Originally posted by B1GOSU:
Rutgers was voted into the B1G almost 2.5 years ago and has been in the conference for almost 1 year. There haven't even been announced plans for new construction, even if the construction itself wouldn't start for a few years. Time to start acting like a B1G team.
Unlike Maryland, Rutgers is still being paid like a Big east/AAC team. Rutgers will not be earning equivalent payments from the Big 10 until ~2020, so coming here and expecting Rutgers to start spending like OSU/UMich/Etc.. right away is disingenuous IMHO.
As it stands, Rutgers University provides more direct financial support to its athletics department than any other school in the country (well over $20 million per year, but there have been years where it was above $30 million). UNlike most schools, Rutgers University paid nearly 100% of its stadium renovation/expansion via bonds (rather than via donations or sponsorships).
Unfortunately we are dealing with the impact of that borrowing even today. Even though Rutgers just had its best attendance year ever in football (and one of its best years ever for donations)...there is virtually no more "profit" than before the expansion because the cost to repay the bonds offsets the extra donations and ticket sales. If the football expansion had even been 25% paid for by donations, the school would be so much better off today. The problem is our alums/fans/donors simply have it in their heads that "someone else" should be paying for these things, when it is really up to us.
Personally I would love for the State of NJ to kick in some funds, but I don't hold out much hope for that. While the citizens of NJ are among the wealthiest in the country (and the world), the government itself is practically bankrupt (despite some of the highest tax rates in the country) so I don't see them helping out at all. If anything, over the last few years the State of NJ has been fighting against RU. For examples, when the State disbanded UMDNJ and asked Rutgers to absorb its medical schools, the State outright rejected the notion that they should help fund any of the merger costs and vocally demanded that Rutgers pay for it, while also demanding that tuition not be raised and also demanding that no layoffs take place. At the same time, the state decided that Rowan, which only had to take over the School of Osteopathic Medicine, would be given a one time allocation of $10 million to fund their immediate merger costs. Since the UMDNJ merger, the state legislature (including Lesniak) has continuously tried to "pack" the Board of Governors and even tried to outright ban the Rutgers Board of Trustees.
These same lawmakers (Lesniak and Cody) are now criticizing Rutgers because of the lack of BB facilities...but don't fool yourself in to thinking they are thinking of the welfare of the student athletes. To them, it is just another avenue to criticize Rutgers. Criticizing Rutgers seems to get votes in NJ. Funding Rutgers does NOT seem to get votes, though, so that won't be happening (we had our state funding cut (again) this year).
