Posted by Bixby23
on 6/23/2010, 6:50 pm, in reply to "an interesting SJSU football/WAC take"
203.192.140.194
A provocative statement, and I agree with his hypothesis that ticket sales + donor contributions are indicative of a program's true financial health.
I guess the only counterpoint to his other argument--that SJSU's program is dead in D1--is that he's basing his statement on just one particularly nasty season for SJSU, in which we lost 4 of our last 5 games, including 3 straight home losses against just 1 home win in conference. There are certainly many factors that go into fan/alumni apathy, but on-field performance must be a crucial factor, and I'd be surprised if there wasn't an uptick in revenue from ticket sales + donors in, say, 2006-2007 (New Mexico Bowl-winning season).
I don't mean to contend that ticket sales and donations over the course of one good season are likely to be worlds apart from those in an ugly season, but rather that a consistently winning SJSU program over a 3-5 year period, even in the highly competitive Bay Area sports market, would turn "healthy," as the writer defines program health. Objectively, I think that sounds correct, and as a fan, I would be miserable if SJSU dropped D-1 sports "in the next year or two" -- especially if based on 2008-2009 revenue figures.
--Previous Message--
: George Hostetter/Fresno Bee has a fascinating
: article up today about the WAC -- this isn't
: your stream-of-consciousness type writing.
:
: Here's what he had to say about SJSU:
:
: "...Contagion has to have officials at
: San Jose State seriously asking themselves:
: "Why are we still in the WAC?"
:
: According to "USA Today", San Jose
: State in 2008-09 spent $18.7 million on
: athletics. Only $2,324,560 came from ticket
: sales and contributions. That's 12.4% of
: revenues. No other WAC school gets such a
: small percentage of its revenue from ticket
: sales and contributions. Idaho is next on
: the list, at 22.4%.
:
: You might ask: "As long as San Jose
: State pays its bills, so what?"
:
: I suggest that ticket sales and donor
: contributions are the top indicators of a
: D-I program's financial health. People
: either care enough to buy tickets and write
: checks, or they don't. No one cares anymore
: about San Jose State D-I athletics.
:
: More than 50% of San Jose State's athletic
: revenue in 2008-09 came from student fees,
: government support and the university.
: That's a lot of money spent on a program
: about which few ticket-buying fans care
: enough to open their checkbooks. I can't
: imagine a more unstable and politically
: volatile funding model. The school simply
: can't afford to remain in the WAC. It's
: over.
:
: * With TCU, BYU, Louisiana Tech and San Jose
: State out of the picture in the next year or
: two, that would leave 13 schools between the
: WAC and Mountain West: Fresno State, Nevada,
: Hawaii, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State,
: Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, New
: Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Boise
: State..."
:
: Access the entire article at the link below.
:
:
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