Voices in his head told him so.
Seriously, I have no idea what he is taking about.
R magnets-no more freebies
- Thread starter NJbound
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Voices in his head told him so.
Seriously, I have no idea what he is taking about.
I hope Geoff tells you crybabies to F yourselves. The athletic department needs to raise MILLIONS from alumni and fans and you guys are worried about a friggin' free magnet? There are givers and there are takers. Unfortunately, RU leads the B1G in whiney takers.
I think you are way off base with this. RU absolutely needs more givers and less takers. And needs donors to step up. But the Block R magnet is separate from that. They should be free with any donation or season ticket purchase, and made available at all school and donor events for the simple reason that they are good marketing. The appearance of Block R magnets on cars during the season goes a long way towards showing non-alumni that Rutgers really is New Jersey's school. It shows people who may not know much about Rutgers, or think we are still small time, that there is a huge fan base out there. We are relevant, and something to pay attention to.
I understand your point, but disagree when it comes to these. They really are a great marketing tool and whenever I get my hands on a bunch I throw them on friends cars who are fans of RU, but not huge fans. So they don't mind them on the car, but would never go out of their way for one. I wouldn't do that if I had to pay $7 a magnet.
Like most non union employees (and faculty members), I believe that the coaches would be in TIAA/CREF, alternate benefits package (sort of a 401K), not the PERS system, so they would not be part of the state pension program. Also, since Athletics (like housing, dining, student centers, et al) are considered an "auxiliary" enterprise, their fringes are not covered by the state but are paid for by the auxiliary department, if my memory is correct.
Your brother does a good job. I went to the temple watch party few years ago while in DC. Sadky, will be in DC for MSU game so I'll be going again.
Most coaches would be in the ABP, not PERS, as you indicate, which is a 401K type retirement plan. But the state still pays the employer match on those plans. So it still doesn't support WhiteBus' comment that the athletic department was firing coaches to save on pension costs.
Also, fringe benefits for Athletics are not covered by the department. I don't believe any auxiliary department covers fringe benefits from its budget for any Rutgers employee. (UMDNJ legacy employees might be different, until fully integrated.)
You are probably right -my recollection that auxiliary and grant funded folks all had the employer contribution charged to the funding source is from a long time ago (about 12 years) when I was heavily involved in the university's budget and accounting systems.
Just to follow up on this, my contact over in the athletic department said they are working on a season long promotion with the magnets and they will definitely be handing out a ton of them
This isn't about money and fans being cheap. I think most of us would buy these if we had to. This is about the guy who isn't a die hard fan or even a fan at all who comes across one - he gets it at the one game he goes to; his kid gets one at school; he goes to a conference at the university; - whatever. Maybe he decides to put it on his car even though he has no real connection to RU other than pride in his state university, something that we constantly complain in lacking here in NJ. There are way more block R magnets on the road then there are RU alums or even fans. The block R logo and these magnets are the single best marketing decision RU has ever made.
I understand the sentiment behind this argument but the reality is that Rutgers is still giving away plenty of block Rs. If someone really needs one and can't find one maybe they're not actually going to many Rutgers events.
The other thing to consider is that Rutgers isn't just one big pot of money. Each division and each department within each division has its own budget. So maybe the ticket office giving them away in handfuls was having a larger impact on that particular budget. Or maybe Rutgers has actually considered the issue and taken the time to look at data rather than just fans saying it's "priceless" exposure. Maybe they don't think the ROI is worth handing them out in mass quantities at the ticket office.
And there certainly are not more block R magnets on the road than Rutgers alumni (about 300,000 live in NJ).
The other thing to consider is that Rutgers isn't just one big pot of money. Each division and each department within each division has its own budget. So maybe the ticket office giving them away in handfuls was having a larger impact on that particular budget. Or maybe Rutgers has actually considered the issue and taken the time to look at data rather than just fans saying it's "priceless" exposure. Maybe they don't think the ROI is worth handing them out in mass quantities at the ticket office.
And there certainly are not more block R magnets on the road than Rutgers alumni (about 300,000 live in NJ).
