ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

[unofan]

The UNL Athletic Department, in 2011, had overall revenue (according to reports submitted by UNL to the Department of Education) of $83,679,756.00 and expenses of $78,509,148.00, which left the department an operating surplus of $5,170,608.00 for the year. Figures for 2012 are not yet available. These numbers do not include athletic department donations which are mostly, but not all, taken in by and administered by the NU Foundation, which is a completely separate 501(c)(3) organization. The NU Foundation, with a full time staff of 150 people, was founded and is run by donors. The Foundation took in 172 million dollars in donations in 2011. The Foundation's current assets are about 2 billion dollars. Since 2009, the NU Foundation raised more money than any public university in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas or Missouri, as well as at least two Ivy League schools, to give you an idea. NU's total endowment is among the top 20 of all U.S. public universities. Think about who some of the alumnae of this school are, which includes several members of Forbes 400 richest Americans list, including the 3rd richest man on the face of the Earth.

Now, all that money is not earmarked for athletics, but a lot of it is as witnessed by the Foundation picking up whatever is left of the tab to build the Breslow Center, an amount they seem pretty unconcerned with according to the press report I posted earlier in the thread.

Further, the University of Nebraska's athletic department is in such good financial condition that the department is among the less than 10 public universities or colleges in this country that does not receive even so much as one cent of subsidies from their parent state. Type "University of Nebraska athletic department financial woes" into to Google and you'll get zero results. Because there aren't any.

What on Earth men's basketball at UNL, and it's particular revenue issues, have to do with this discourse, I don't know. In any event, when Pinnacle Bank Arena opens that entire dynamic is projected to change dramatically, anyway. I mean, all 30 of the suites have been sold since last March and the building doesn't even open until this fall. At $45K to $60K per year, each, along with the mandatory purchase of 12 season tickets per suite in addition to the yearly rental fee? That's like another 2 million per year all by itself.

Even with the Title IX issues there would be here, and I readily acknowledge that they exist, money is NOT an impediment to this happening, particularly if the boosters want it. The amount of money being spent on athletic department facilities add-ons and upgrades, all going on right now at this writing, between the Breslow Center, Pinnacle Bank Arena, the remodeling of the East stadium at Memorial Stadium,and the remodeling of the Devaney Center is almost 290 million dollars.

Yeah, the Huskers are broke. Right. In fact, they are so cash flush that they are one of the lead protagonists in the athletic department facilities wars going on at college and universities nationwide and have athletic facilities, across the board, that are rivaled by few schools. Very few.

UNL's athletic department salaries, alone, are more than the sum total of the entire UNO athletic department budget. UNO seems to be able to afford hockey (on a less than 9 million dollar total overall athletic budget) and whatever Title IX implications it caused them. With a facility already built, this means only needing to endow another 36 scholarships, 18 men and 18 women. Nebraska President Harvey Perlman told Sports Illustrated in March of last year that the average cost of an athletic scholarship at NU is $29,064.00 per year. Times 36, that is just over a million bucks a year. That is chump change in the overall scheme of the UNL budget. Put it another way, let's say they decide to build Breslow larger. What do you think they are gonna get for the suites and their associated seats in that building if it goes that route?

Saying the money isn't there and that that is the reason it won't/can't/wouldn't happen is just utterly ridiculous.

Tl; dr version: the endowment is big but earmarked for academics, let's ignore how football eats up its revenue, and let's also ignore the fact that nebraska has cut men's sports like gymnastics in the not too distant past. Or the fact that regents want to demolish the ice box, and have had that desire for years, but clearly they'd be all for adding a hockey team to further siphon fans from its **** poor hoops team.

Creighton is more likely to add hockey than nebraska. And that isn't exactly in the forseeable future.

[Red Cows]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

Forgive me, I thought you had been saying all along that there is a group of boosters who have decided that UN-L will take the hockey club DI, and, since they are the tail that wags the dog, it is a done deal. Now you are saying "IF" the boosters want?

That's something of the conjecture part of this on my part. Clearly, John Breslow wants us to have an arena. He kicked in 7 million bucks of his own cash to make this happen and they're sticking his name on it. Clearly, the NU Foundation is on board. The Foundation is ALL boosters and they are picking up the other 12 odd million of the tab he, the City of Lincoln, and the rec program are not.

You're missing the entire point here. Nobody has come out, anywhere and said "NU is going to have D-1 hockey sooner than later " or, words to that effect (well, actually, the press here has, but.....). This is all about the clear and obvious fact that all these things I've mentioned, from a facilities standpoint, are steps that would have to occur for it to actually happen. Name me another BCS conference school other than Nebraska that is currently building a hockey rink other than Penn State. And the Huskers are building a stand alone dual rink arena and the bigger arena going up right next to this dual rink facility just so happens to have been prepped for ice in case they need it there, too. What other possible motivation for this could there be?

I'm reading between the lines here quite a bit. That's why I said earlier in the thread, "If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, it's a duck".

If Nebraska and/or it's booster operation doesn't have this in the back of their mind at some level they are sure doing a Grade A, First Class impersonation of a somebody that does.

