Just curious - Keep football or don't?

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What's your vote?

  • Keep

    Votes: 25 43.1%
  • Drop

    Votes: 33 56.9%

  • Total voters
    58
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ALL sports had ticket sales of ~$350k in 2022 per the Knight Commission DB.

Calculated up last season's attendance numbers.

MBB (16 home games)= 59303 (3706 p/game)
FB (6 home games)= 25256 (4209 p/game)
*At a minimum ISU's WBB and Baseball programs also sell tickets, but they are not represented in this calculation.

Total # of fans= 84559
AVG # per ISU home event= 3844 fans p/game

$350,000 ÷ 84559= $4.14 per ticket

Cheapest MBB Ticket= $8
Most Expensive MBB Tix= $26
Football Ticket= $15

So the question is how many tickets is ISU just giving away for free? It has to be at least half, if not more. My thought is that ISU might be getting 1500 ticket paying fans per game across the two "revenue" sports we have.
 

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I consider it careful, reasonable thinking.
Irrational thinkers are responsible for the $33T debt........and ISU’s decreasing enrollment.

Two are wholly separate issues but your decision to link them speaks volumes.
 
Calculated up last season's attendance numbers.

MBB (16 home games)= 59303 (3706 p/game)
FB (6 home games)= 25256 (4209 p/game)
*At a minimum ISU's WBB and Baseball programs also sell tickets, but they are not represented in this calculation.

Total # of fans= 84559
AVG # per ISU home event= 3844 fans p/game

$350,000 ÷ 84559= $4.14 per ticket

Cheapest MBB Ticket= $8
Most Expensive MBB Tix= $26
Football Ticket= $15

So the question is how many tickets is ISU just giving away for free? It has to be at least half, if not more. My thought is that ISU might be getting 1500 ticket paying fans per game across the two "revenue" sports we have.

Are you looking at tickets sold vs. attendance?

ISU students pay for tickets via the bloated "student fees" and not at door.

Those factors need to be part of your revenue formula.
 
Calculated up last season's attendance numbers.

MBB (16 home games)= 59303 (3706 p/game)
FB (6 home games)= 25256 (4209 p/game)
*At a minimum ISU's WBB and Baseball programs also sell tickets, but they are not represented in this calculation.

Total # of fans= 84559
AVG # per ISU home event= 3844 fans p/game

$350,000 ÷ 84559= $4.14 per ticket

Cheapest MBB Ticket= $8
Most Expensive MBB Tix= $26
Football Ticket= $15

So the question is how many tickets is ISU just giving away for free? It has to be at least half, if not more. My thought is that ISU might be getting 1500 ticket paying fans per game across the two "revenue" sports we have.

Quoting my own post here, but using the $4.14 per ticket average above.

Football revenue= $104,559
Basketball revenue= $245,514

Tuition Cost: $9700 (in-state with fees, doesn't include housing costs)

Basically 37 students paying tuition brings in more revenue than the entire athletic department. 11 paying students bring in more revenue than the football program, and 26 paying students bring in more revenue than the basketball program. On the flip side it takes 1649 paying students just to pay for the entire athletics budget ($16M).
 
Are you looking at tickets sold vs. attendance?

ISU students pay for tickets via the bloated "student fees" and not at door.

Those factors need to be part of your revenue formula.
I think there could be an argument that ISU's athletics are practically a ponzi scheme. At the very least they are a complete rip off for the students.

With little or no legitimate earnings, Ponzi schemes require a constant flow of new money to survive.
 
I enjoy the programs as much as anyone on this board, but if the students aren't showing up to the events and if the local public isn't buying tickets, you really do have to start questioning their overall value.
 

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I should also be clear that I'm not endorsing dropping athletics, I just want to hear reasons why a $13M-$16M annual investment in athletics is worth it when you're only bringing in $350K in ticket revenue. Educate / convince me.
 
Woz, serious question - what is a new president, even one who loves football, going to do to fix the fundamental problems that ISU football has? Funding it at a comparable level as our conference peers hasn't done it. New coaches haven't done it. And I don't think it's even remotely possible that ISU comes up with $30-50M to build a new stadium.

