Ah, those academic folks . . .

[JTrue]

42 minutes ago, CousinRicky said:

Is this true? Do the athletic departments of universities share revenue with the other departments/colleges within the school?

When was the last time our athletic department made money? Ever? What's another $340 million at this point?

This article says 25 out of 351 D1 athletic departments even generated a surplus. So, the answer is "no" at basically every school in the country.

The case for big-time college sports helping academics remains weak | College football | The Guardian

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The University of Houston is hoping an extra boost to its teams will increase the school’s standing. But athletics can lead to even more debt

 

[Outlaw]

1 hour ago, CousinRicky said:

Is this true? Do the athletic departments of universities share revenue with the other departments/colleges within the school?

I would bet the professors at Florida and Bama get to see some extra research money from the SEC in some way make it to fund buildings , projects, and research. 

[Dave_Glaser]

27 minutes ago, JTrue said:

When was the last time our athletic department made money? Ever? What's another $340 million at this point?

This article says 25 out of 351 D1 athletic departments even generated a surplus. So, the answer is "no" at basically every school in the country.

The case for big-time college sports helping academics remains weak | College football | The Guardian

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The University of Houston is hoping an extra boost to its teams will increase the school’s standing. But athletics can lead to even more debt

 

NO, athletics will not fund the academic side. I don't think anyone is making that argument. But that's not what we're talking about here. The study I want to see is how successful athletics impacts applications to a university, the number and quality of the applicants, school fundraising, membership in the alumni association, etc. Those things do impact the academic side of the university.

[MaltLiquorBull]

5 minutes ago, Dave_Glaser said:

NO, athletics will not fund the academic side. I don't think anyone is making that argument. But that's not what we're talking about here. The study I want to see is how successful athletics impacts applications to a university, the number and quality of the applicants, school fundraising, membership in the alumni association, etc. Those things do impact the academic side of the university.

This.  I think if you look you'd have a hard time finding evidence that the athletic profit center helps the academic profit center DIRECTLY, but INDIRECTLY, it helps in many ways like what's listed in the quote above.   There's no question in my mind.  When USF was good at football, everyone recognized our logo and knew something about us showed interest, etc... now when I say USF to anyone outside of FL, it quickly becomes obvious (when they talk about our recent football success and move to the big 12) that they are just getting us confused with the orlando college.

[Mike Stuben]

Guys - this is a non-story. Every college in America the rep from the faculty senate will be skeptical of large athletic purchases. Nothing will come of it. It might be a bargaining chip for the senate to get something they want in the future. They are expressing their viewpoint that academics should come first, that will always be their stance. It doesn't hurt the process, the stadium will get built. 

I have what I think is a unique perspective, because I check a lot of boxes: current student, alumni x2, current staff, donor, season ticket holder.

Do we NEED a stadium? NO.

Is a stadium a profit center? No, it will be on paper a loss and financial burden.

Should we build a stadium? Yes, because  of the intangible benefits for things like bringing the alumni and community on our campus, and the commitment to athletics needed to move up. 

What are the faculty fighting for? We almost closed the college of Education due to lack of budget (it was going to be a cost savings, that was the real reason). Right before Covid, USF cut the cleaning staff that emptied the trash cans in many buildings to reduce the number of times they cleaned each week, so trash piled up. Over the last 4 years I just completed 56 credits of graduate school, not one classroom I attended class in had matching chairs (they were all just leftovers from multiple sets). Did I care about the chairs, no, but it doesn't look like a first rate university when the classrooms look like an afterthought. 

Is the time right for a stadium? In reality, it is overdue, we should have done this when interest rates were so low a couple years ago, but yes, the time is right. 

What happens next? We build a stadium. 

What should us fans do about the faculty senate story? Nothing (which certainly includes attacking professors online because their viewpoint is different from ours). 

