Michigan reports $15mm athletic dept deficit; what might be NU’s?
- Thread starter CMcCat
- Start date
I am curious if this will put downward pressure on the relative growth of coaching salaries over the coming years.
You have to be a little cautious with these number - it isn't quite analogous to a private sector profit/loss statement. It's internal accounting within a university. That doesn't mean it's meaningless; UM is making some cuts. I think @AdamOnFirst is correct that this could put downward pressure on coaches' salaries. But the overall position of the athletic department is going to be influenced by how facilities are financed, short-term coaches buyouts, etc. And an athletic department (or any university college) can run a deficit as long as the university administration wants. There's tons of internal deficits/subsidies within a university. Generally, athletic departments at D1 schools are pretty close to revenue neutral, but they don't have to be.
Note the reference to non-sport events revenue. This is also a main strategy of NU, hence the construction of a NRF entertainment complex to replace an historic and functional but non-special-event-revenue producing Ryan Field.
“historic and functional but non-special-event-revenue producing Ryan Field” aka “a dump”.
Way to denigrate the program!
I’m sure this is a great post for NU’s players & their families to see from our most prominent poster. 🙄
Hardly a dump. But clearly not sufficient to host the many concerts and events necessary to break even as a P2 member.
Of
Of course having concerts in a residential neighborhood with severely limited parking was always a bad idea and still is.
Wrigley Field Concert Series presented by Wintrust | Chicago Cubs
Upcoming concerts at Wrigley Field
www.mlb.com
W/R has some fair price sections, from my perspective, but I think the structure is tilted positively to NU. Which is good
Is NRF going to be set up as a cash cow for Saving Patrick Ryan?
They guy has given maybe a billion in gifts. It would be surprising if he wanted something other than the name and a few solid perks, right? Such a positive image for NU.
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Ryan Field was a dump. I’ve spent my entire life going to NU football games, but Ryan Field was awful. Sadly the temporary stadium on the lakefront is much more modern and comfortable than the old Ryan Field.
It remains unclear why you insist on complaining about using the new Ryan Field for concerts, etc. It’s entirely privately funded, fixes the last real disadvantage NU has in recruiting (besides Admissions), and will result in a much better gameday experience for both NU and visiting fans. Is it going to cost more than the old Ryan Field, sure… but prices have been hilariously low at NU for decades now and we are literally just catching up to the economics of modern day college football.
Gosh, you make it sound like paying more for tickets is a good thing. Thank goodness we’re we’re getting caught up? 🤪
By the way, everyone keeps saying “entirely privately funded,” but the fact remains that Pat Ryan made a bequest, meaning he’d leave $850M upon his passing. Until then, NU is fully footing the entire cost for construction now and the debt service from financing the project for years to come. I’m not saying that the Ryan’s weren’t generous, but Northwestern’s overbuilding, plus federal cuts to research funding, is already contributing to reduced benefits for NU employees, a hiring freeze, and forthcoming layoffs. Not exactly a bargain for the university community.
By the way, everyone keeps saying “entirely privately funded,” but the fact remains that Pat Ryan made a bequest, meaning he’d leave $850M upon his passing. Until then, NU is fully footing the entire cost for construction now and the debt service from financing the project for years to come. I’m not saying that the Ryan’s weren’t generous, but Northwestern’s overbuilding, plus federal cuts to research funding, is already contributing to reduced benefits for NU employees, a hiring freeze, and forthcoming layoffs. Not exactly a bargain for the university community.
Thank you for the opportunity to address these concerns.
First, I completely disagree with your characterization of RF. Completely. Not my entire life but my entire adult life have I been going to games there. Since 1986. I don’t need modern. We sat on the east side, in the sun. Natural grass, great sight lines after the 1996 renovation. Open bowl, historic towers. After the last game against Purdue when we ALL were on the field I looked back at my seats and said a sad goodbye. NRF will be flashy and fancy, yes. But compared to RF think it will be awful. Sterile. Arena football.
My problem with the concert strategy? I don’t care about the concerts. What I hate is the LIES! NU actually claimed it could not make the numbers work on the stadium project without its six measly mega concerts. At the same time committing to pay Evanston a hundred million dollars. It’s the outright lying as if you and I are idiots. They are so clearly building a new revenue stream and telling us all that they aren’t. How do you believe anything NU says about hazing or NIL or sound muffling architecture? Transparently dishonest. The Wildcat wears no clothes.
I am proud to be bowing out now when the NU I knew is no longer extant. I am on this board as part of my slow steps of goodbye. I won’t be around in the fall when the games begin nor next fall when, in irony of irony, the new stadium opens for the CU Buffs - the team I watched throughout my childhood which has now become the poster child for today’s sad state of college football.
