It's the Journey...]

So where does it stop?

If I understand you correctly, taking a hit in the short term would be worth it if the long term brings success. Is that fair? So what happens if we buy Jinks out now and bring someone else in that has a great resume and looks to be a home run and after a year and a half we are no better off? Do we buy this person out and spin the wheel again? If so we have just wasted 4 to 5 recruiting classes. What if we go with three misses in a row? Is it the same process?

My point is regardless of it being good or bad, we need consistency over a longer period of time than 18 months. If we can't commit to any coach for five years then we have no business having an athletic program of any kind. If we want to keep up with the P5's and go coach hopping let's change our name to the "Browns" because that is exactly what is wrong in Cleveland. That team cannot get footing of any kind because the coaching staff and philosophy changes way to much.

You will disagree, but I would give him at least four years.