I ask you, forget about Title IX or the monetary aspect for a minute. Throw those out for a second. If I told you Nebraska was building these facilities, what would YOU infer from it? Particularly in light of the recent advent of the Big 10 hockey conference, which, by the way, is launching with only 6 teams.

You don't build facilities for the heck of it. To me, this is a simple case of 2 + 2 = 4. I think it might be a couple three years away but I think this is going to happen at some point in the not too terribly distant future. Eric Olsen, formerly of the Lincoln Journal Star, now of the Associated Press and stationed in Lincoln, wrote that he thought UNL would go D-1 in hockey within 4-6 years, tops, the day of Shawn Eichorst's public introduction press conference in December.

Hell, I could be wrong about all of this, but I don't think I am.

[SteveP]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

That's something of the conjecture part of this on my part. Clearly, John Breslow wants us to have an arena. He kicked in 7 million bucks of his own cash to make this happen and they're sticking his name on it.

$7M?? What a piker!

[huskermavfanchuck]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

Actually, Red Cows reasoning is a lot closer to reality than ANYTHING you've spit out. Let's start with the fact that the last DI sport cut by UNL was men's swimming and diving. Gymnastics had been talked about ages ago as a possibility, but that talk hasn't had any legs for a long time, after the NCAA did some tweaks in their rules to attempt to help some sports that were losing membership, including men's gymnastics.

Where have the University of Nebraska regents EVER said anything about tearing down the Ice Box? They've been planning Innovation Campus (for those that don't know, the Ice Box is on what used to be the Nebraska State Fairgrounds, and those grounds have been given to UNL to use to build a tech/business park to spur research dollars) with the Ice Box planned as a permanent/long-term resident of that area. At the time the move of the State Fair happened, the Lincoln Stars were in the first few years of a 25-year lease for the building. Even though ownership of that lease transferred from the Nebraska State Fair Board to UNL, the ownership of the Stars said publicly that UNL had told them they planned to honor the lease, and Chancellor Perlman indicated the same.

So please, give me links to show me where those indications are wrong. I can tell you that the Lincoln Journal Star reported on the information regarding the Ice Box, and I have seen no rumblings about eliminating other sports at UNL anywhere. Heck, in the B1G, most schools have a lot MORE sports sponsored than we do, and with extra money coming in once we're a full member via the TV agreements, it's likely we're going to have extra to look at funding different sports. Considering that, by that time, the major projects going on right now will be done, there won't be a lot to look at in specific regarding facilities. (Notwithstanding the fact that Red Cows already showed that much of the money for the projects is being provided outside of UNL's yearly athletic budget anyway.)

I still think it's a matter of when, not if. But I've also said I could easily see them waiting until the dust settles on the current projects and UNL starts getting their full revenue share from the conference before they consider adding hockey, or any other sport. I could actually see men's and women's hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, and men's soccer all as viable possibilities in the future (and potentially a women's sport that I'm not aware of/not thinking of right now, potentially to offset men's soccer). Regardless, it's an exciting time in Nebraska, for all 3 DI schools. Love what UNO is doing with all of their moves over the last few years, and can't wait to see what the future brings for all 3!

Edit: Sorry, this post was in response to unofan's post above. Sorry for any confusion.

[4four4]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

That's something of the conjecture part of this on my part. Clearly, John Breslow wants us to have an arena. He kicked in 7 million bucks of his own cash to make this happen and they're sticking his name on it. Clearly, the NU Foundation is on board. The Foundation is ALL boosters and they are picking up the other 12 odd million of the tab he, the City of Lincoln, and the rec program are not.

You're missing the entire point here. Nobody has come out, anywhere and said "NU is going to have D-1 hockey sooner than later " or, words to that effect (well, actually, the press here has, but.....). This is all about the clear and obvious fact that all these things I've mentioned, from a facilities standpoint, are steps that would have to occur for it to actually happen. Name me another BCS conference school other than Nebraska that is currently building a hockey rink other than Penn State. And the Huskers are building a stand alone dual rink arena and the bigger arena going up right next to this dual rink facility just so happens to have been prepped for ice in case they need it there, too. What other possible motivation for this could there be?

I'm reading between the lines here quite a bit. That's why I said earlier in the thread, "If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, it's a duck".

If Nebraska and/or it's booster operation doesn't have this in the back of their mind at some level they are sure doing a Grade A, First Class impersonation of a somebody that does.

I ask you, forget about Title IX or the monetary aspect for a minute. Throw those out for a second. If I told you Nebraska was building these facilities, what would YOU infer from it? Particularly in light of the recent advent of the Big 10 hockey conference, which, by the way, is launching with only 6 teams.

You don't build facilities for the heck of it. To me, this is a simple case of 2 + 2 = 4. I think it might be a couple three years away but I think this is going to happen at some point in the not too terribly distant future. Eric Olsen, formerly of the Lincoln Journal Star, now of the Associated Press and stationed in Lincoln, wrote that he thought UNL would go D-1 in hockey within 4-6 years, tops, the day of Shawn Eichorst's public introduction press conference in December.

