Why are we playing SJSU?

[HuffyCane]

The additional money from the new tv contract is insufficient to offset the running deficit the non-revenue producing athletic teams and excessive compliance and administrative costs run up each year. It gets us closer to zero and makes capital investment more palatable.

Still, the question to be asked isn’t whether the body bag games are going away but whether we will be adding more than one each season or abolishing the athletic department altogether as group letters to the Board from the faculty and a separate letter from concerned alumni has suggested.

 

[lawpoke87]

Playing two "body bag" games a season and still having six home games on the schedule would be rather problematic imo. Hopefully the idea of having a five game home schedule is off the table.

 

[TU_BLA]

The additional money from the new tv contract is insufficient to offset the running deficit the non-revenue producing athletic teams and excessive compliance and administrative costs run up each year. It gets us closer to zero and makes capital investment more palatable.

Still, the question to be asked isn’t whether the body bag games are going away but whether we will be adding more than one each season or abolishing the athletic department altogether as group letters to the Board from the faculty and a separate letter from concerned alumni has suggested.

Faculty don't quite understand that abolishing athletics at this point is against their own best interest. The university will die if that happens. Maybe not completely and all at once, but you'd be looking at 1000 students max, no campus life, and nothing but liberal arts

 

[HuffyCane]

And that’s always been the quandary hasn’t it? A bowl game pays less than a body bag and after expenses can even cost you money. So do you take the money now and add a second body bag game thereby earning a cool million or do you pad the schedule with an extra win to make it more likely you go bowling and get a $250 - $500 payout? With our budget situation you almost have to have the money, but when we lose, or worse lose big, in those body bag games, then the naysayers on the faculty say it’s further evidence of the futility of the program.

 

[HuffyCane]

Faculty don't quite understand that abolishing athletics at this point is against their own best interest. The university will die if that happens. Maybe not completely and all at once, but you'd be looking at 1000 students max, no campus life, and nothing but liberal arts

Not to mention that 5% of the female students on campus would immediately lose all financial aid.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Seems like a lot of TU fans are now saying that they hate playing OSU.
Why has that game lost it luster for so many TU fans? It use to be a highly anticipated game. I know the last home game did not selI out, even before the weather problems developed.

I realize it is not the money maker it was when Skelly seated 35,000, but it still will draw a much better crowd than most home games, even though many of them are OSU fans.

For a lot of years, other than the occasional OU games, OSU was about the biggest fish TU played. I am wondering if it is because, fans have gotten accustomed to playing bigger fish than OSU, like Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas, Michigan State etc.,

The series lost its luster when it went from an annual home and home event to just an occasional matchup. Now it seems that we only play when its convenient to OSU.

You've been around a long time Tuloma. Do you think things would be different had Keith Burns not ran his mouth about OSU?

 

[TU Man]

i'm not against the "body bag" games...I'm against us not being able to compete in them lol

 

[Tuloma]

The series lost its luster when it went from an annual home and home event to just an occasional matchup. Now it seems that we only play when its convenient to OSU.

You've been around a long time Tuloma. Do you think things would be different had Keith Burns not ran his mouth about OSU?

I seriously doubt things would be much different. Honestly, I think OSU used his comments to further their best interest, but they were going to do what they wanted to anyway. It just gave them added support.

You make a good point about it ceasing to be an annual home and home, but it has not been that for many years. So I believe there is more to it than that. I have an opinion that is not really controversial, but might not be well received on this board coming from an OSU fan. All posters are not as gracious as you are to OSU fans.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I seriously doubt things would be much different. Honestly, I think OSU used his comments to further their best interest, but they were going to do what they wanted to anyway. It just gave them added support.

You make a good point about it ceasing to be an annual home and home, but it has not been that for many years. I have an opinion on the situation. Although it is not really controversial, I fear it would not be well received on this board coming from an OSU fan. All posters are not as gracious to an OSU fan as you are.

Is your opinion not that far off from the mentality of a reverse Kieth Burns statement? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

My apologies for the prior to opinion given grief.

 

[Tuloma]

Is your opinion not that far off from the mentality of a reverse Kieth Burns statement? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

My apologies for the prior to opinion given grief.

Well since you have already ripped me, I will give my opinion. I think a lot of it is because of fan apathy for all college sports.

Over the last 20 years a lot of the older dedicated fans at TU have died . They have not been replaced by younger fans.

TV has had a great impact for schools with many marginal fans like TU. Not only do their fans stay home to watch their school on TV, but also they stay home to watch the OU's and Alabama's of the world games.

In other words some TU fans are more interested in other teams on TV than TU. Therefore, they do not get enthused about TU playing OSU like they use to.

The schools with fanatical, die hard fans have not been hurt yet, but they maybe next. I said it was not really controversial, but I will likely be ripped by fans that hate OSU.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

All posters are not as gracious as you are to OSU fans.

Thanks. I only have bad feelings for Houston and Wichita. I have 1 rogue family member that went to OSU and she turned out ok. Everyone else went to Tulsa and they turned out ok too.

Burns spouted off in 2000, which was the last year of the annual series. I don’t know if it would have continued, but I think the odds of renewal were pretty good until we hired that idiot.

