OT: Could Akron/Kent Merge?

[hammb]

Right...that's why people go to college and ring up tens...if not hundreds...of thousands in debt. So they can get any ol' job they can find. Which they aren't really doing right now anyway..the labor participation rate for "millennials" is at a historic low.

Taking a longer view...it's entirely possible that the taxpayers in Ohio are going to tell those of us who are interested in keeping the unique identity of BGSU or UT or Kent State to pound it. They don't care if we like having a football team that plays in front of 15,000 (charitably) people every week. They're not going to pay for it. At that point...some degree of consolidation would be inevitable

It's getting to be s bit ominous with sorts especially IMO. How do you justify all the debt when such a huge portion of it goes to funding collegiate athletics?

[pdt1081]

Right...that's why people go to college and ring up tens...if not hundreds...of thousands in debt. So they can get any ol' job they can find. Which they aren't really doing right now anyway..the labor participation rate for "millennials" is at a historic low.

Taking a longer view...it's entirely possible that the taxpayers in Ohio are going to tell those of us who are interested in keeping the unique identity of BGSU or UT or Kent State to pound it. They don't care if we like having a football team that plays in front of 15,000 (charitably) people every week. They're not going to pay for it. At that point...some degree of consolidation would be inevitable

It was more tongue-in-cheek/sarcasm than anything. Although, if you were to find the rate for college graduates actually working in the field of their degree, I'm sure the numbers would change drastically.

[Flipper]

I've heard it's a tough market for interpretive dance majors...unless you have a pair of 36 D's.....


And you're a woman who doesn't look like Lena Dunham

[Globetrotter]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... -shut-down" target="_blank

Reading the comments this seems really shady.

[footballguy51]

Reading the comments, it sounds exactly like something that could happen in this state. Sad, but true.

[Class of 61]

Reading the comments, it sounds exactly like something that could happen in this state. Sad, but true.

Aw, c'mon.... You dont really think that our " progressive" thinking folks in Columbus would even dream of something like this, would you?

Gosh! Could we then become THE OSU /at Bowling Green?

If so, I'd be outa here.

[Critical Thinker]

I posted this on another message board in response to UAB football shutting down:

I wonder if this will become a trend in other states, where the big state schools try to get rid of "inferior" teams because they don't matter. I could see this happening here in Ohio where the Useless Nuts claim that they're THE team of Ohio, and every Ohioan should be a Bucknut regardless of their alma mater. However, O$U doesn't control any of the other FBS schools, so it would be significantly harder than Alabama main-campus shutting down Alabama satellite-campus.

[poltergeist]

I posted this on another message board in response to UAB football shutting down:

I wonder if this will become a trend in other states,

Alabama is a special kind of insane, and a model for nobody. for one thing, the state of Ohio doesn't have anybody like Paul Bryant Jr.

but every mid-major sports program has to figure out the financing in this brave new world.

"In a study to be published in the Journal of Sport this winter, Dr. Ridpath calculated that in 2012-13, MAC students spent on average more than $300 per semester subsidizing athletics. During a time of mounting student debt, that is nearly $2,500 over four years."

[kdog27]

I keep seeing people post stuff on twitter and Facebook about saving UAB football. Well maybe if you had attended a game or watched a game in the past ten years they wouldn't be in this situation. Instead you have an entire wardrobe of Alabama/Auburn clothing and haven't missed a game since you were a child. Pretty sad that I have no connection to UAB or the state and have probably been to more football games than most students or alumni.

[Flipper]

Kdog...Some of the UAB people say Legion Field is a dump and it's too far from campus...you're down there, is that a legit set of compalints?

[hammb]

I posted this on another message board in response to UAB football shutting down:

I wonder if this will become a trend in other states,

"In a study to be published in the Journal of Sport this winter, Dr. Ridpath calculated that in 2012-13, MAC students spent on average more than $300 per semester subsidizing athletics. During a time of mounting student debt, that is nearly $2,500 over four years."

I think this is a genuine issue, and I do think it'll come to a head at some point in the not too distant future. MAC students are subsidizing the hell out of sports programs that most of them don't seem to much care about. And they're doing so by racking up loads of extra debt.

I love football, but the costs to run a program are insane and every change that happens with D1A seems to push us further and further away from competitiveness. The big boys don't want us even pretending to be on the same level as them. I don't want us to drop to a lower division, or drop football altogether, but at the costs to the students I think it is probably a fair conversation.

I wonder what those athletic subsidy figures would look like if they dropped down a level, or got rid of football altogether. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have to believe a bulk of that expense is in financing the football program (and the extra women's programs that are Title IX mandated by carrying football).

[Falcon137]

Kdog...Some of the UAB people say Legion Field is a dump and it's too far from campus...you're down there, is that a legit set of compalints?

I would also add....it's not exactly in the best part of town.

[jpfalcon09]

UAB is a unique circumstance but I do believe there will be more schools dropping football in the coming years, especially as the P5 begins to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. It simply isn't going to be monetarily feasible for many of the lower mid-majors to continue to absorb the losses, mostly from football programs, in the face of reductions by state funding and ever increasing tuition costs. At some point the question going to be asked is do football programs add enough value to the college experience and provide enough of a marketing tool to attract students. I feel that answer will begin to increasingly become no.

[Falcon137]

When is the Doyt going to be updated?

[kdog27]

Kdog...Some of the UAB people say Legion Field is a dump and it's too far from campus...you're down there, is that a legit set of compalints?

I would also add....it's not exactly in the best part of town.

This is all true. It's a couple miles from campus. I actually work right by the stadium and will confirm that it is a very rough area. Still a million people live within a half hour of downtown but they only care about the schools in Auburn and Tuscaloosa. Oh yeah the place is definitely dilapidated. I think the top part has been condemned, not that they needed it after they stopped playing the Iron Bowl there.