UNI Cuts Football Program

[JD720]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Many of my Iowa-fan friends complain constantly about the Big Ten not giving them a fair shake, and I usually agree with them.

Really? How so?

[Panther789]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Many of my Iowa-fan friends complain constantly about the Big Ten not giving them a fair shake, and I usually agree with them. They may rule this state, but they're viewed very differently in the scheme of the conference.

I agree that they certainly aren't at the top of the Big Ten food chain, but how do they not get a fair shake. Not saying I disagree with you, just unfamiliar with this argument.

[GonzoCat]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Cripes.

.

I guess you haven't noticed schools dropping sports programs left and right. There are 300 some odd division I programs in this country and something like 10 of them turn a profit while the rest lose money, most a high percentage of their budget. If you think that can continue indefinitely in the new economic times we live in then you probably think we as a nation can continue trillion dollar plus annual deficits indefinitely.

In the NCAA world the richest schools continue to garner an ever increasing piece of the pie and get richer while everybody else gets poorer. It's a perfect microcosm of our overall economy.

[TH1974]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

I guess you haven't noticed schools dropping sports programs left and right. There are 300 some odd division I programs in this country and something like 10 of them turn a profit while the rest lose money, most a high percentage of their budget. If you think that can continue indefinitely in the new economic times we live in then you probably think we as a nation can continue trillion dollar plus annual deficits indefinitely.

In the NCAA world the richest schools continue to garner an ever increasing piece of the pie and get richer while everybody else gets poorer. It's a perfect microcosm of our overall economy.

Cripes. Some schools are dropping sports, but it's not because the NCAA is out to eliminate all but the BCS schools. That notion is ridiculous. Take off the "woe is me...everyone is out to get us" tinfoil hat.

[GonzoCat]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Again with the cripes. Was that the word of the day on ignorantfools.com? The NCAA is the BCS schools. They are one and the same. They are not out to get us per se, they are just out to get all the money and to hell with every one else. It's a short sighted stratagey, but they are hardly the only mega business guilty of using that. The leaders of the NCAA and BCS conferences, coaches, etc. get their bonuses based on current years results, not the long term viability of college athletics.

You are the one wearing a tin foil hat if you can't receive any of the signals of what is going on. Or you are just too dense hat or no hat. Again I will ask how long the industry can survive with 95% of the member businesses losing money? You just disregard that fact. Woe is you.

[JD720]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Again I will ask how long the industry can survive with 95% of the member businesses losing money? You just disregard that fact. Woe is you.

Has the other 95% ever made money? While the big schools are making some decent money now, are things any different for the smaller ones (other than perhaps an expectation to at least break even)?

[TH1974]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Has the other 95% ever made money? While the big schools are making some decent money now, are things any different for the smaller ones (other than perhaps an expectation to at least break even)?

Gonzo's nutso conspiracy theory is missing many screws.

[Mudrafan]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

TH does not respond to the direct question he is ever asked. Beyond that, he is not even a UNI fan.

[TH1974]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Speaking of conspiracy nuts.

[SteinPizza]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Has the other 95% ever made money? While the big schools are making some decent money now, are things any different for the smaller ones (other than perhaps an expectation to at least break even)?

Unless someone has some damn good, irrefutable facts, then I highly doubt it. College sports was probably never a profit center until big time TV got involved in the 70s. It's hard to imagine the smaller schools AD's ever actually making money. Modern college sports exists due to television. Specifically, the coverage of all things football, and the men's basketball tourney.

[Newsbreaker]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Many of my Iowa-fan friends complain constantly about the Big Ten not giving them a fair shake, and I usually agree with them. They may rule this state, but they're viewed very differently in the scheme of the conference.

I have never heard anyone express this opinion, however I don't doubt that it exists.

Iowa sits in a truly bizarre place in the Big Ten. They are a football power (both in terms of program prestige, income and over-all interest), and they carry a lot of weight in that realm, however they are the smallest school in the league and certainly don't carry the same overall weight as some of the others.

Pertaining to this situation, they can control their scheduling (for the most part) and therefore can control the fate of the ISU series (just as ISU can do the same.)

[Panthers to the Bone]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

I would think, regardless, with UNI going to 2 FBS games per year in a couple years (by all accounts I've read/heard), I would think that Iowa and Iowa State would have an interest in keeping UNI on the schedule, for $$$ reasons (probably more for ISU than Iowa) and for schedule flexibility. UNI will pretty much move their schedule to fit Iowa/ISU needs unless it gets into October or later. With 9 Big 12 games, ISU can still play UNI, a MAC type school, and Iowa. With 9 Big Ten games, Iowa can do the same. If Iowa/ISU coordinate it correctly, the years they get 4 home conference games, they would play the Iowa/ISU series at home. When they have 5 conference home games, they play on the road. That would provide each participant in the series with 5 home games, then getting UNI as a buy game, and a MAC type opponent for the other more expensive 'buy' game.

With that said, it's unlikely you see Iowa and ISU willing to pay UNI on a yearly basis, but it could happen. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing it, as with familiarity comes parity, eventually. In all honesty, there has been parity already (see the 07 ISU game and 09 Iowa game). It doesn't mean one team isn't more talented than the other, but more things can happen that cause an underdog to win, IMO.

[run&blade]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

I think the amount of money UNI gets for playing FBS games is going to go up a lot in the coming years. With the Big Ten and Big XII going to 9 conference games they are going to want to schedule the other 3 games against lesser teams.

I think FCS schools will be in big demand and the price will go up.

[Trapped in California]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

Demand really for FCS really can't go up much from what it is, as FBS teams can only use 1 FCS win for bowl qualification.

[SteinPizza]

Re: UNI Cuts Football Program

With that said, it's unlikely you see Iowa and ISU willing to pay UNI on a yearly basis, but it could happen. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing it, as with familiarity comes parity, eventually. In all honesty, there has been parity already (see the 07 ISU game and 09 Iowa game). It doesn't mean one team isn't more talented than the other, but more things can happen that cause an underdog to win, IMO.

Familiarity and parity are two different things on the field. In the fans' and media's eyes - sure. However, both of those groups mostly consist of very uneducated people in terms of the game (particularly the media), and they have no bearing on the outcome (with the exception of things like crowd noise for the visitors, distractions by the home fans, home team player emotion fed by the fans, etc.).

PTTB, as far as two FBS games per year, where do you see that going? Are we talking 2 top 10-15 caliber programs (i.e. Iowa and Oklahoma)? Or, one very good program and one either not so good or MAC level (i.e. Cincinnati and Indiana)? By the way, Indiana would be a joke in the MAC too. The upper level of the MAC is a lot better ball than most people think.