So, what is gonna change? I'm really not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely interested in your thought proce
I’m not necessarily advocating to keep football.
Everything we have heard on this board to cut the program,is based on opinion and some people extrapolating figures that they believe are factual. Sure, some of these ‘facts”have come out of athletic administration. I don’t necessarily trust anything coming out of the Curtis administration as 100% true.
Coupled with her dislike for athletics and the baseball regional fiasco, I’m not so sure she/they gave a legitimate effort to properly examine the situation. I know some people will say the numbers don’t lie.

But there is a difference when you shut down a program because you’re not supportive of the program vs we love football and have done everything we can to save it, but regrettably must shut it down.
Not only does Curtis not care, she would NOT regret it at all! Her approach and attitude disturbs me.

So, why not let a new president exam the situation and the facts and the kinds of efforts that were made to save the program, if any? Then if there is no hope at all, shut the program down.
But what if he finds something that was never considered?

Thank you for your legitimate question.
 
I’m not necessarily advocating to keep football.
Everything we have heard on this board to cut the program,is based on opinion and some people extrapolating figures that they believe are factual. Sure, some of these ‘facts”have come out of athletic administration. I don’t necessarily trust anything coming out of the Curtis administration as 100% true.
Coupled with her dislike for athletics and the baseball regional fiasco, I’m not so sure she/they gave a legitimate effort to properly examine the situation. I know some people will say the numbers don’t lie.

But there is a difference when you shut down a program because you’re not supportive of the program vs we love football and have done everything we can to save it, but regrettably must shut it down.
Not only does Curtis not care, she would NOT regret it at all! Her approach and attitude disturbs me.

So, why not let a new president exam the situation and the facts and the kinds of efforts that were made to save the program, if any? Then if there is no hope at all, shut the program down.
But what if he finds something that was never considered?

Thank you for your legitimate question.
Thanks for the insight. I can see where you're coming from. Makes sense. (y)
 
I came across the below link. I have no idea how they calculate.



 
I came across the below link. I have no idea how they calculate.




It's just a rehash of EADA data. It's nonsensical though and not worth spending time even talking about it. Because student fees and institutional support are revenues so portions of it get credited against expenses for the programs. Just familiarize yourself with the Knight Commission data in the link I've posted a ton.
 

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Given that football is the largest scholarship "cost" (63) and the largest outlay wrt coaching staff and team support staff (19 this year, 14 coaches, 5 support) and that 19 is 30% of the ENTIRE ISU Athl Dept coaching staff(s) and team support staff(s) -- it's pretty obvious ISU will be $$ ahead w/out football.

Not all scholarships would "have to be replaced" -- NCAA requires ## of sports, the scholarships are more about "reflecting the student body's male/female ratio..." which is why Dr. Bradley's admin was forced to add a women's sport -- the ## of female students had risen, throwing the male/female scholie ratio out of whack...

So, drop football, add enough non-revenue sports to maintain NCAA and MVC membership.

Those sports will have fewer scholies (saving money), fewer staff members (saving money), less equipment to purchase, maintain (saving money), will use EXISTING infrastructure (saving money)
And no one in the stands
 

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No! Your silence on the piss poor, woke, Curtis led administration speaks volumes!
The list of Administrators that have NOT served isu well is longer than Curtis, the place wasn't "broken" overnight - it won't be "fixed" overnight. The alumni need to up their game, as do other members of the university community
 
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Right, because the Hulman Center has been sold out for decades and the season ticket WAIT list is Green-esque. 🤡
I heard season tickets for the upcoming basketball season are as high as they’ve been since Odum graduated. There’s a big difference in the progression of both programs.
 
In any event, the whole tit-for-tat about attendance does not fucking matter. It's about allocating your limited resources that best benefits your athletics programs and University for the long term viability of both.

I'm hearing funding is already dropping for football and Mallory has been told he needs to raise more funds. For those that want football to stick around, if you aren't opening up your wallets, you are a problem. You need to call the SAF and start making targeted donations to the football program.
 
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