So football loses a ton of money regardless of how many FBS games it plays.
Football has also made the NCAA tournament six times this millenium (fewer than hockey!). Football has won two playoff games in the last ten years.
This is not some national power team that is getting national attention. It's a mediocre program. And it is mediocre playing playoff games on the campuses of small directional universities in rural America. It's useless.
For me, not useless at all. I find it entertaining, and provides many HS football players a chance to continue in their sport with some getting a chance at the NFL.
On a par with hockey as far as playing the best in the country? No. Not happening, buts that okay. Let the hockey team have a realistic goal of returning to National Championship level. Meanwhile, let the football team strive to be the best, at their level….
$90(more) for a drink holding ledge and a Maine blanket, but the views still great.
Just win.....
Yes, it was, which is why I wrote it the way I did. But for every school that makes money from athletics, or more specifically football and basketball, there are 44 or so that lose money. Of course, some of those, like UMass and UConn, dream of making money, but they fail to do so. However, most schools know that athletics will not make money.
So football loses a ton of money regardless of how many FBS games it plays.
Football has also made the NCAA tournament six times this millenium (fewer than hockey!). Football has won two playoff games in the last ten years.
This is not some national power team that is getting national attention. It's a mediocre program. And it is mediocre playing playoff games on the campuses of small directional universities in rural America. It's useless.
Useless for what? If the purpose of Maine's athletics is to make money, then yes. If it is to raise the school's national profile then you are probably correct. If it's to give fans of football and the school games that they can watch and cheer on their team it's probably not useless. And if it's to give student athletes a chance to get an education and continue to participate in a sport they presumably enjoy then no, football at Maine is not useless.
That said, BU eliminated football back in 1997 as a cost savings measure. While some BU fans have never forgotten or forgiven the then administration for that, because of it BU currently has 22 varsity teams. Meanwhile Maine dropped soccer and volleyball back in 2009 and currently has 15 varsity teams. It's not just offering sports, but offering sports that students want to participate in, fans want to watch, and that might raise the school's national profile, among other factors.
Also, note that the NCAA financial reports don't break out earned revenue vs institutional support as I (and others) do.
That said, BU eliminated football back in 1997 as a cost savings measure. While some BU fans have never forgotten or forgiven the then administration for that, because of it BU currently has 22 varsity teams. Meanwhile Maine dropped soccer and volleyball back in 2009 and currently has 15 varsity teams. It's not just offering sports, but offering sports that students want to participate in, fans want to watch, and that might raise the school's national profile, among other factors.
Sean
Fans don't want to watch anything at BU other than hockey. And fans in general don't want to watch any college sports outside of football, basketball and in select cases...hockey.
So football loses a ton of money regardless of how many FBS games it plays.
Football has also made the NCAA tournament six times this millenium (fewer than hockey!). Football has won two playoff games in the last ten years.
This is not some national power team that is getting national attention. It's a mediocre program. And it is mediocre playing playoff games on the campuses of small directional universities in rural America. It's useless.
Small directional universities in rural America? North Dakota....South Dakota....Montana....Delaware....UNH......those sound like peers in similar rural/small population states.
On the other hand.....Maine hockey is trying to out-do Quinnipiac....St. Cloud (D2).....Minnesota State (D2).....Michigan Tech (D2).....Bemidji State (D2).....Clarkson (?)......I'm sure that fans across America are chomping at the bit to see college hockey games with names like that.
So football loses a ton of money regardless of how many FBS games it plays.
Football has also made the NCAA tournament six times this millenium (fewer than hockey!). Football has won two playoff games in the last ten years.
This is not some national power team that is getting national attention. It's a mediocre program. And it is mediocre playing playoff games on the campuses of small directional universities in rural America. It's useless.
Not to come off as my usual AH self, but football has been in the National mix well since hockey has been, and that's completely verifiable.
Football, in fact, was one win away from another berth this season, while hockey hasn't been within a country mile of a National berth in many years.
(Was mens' soccer any good at Maine? I'm guessing that 94% of us have no idea, and that's a telling fact regarding which programs to support.)
Sean do you have a link to financials for other schools hockey programs, expenses vs revenue? Would be interested to see how various schools stack up.
Yes, there are folks here who do appreciate your numbers. Its an impressive undertaking.
Yes, here is my NCAA Financial spreadsheet. The link is in my sig, but if you have the forum set to shoW newest posts at the top sigs don't show (or didn't the last time I checked). The spreadsheet is updated with 2020 NCAA reports, but not the more limited EADA reports for the private schools. I requested the NCAA reports when the are usually first available last year instead of waiting until later and the government was slow to post the EADA data. I just downloaded it and now need to transcribe the information and add the additional data I either find elsewhere or extrapolate.
By the way, the columns at the far right of my spreadsheets for yearly hockey (overall profit/loss, earned profit/loss, game day profit/loss, sports camps profit/loss, Athlete Meals per Participant, tuition, total attendance, average ticket cost, year-to-year expenses change) and yearly overall (overall, earned, camps and bowls* profit/loss) are not in the reports but calculated from the information in the reports.
Sean
* I find the bowls profit/loss interesting as most of the schools report spending more on bowl games and coaches bonuses than they directly receive for playing in them. And generally the bigger the game the bigger the expenses reported and the bigger the loss. Part of that is due to bowl money that goes to the school's conference and is then split among all the conference members.
Last edited by Sean Pickett; 01-01-2022, 11:25 AM.
Fans don't want to watch anything at BU other than hockey. And fans in general don't want to watch any college sports outside of football, basketball and in select cases...hockey.
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