It just seemed like after that OSU delayed some games a few times and left us looking for late replacements. I just wasn’t as exciting any more.

 

[HuffyCane]

Well since you have already ripped me, I will give my opinion. I think a lot of it is because of fan apathy for all college sports. Especially, the younger generation. They are more interested in their electronics stuff and they have very little interest in sports....either participating or watching.

Over the last 20 years a lot of the older dedicated fans at TU have died or they are not physically able to attend games. They have not been replaced by younger fans. I think this especially applies to TU fans.

Additionally, TV has had a great impact on attendance for schools with many marginal fans like TU have been hurt the most. Not only do their fans stay home to watch their school on TV, but also they stay home to watch the OU's and Alabama's of the world games.

The schools with fanatical, die hard fans have not been hurt yet, but they maybe next. I said it was not really controversial, but I will likely be ripped by fans that hate OSU.

Fan attendance is down dramatically across the board in every sport. Better TV coverage and HD viewing, higher ticket cost, increased alcohol related incidents at pre-game, and even the threat of terrorism are having a big effect on who comes to games. Florida State won a national championship and had trouble selling out that season. They routinely have 15K empty seats. And that’s after they ripped out bleachers, gave up 5,000 seats or so and made the south oval booster loge seating. NASCAR may be out of business soon. TU isn’t unique. it’s demographics is a factor but not a cause of the problem. Every game on TV hurting local season ticket sales is the biggest factor, followed by most alumni outside of Tulsa living and working 3 to 6 hour drives away while we play night games or weekday games is another.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Weekday games, especially Fridays, are terrible for business.

Pats stays home to watch King of Queens, but pretty much everyone else I know goes to watch their kids or other family members play and perform at the local high school stadium.

 

[TU4ever2]

Been busy, haven't caught up on the thread. Did just see we signed a home and home with OSU.

So right now I want to eat a little humble pie and give Gragg his due for signing a series that matters a lot historically to the school and is with a P5 team.

I'll be back later to read up on Gmoney's cheerleading, Lawpokes answers, and Blue's genuine discussion and observations/arguements.

Good job Gragg. Do it some more.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Been busy, haven't caught up on the thread. Did just see we signed a home and home with OSU.

So right now I want to eat a little humble pie and give Gragg his due for signing a series that matters a lot historically to the school and is with a P5 team.

I'll be back later to read up on Gmoney's cheerleading, Lawpokes answers, and Blue's genuine discussion and observations/arguements.

Good job Gragg. Do it some more.

Rah, rah, sis, boom, in your face!

 

[TU4ever2]

Ok, caught up real quick.

Lawpoke, lol...you are clearly an OSU fan first. Don't get upset when you present a weak arguement and get called on it make a better arguement. No one counts more than another TU fan, alum, or anything else. That's called an appeal to authority and in this case not only is it a logical fallacy but an appeal to the wrong authority a TU alum about Tech? Come on man....

Tech currently had a long term series with Houston and I doubt it has ever entered our AD's mind to schedule them. But just speaking honestly Houston/SMU are the same money as Tulsa. A home game and a short trip away for whatever the travelling payment is the deal for all three. So try again I guess?

Clearly playing the victim is not a good arguement.


Gmoney...we need to send you to cheer school. If, you're gonna do it you should be the best you can be at. You could have gone with the you ugly cheer for example, more of a get up out of your chair cheer.

Blue some very solid points and again Army and Tech are what ever, the point was are schedule was woeful. Much better now, of course I would still like it to improve but it is no longer embarrassing and looks solid going forward.

Huffy, as a side bowl games are pure profit for TU now, bowl expenses are covered by the AAC. Also we are running a 7m+ deficit, we should expect about a 6m (maybe slightly more) raise from the total conference payout with the new media money and extra NCAA credits. A good run in the NCAA's or a solid bowl berth each year should put us near zero, just to add to what you were pointing out earlier.

 

[TU_BLA]

Fan attendance is down dramatically across the board in every sport. Better TV coverage and HD viewing, higher ticket cost, increased alcohol related incidents at pre-game, and even the threat of terrorism are having a big effect on who comes to games. Florida State won a national championship and had trouble selling out that season. They routinely have 15K empty seats. And that’s after they ripped out bleachers, gave up 5,000 seats or so and made the south oval booster loge seating. NASCAR may be out of business soon. TU isn’t unique. it’s demographics is a factor but not a cause of the problem. Every game on TV hurting local season ticket sales is the biggest factor, followed by most alumni outside of Tulsa living and working 3 to 6 hour drives away while we play night games or weekday games is another.

NASCAR....their problem is a week to week competitive issue and not knowing how to make every race a nail-biter like the super speedways and restrictor plates meaning every car has a chance. When they get on the 1 1/2 mile ovals, the races are only interesting on restarts and if you have a long run to the finish you end up with a race winner that is 5-6 seconds ahead of 2nd. It's the equivalent of OU being up 35 at half on UTEP....why would anyone stay to watch the end when you know the outcome? Or some might not even go because they know the outcome (I know OU is a bad example as they are one of the few that doesn't really struggle to sell tickets and actually have them used).