rma Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2020/06/14/ub-football.html Quote Could Covid-19 sack UB's athletics program? First, there is nothing in this article to indicate that - obvious clickbait. The article eludes to Syracuse University being part of a "small number of elite college sports programs" (note that one of the article's authors is a SU grad). Quote Bowling Green University cut its baseball program in May as part of a $2 million cost-saving measure that also includes furloughs for coaches. Bowling Green State University actually reinstated the baseball program over the past few weeks. Quote Akron University, meanwhile, is undertaking a $4.4 million cut that includes eliminating men's golf and cross-country, and women's tennis. There is no school named Akron University. Quote Alnutt, who noted that should the Bowl Championship Series be canceled in early winter, the financial impact would be even greater than the lost basketball postseason. Not sure if this is Alnutt misspeaking (unlikely) or the reporter not knowing the difference between the BCS and the CFP, but the BCS has been canceled for over 6 years now. Unfortunately, clickbait and inaccuracies seems par for the course for SU grads. This actually seems to be one of the better and more accurate articles written by a SU grad that I've read recently. Edited June 14, 2020 by rma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RecoveringHillbilly Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 Usually, the Buffalo Business First articles on UB are informative and totally accurate...not quite this time around. At least Alnutt gave some good information many of us have pondered. I figured the past sports cuts and our subsequent revenue boosts from championships, NCAA wins, and bowls, led to our department budget increases. Plus we do not have the enrolment issues the likes of which the Akron's and BGSU's face(d), requiring them to take on debt for campus improvements. Hopefully the conference's cost cuts are enough and stage 3 openings in WNY this week mean at least our area is treading safely. Cuomo said that some summer youth sports can begin July 6th with guidelines. Hopefully we get our money games (along with at least 1 win!), we can safely space fans in UB stadium, provide concessions in a safe way, and the high demand for live tv events (as we have seen in some recent events) means advertising revenue will still flow toward our media partners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rma Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 1 hour ago, RecoveringHillbilly said: Plus we do not have the enrolment issues the likes of which the Akron's and BGSU's face(d), requiring them to take on debt for campus improvements. That's one of the issues that has been plaguing conference members, but we have not faced. IIRC only UB, Ohio, and Miami have had steady enrollment increases recently. Akron is in huge trouble there. They already accept the overwhelming majority of applicants, and yet their enrollment continues to plunge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooklynBull Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 5 hours ago, rma said: That's one of the issues that has been plaguing conference members, but we have not faced. IIRC only UB, Ohio, and Miami have had steady enrollment increases recently. Akron is in huge trouble there. They already accept the overwhelming majority of applicants, and yet their enrollment continues to plunge. Three best academic schools in the conference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promotherobot Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 On a tangent, the guys from Trainwreck were on WGR last Saturday and said "inquiries were made" about a conference move by UB. They seemed to suggest Alnutt is talking to the AAC about replacing UCONN. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gxtrex Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 57 minutes ago, promotherobot said: On a tangent, the guys from Trainwreck were on WGR last Saturday and said "inquiries were made" about a conference move by UB. They seemed to suggest Alnutt is talking to the AAC about replacing UCONN. Im sure we would all be in favor of that. How realistic is it though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promotherobot Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Gxtrex said: Im sure we would all be in favor of that. How realistic is it though? I don't think it's unrealistic. On the one hand you have increased travel costs. On the other you get increased TV revenue. UB would provide a solid replacement for UCONN. It would give the AAC a northeastern presence with alumni in the NYC area. We already have a long history with Temple. And we bring in solid football and basketball programs. We're never getting into the Big Ten but the AAC is the next best conference outside the Power 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gxtrex Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 22 minutes ago, promotherobot said: I don't think it's unrealistic. On the one hand you have increased travel costs. On the other you get increased TV revenue. UB would provide a solid replacement for UCONN. It would give the AAC a northeastern presence with alumni in the NYC area. We already have a long history with Temple. And we bring in solid football and basketball programs. We're never getting into the Big Ten but the AAC is the next best conference outside the Power 5. Yea it makes sense from our point of view. It seems like its really early in the process though. Any more details besides inquiries were made? Did we ask the AAC or did they reach out? And are the seriously considering us? I really hope we can get in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rma Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 3 hours ago, promotherobot said: On a tangent, the guys from Trainwreck were on WGR last Saturday and said "inquiries were made" about a conference move by UB. They seemed to suggest Alnutt is talking to the AAC about replacing UCONN. How could we pull that off in this financial environment? Is the volleyball team going to take a bus to Tulsa? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooklynBull Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 3 hours ago, Gxtrex said: Im sure we would all be in favor of that. How realistic is it though? Speak for yourself. It is unlikely that the additional TV revenue would cover the added expenses. Where would wrestling go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gxtrex Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 Just now, BrooklynBull said: Speak for yourself. It is unlikely that the additional TV revenue would cover the added expenses. Where would wrestling go? Im speaking mainly for high revenue sports like football and basketball. Smaller sports could always be one offs in other conferences if the travel budget was too much. You can't argue that a jump to the American would be a big boost to our sports programs in terms of competitive and probably revenue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooklynBull Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 1 minute ago, Gxtrex said: Im speaking mainly for high revenue sports like football and basketball. Smaller sports could always be one offs in other conferences if the travel budget was too much. You can't argue that a jump to the American would be a big boost to our sports programs in terms of competitive and probably revenue. A conference will not take only part of a school's athletic programs. If a school changes conferences it is for all sports offered by the new conference. The one offs are for sports that the new conference does not offer. That is why wrestling would have to find a new home (and I doubt the MAC would keep them since the school would otherwise be leaving the conference). It would be like Notre Dame being in the Big 10 for hockey because the ACC is not a hockey conference. Or Missouri in the MAC for wrestling because the SEC does not wrestle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RecoveringHillbilly Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 At minimum, it would take $3Mil to even make the move, even if we gave the MAC long-term notice. Witchita St had to pay out $2.5 Mil to join the AAC. Marshall paid out $400k to leave the MAC for CUSA. Though, Temple had to pay $6 per their affiliate deal to leave MAC football. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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