I know what you are thinking—he’s about to yell “get off my lawn!” Sadly, NRF will have no lawn to protect. Just artificial turf, representative of the fakery.
Some of us fans have numerous fond memories of the old stadium.
Calling it a dump does it and yourself a disservice. It was old and needed a ton of work but was no dump.
Well put @CMcCat .
College football feels like a shell of itself. I’m glad the players are starting to get fair remuneration, but the ever expanding power conference playoff system has ruined the game.
That plus the youth football system in America falling apart - for many reasons - lead me to call football a “dying sport”.
The NFL mostly bores me as well. Thank goodness for baseball, basketball, and wrassling - three other sports that have arguably never been stronger at all levels.
So, in summary…
“I’m willing to accept the previous stadium experience at a lower price point even if it’s a couple decades behind and kinda mad that a university ‘played the game’ in getting required approvals from a somewhat hostile local jurisdiction. Why are you not more mad about this?!”
Did I miss anything?
I have a ton of fond memories of the place, including a ton of family photos on the astroturf and/or in the carnival tent that got stood up in the end zone. I literally grew up in the place, well before you probably ever knew NU even existed, missing about 3 home games in my life before I started playing HS football with conflicting weekend games.
It was still a dump and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves and/or butthurt that they’re going to have to pay more.
Recruits openly mocked it as an unserious, borderline HS stadium. It was a large HS stadium with a couple cool towers. It also didn’t have the revenue generating amenities needed in an era with 20 new roster spots to fund and a $20 million player payroll and eight figure annual House past player damages payments to make.
It sucked.
I am amused by the board members , who belittle the fans that enjoyed the old Dyche/Ryan Field and extol the virtues of the "game experience" that the new Ryan will bring.
I had great seats with beautiful sightlines of one of the best playing surfaces in college football. The "fan experience" for me, occurred on the field not in the restrooms or at the concession stands
The new Ryan will price out many of the old STH and I doubt the fan experience will compensate for their loss but at least the visiting fans will be better served.
There is no stadium that has better amenities or is more comfortable than my home, so the projected "fan experience" will not be missed, only my old sightlines.
Let's see if the new prices/NIL/revenue sharing improve NU's performance to justify copying the big boys, without their foundation to do so
I had great seats with beautiful sightlines of one of the best playing surfaces in college football. The "fan experience" for me, occurred on the field not in the restrooms or at the concession stands
The new Ryan will price out many of the old STH and I doubt the fan experience will compensate for their loss but at least the visiting fans will be better served.
There is no stadium that has better amenities or is more comfortable than my home, so the projected "fan experience" will not be missed, only my old sightlines.
Let's see if the new prices/NIL/revenue sharing improve NU's performance to justify copying the big boys, without their foundation to do so
See, you say stuff like this about sightlines and you’re just making stuff up. The new sightlines will be outrageously better and closer to the action. I too had good times at Ryan field, but to pretend it doesn’t have ancient sightlines that modern stadiums crush is just silly
I am making up that I had " great sightlines". Did you ever sit with me during the 20+ years that I had tickets. The new stadium may have good sightlines but I already had them before. I hope you realize that 25-30% of the seats will be in the end zone-enjoy those sightlines!
You missed a good amount of additional lying but it’s a decent summary!
So, Claude or Gemini?
Or just a fan of old time football!
I grew up watching games a Mile High Stadium. That was a great place, too.
And my butt had no problem with the RF metal bleachers that seems to be compelling others (not you, of course) into paying up for squishy, padded seats in NRF.
I got a kick of how they played up the great sightlines of NRF in some of the schematics. I am sure it will be much like watching football at Lyric Opera Theater.
Why do they keep playing games at the Rose Bowl? It’s a dump with bad sightlines. Tear it down and build another Lyric Operation Theatre!
You have got to be kidding, The renovation of McGaw hall didn't last long and it was still substandard. Everyone on here wants NU to stay in the Big Ten and play with the big boys, but, but, but....I'm not enthralled with the way things are going in college football but staying at old Ryan Field for this new era simply was not going to work.
If the new seats are more vertically oriented and closer to the playing surface, you will see the optical illusion of passes curving to the receiver . I experienced this phenomenon at Rupp Arena with jump shots bending to the basket
Maybe NU will have a deficit but I can't imagine they will have a deficit for paying players $20 million. My guess is that NU wont use even half of the direct allotted amount. The evidence for this is that it doesnt appear that they have any players that are worthy of big bucks. Im not knocking them, NU admin never has dived in "all in" for the sake of wins, like other private schools have.
Old Ryan field was a joke. The video board, the sound system, bathrooms, dungeon concourse, no permanent lights, the visiting teams locker room. The best part about it was the east and west and golf course tailgating lots.
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