[Bull94]

4 minutes ago, MaltLiquorBull said:

This.  I think if you look you'd have a hard time finding evidence that the athletic profit center helps the academic profit center DIRECTLY, but INDIRECTLY, it helps in many ways like what's listed in the quote above.   There's no question in my mind.  When USF was good at football, everyone recognized our logo and knew something about us showed interest, etc... now when I say USF to anyone outside of FL, it quickly becomes obvious (when they talk about our recent football success and move to the big 12) that they are just getting us confused with the orlando college.

Yeah it's probably all the recent athletic success we've been having that is driving the record number of applicants, the highest achieving admitted students and the largest ever fundraising in our history.......

University of South Florida welcomes the largest and highest-achieving first-year class in its history

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USF also shatters record for most applications ever received

University of South Florida breaks fundraising record with over $151 million in gifts

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Philanthropic gifts from the University of South Florida community exceeded $151 million in fiscal year 2021-22, the most generous level of support in the institution’s...

 

[JTrue]

1 minute ago, Bull94 said:

Yeah it's probably all the recent athletic success we've been having that is driving the record number of applicants, the highest achieving admitted students and the largest ever fundraising in our history.......

Well played.

[puc86]

The stadium is being built as a new way for the continued failing athletic leadership to fail us in more expensive ways long after they are all unceremoniously fired, not as a solution to the fact they make horrible, failing decisions at every opportunity. The academic side has proven results on their dollars spent as does the athletics side, picking who is right should be fairly simple. No fan that isn’t all in already is sitting on the sidelines just waiting for the opportunity to make a more expensive commitment, in a worse product that is more likely more difficult for them to get to in every conceivable way.
 

You know who knows building a stadium like Colorado state does not help you get into the P5 in any possible way? Colorado State, but it sure is a perfect stadium to solidify our spot in the G5 , which we are managing just fine for free. Fans, conferences, the media and everyone else on earth wants us to be more relevant, this is just exciting to 20k people for a single year and if we ever are able to et anyone of note to play us in Tampa ever again it will be a neutral site game in Ray Jay.
 

This entire idea is people having no idea how to give us anything that we had 20 years ago and trying to get people to ignore that fact by being distracted by the one thing people wanted 20 years ago and didn’t have, unfortunately it requires one to also completely ignore the fact that just because something was a good or exciting idea 20 years ago doesn’t make it so now and it gets us no closer to relevance, winning or an actual conference than setting $450 million on fire, in fact it probably gets us further away. Spend the money on something that may have an actual, lasting impact and if you somehow figure that out in any capacity the stadium talk may actually make sense again and if not at least we won’t have to stare at $450 million monument to failure and wasted opportunity.

[MaltLiquorBull]

2 minutes ago, Bull94 said:

Yeah it's probably all the recent athletic success we've been having that is driving the record number of applicants, the highest achieving admitted students and the largest ever fundraising in our history.......

University of South Florida welcomes the largest and highest-achieving first-year class in its history

---

USF also shatters record for most applications ever received

University of South Florida breaks fundraising record with over $151 million in gifts

---

Philanthropic gifts from the University of South Florida community exceeded $151 million in fiscal year 2021-22, the most generous level of support in the institution’s...

 

So we're kicking ass and taking names.  I see that.  But I certainly don't think having better athletics would negatively affect these trends.

[puc86]

6 minutes ago, Bull94 said:

Yeah it's probably all the recent athletic success we've been having that is driving the record number of applicants, the highest achieving admitted students and the largest ever fundraising in our history.......

University of South Florida welcomes the largest and highest-achieving first-year class in its history

---

USF also shatters record for most applications ever received

University of South Florida breaks fundraising record with over $151 million in gifts

---

Philanthropic gifts from the University of South Florida community exceeded $151 million in fiscal year 2021-22, the most generous level of support in the institution’s...

 

This.

Just now, MaltLiquorBull said:

So we're kicking ass and taking names.  I see that.  But I certainly don't think having better athletics would negatively affect these trends.

And how exactly does a 35k stadium directly contribute to better athletics?