Hell, I could be wrong about all of this, but I don't think I am.

I don't think you are wrong.

[Red Cows]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

I could actually see men's and women's hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, and men's soccer all as viable possibilities in the future (and potentially a women's sport that I'm not aware of/not thinking of right now, potentially to offset men's soccer). Regardless, it's an exciting time in Nebraska, for all 3 DI schools. Love what UNO is doing with all of their moves over the last few years, and can't wait to see what the future brings for all 3!

I will echo that I have heard a lot of talk here about lacrosse being added at Nebraska and even MORE talk than that about women's field hockey, which is currently only played by 7 Big 10 schools at the D-1 level.

[huskermavfanchuck]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

Aye. Considering my understanding is that lacrosse can basically use the soccer field for their play, and the soccer stadium just got resurfaced and looks very nice after that was done, I could easily see that happening.

[Hockey Monk]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

Somebody please send this to the Nebraska Athletic Department. Penn State is having record crowds in their first year of D1 and is looking to turn a profit by year 2:

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/stor...jerry-sandusky

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

And the award for most unneeded tag goes to that link. I guess it's smart SEO by the writer to throw Sandusky onto the end there, but he's completely unrelated to this.

[Red Cows]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

And the award for most unneeded tag goes to that link. I guess it's smart SEO by the writer to throw Sandusky onto the end there, but he's completely unrelated to this.

It will be interesting to see how Penn State actually draws on campus next season. They "only" sold out 9 of their 10 games in Greenberg Ice Pavilion. To me, that seems like something of a warning sign since it's only a 1350 seat arena. There has been discussion in the Penn State thread on the topic of attendance this season and next, as well, early on in the thread and the discussion there isn't as rosy as the article above is. Not even close, as the article above makes suppositions about this without any facts to back them up. Here are a couple links from that thread on the topic that would seem to indicate that ticket sales are a big concern already around there:

http://thankyouterry.blogspot.com/20...r-concern.html

and followed by this:

http://thankyouterry.blogspot.com/20...ket-sales.html

Looks like getting people to a Penn State hockey game in an NHL arena in a major market or somewhere else on a one time basis is going to be a whole lot different than getting them to show up night after night in Happy Valley, perhaps.

[davyd83]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

It will be interesting to see how Penn State actually draws on campus next season. They "only" sold out 9 of their 10 games in Greenberg Ice Pavilion. To me, that seems like something of a warning sign since it's only a 1350 seat arena. There has been discussion in the Penn State thread on the topic of attendance this season and next, as well, early on in the thread and the discussion there isn't as rosy as the article above is. Not even close, as the article above makes suppositions about this without any facts to back them up. Here are a couple links from that thread on the topic that would seem to indicate that ticket sales are a big concern already around there:

http://thankyouterry.blogspot.com/20...r-concern.html

and followed by this:

http://thankyouterry.blogspot.com/20...ket-sales.html

Looks like getting people to a Penn State hockey game in an NHL arena in a major market or somewhere else on a one time basis is going to be a whole lot different than getting them to show up night after night in Happy Valley, perhaps.

Worried about ticket sales? The one game that didn't sell out was against a D-III team. How can you gauge what sales would be like? How can there be concern? Gee, you mean there weren't 4,000 more people lined up to buy those 1300 tickets....

[Red Cows]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

Worried about ticket sales? The one game that didn't sell out was against a D-III team. How can you gauge what sales would be like? How can there be concern? Gee, you mean there weren't 4,000 more people lined up to buy those 1300 tickets....

I'm not personally worried about ticket sales nor am I even in a position to have much of an opinion. Penn State fans are, though. Did you read the links I posted above? The blogger, Kyle Rossi, who did these write-ups, is involved enough in Penn State Hockey that he has press credentials to attend every game and he also worked at Greenberg as well, it appears from reading his blog. He's also a forum member here and posts as Scally Lama. In fact here is a post where he addressed some questions I raised about these two blog posts in the Penn State thread:

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.ph...=1#post5521396

He seems less concerned, but he is still at least concerned on some level. He'd know better than I.

[SteveP]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

I'm not personally worried about ticket sales nor am I even in a position to have much of an opinion. Penn State fans are, though.

I interviewed Associate AD Joe Battista during last night's game against ACHA #5 Ohio. The game drew 6,107 at the Giant Center in Hershey, the 8th time this season the Nittany Lions have played before more than 5,000.

[MGoBlueHockey]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

I hope NU adds hockey. Another sport Michigan can beat them in .

[Red Cows]

Re: ACHA D1 to NCAA D1

I interviewed Associate AD Joe Battista during last night's game against ACHA #5 Ohio. The game drew 6,107 at the Giant Center in Hershey, the 8th time this season the Nittany Lions have played before more than 5,000.

The attendance at these various off campus games was duly noted by Kyle Rossi on his blog. However, his concern was seeing that kind of crowds actually attend games in Happy Valley, itself. I can't speak to his argument(s) about why it's a concern but he has some that seem to have some basis in fact.