The Benefit of Athletics to a University

[Knight Shift]

Story is about Monmouth, and gives basketball examples, but the snippet below is interesting.
Good to see Barchi finally "got it" with football. Now it is time for hoops. If tiny Monmouth can do it (yeah, it's a smaller conference), Rutgers can do it too.

http://www.app.com/story/sports/col.../bench-mob-monmouth-economic-impact/78405276/

The tangible numbers relate to the turnstiles at the Multipurpose Activities Center, the $60 million arena that opened in 2009, with season ticket sales up 30 percent this season.

There was a sellout crowd of 3,911 for their Dec. 13 game against Wagner, although the actual number was likely north of 4,000 with fans standing everywhere inside the facility. The bookstore, located just inside the arena’s main entrance, shattered every record for merchandise sales that day, with Bench Mob T-shirts having been reordered several times already.

Florida Gulf Coast is a seaside school, like Monmouth, located in Fort Meyers, Fla., with a home arena about the same size as Monmouth’s. After they became the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 in 2013, knocking off Georgetown and San Diego State over a three-day period, applications for admission to the school were up 35.4 percent over the next year.

Butler experienced an increase in admission applications of 41 percent in the year after its heartbreaking loss to Duke in the 2010 national championship game, with the school estimating it received $410 million in free advertising from its basketball team’s improbable run.

 

[Andman1025]

This should be put in front of every administrator and if it doesn't piss them off, they shouldn't be here. Kills me to see a small school down the road in the MAAC be a bigger draw than NJ's Big Ten team. While we run our program into the ground, Monmouth thrives.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Have the RU bookstores and student unions been closed on football Saturdays in the past?

RU needs to capitalize more on the economic impacts of football Saturdays.

 

[Upstream]

Where does that article really talk about the benefits of athletics to the university. It mostly talks about the benefits of winning to the athletics dept (in terms of more tickets sold, more athletic merchandise sold, more web hits, etc). But there are only 2 scant references to university benefits, both from schools that no one had heard of, which received a name recognition after improbable athletic success. But that type of increase in name recognition is far less important to schools that already enjoy strong name recognition for strong research and academic programs.

That's not to say that there aren't benefits to the university for having strong athletic programs. It is just that article really didn't talk about them.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Have the RU bookstores and student unions been closed on football Saturdays in the past?

RU needs to capitalize more on the economic impacts of football Saturdays.

How? You could say that 10 years ago - no doubt - but I'm not so sure there are many $$$-making opportunities left to throw out there (other than non-free concerts...). Also, remember, with WINNING seasons come bigger merchandising, et al, sales. Simply the nature of the beast.

 

[GeorgeStreet]

You should ask yourself why Ivy League schools don't get all worked up about athletics. Few top quality universities get seriously competitive about athletics across a wide spectrum of sports -- Stanford, Duke, Northwestern represent the few who try.

I think it is because really serious students generally are not really serious athletes. The alternatives are to take students who aren't serious athletes. Or athletes who aren't serious students. Which would you prefer?

But unfortunately it is human nature that groups of people who share an identity like to war with each other.

 

[LevaosLectures]

People should stop pretending there is an actual academic benefit to any of this and just enjoy their hobby.

 

[rubaseball78]

Here is my personal experience with this topic. My daughter is interested in attending FSU (has applied and been accepted). When we toured FSU about a year ago, we had a discussion with admissions regarding acceptance requirements. They showed us the 2013 data they had but also indicated the GPA and test score requirements were going up significantly. When we asked why, they said it was because FSU won the national championship. Does this mean people are picking FSU for football? No. Winning the national championship promoted the FSU brand making more high school students aware who then look into the school and decide to apply. The significant increase in applications in the end raises the floor for GPA and test scores for future admitted students.

 

[ru8081]

People should stop pretending there is an actual academic benefit to any of this and just enjoy their hobby.

There is and academic studies have proven this.

 

[Queztastic]

This post references some studies that were done. Results were that good football seasons resulted in about a 10% increase in undergraduate applications, more from out of state students. I think that's been shown to be the

http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capidea...ge-football-more-wins-means-more-applications

Of course, joining the B1G created a similar effect as well.

http://www.app.com/story/sports/col...plications-record-big-ten-cic-entry/70652936/

 

[lighty]

People should stop pretending there is an actual academic benefit to any of this and just enjoy their hobby.

I hope you don't believe this.

There are people who want to get a good education who also believe attending sporting games at college is part of the whole college experience. Plenty of them, in fact. By having sports -- and successful sporting teams -- at a school, you increase your odds of attracting them.

 

[SF88]

Have the RU bookstores and student unions been closed on football Saturdays in the past?

RU needs to capitalize more on the economic impacts of football Saturdays.

Someone who knows the mayor Cahill PLEASE talk to him. The past two seasons, New Brunswick has decided to remove ALL the parking on Easton Ave from the train station to the Knight Club. They use public safety as the reason. Too many drunk or soon to be drunk people the city says. Easton Ave was closed at noon for the 3pm Nebraska game until 6am the next morning. No other college football town does this. The local businesses have begged the city officials to meet them during the afternoons so they can see first hand how there isn't an issue. It totally keeps visiting fans and RU fans alike away fron that BUSINESS area. Dumbest thing I ever saw????

 

[RUJohnny99]

Honestly, does a school really want high school seniors that base their college decision on the goofy antics of the benchwarmers on the basketball team?

 

[Nosoj]

Didn't see this anywhere else, it doesn't mention anything about direct benefits to the university, but there's a lot of value to the brand name programs which raises the profile of the schools in turn.

On Monday night, Ohio State will relinquish its reign as college football’s national champion to Alabama or Clemson.

But the Buckeyes have kept hold of a more lucrative title: college football’s most valuable program.

Ohio State’s football team leads the country with a value of $946.6 million, according to an annual study by Ryan Brewer, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus. This is Ohio State’s second consecutive year atop the rankings after it overtook Texas, which places second at $885 million and has the nation’s largest revenue at $128 million. Michigan places a distant third at $811.3 million.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-much-is-your-favorite-college-football-team-worth-1452473476


Also, I believe this was posted here before, but this does tie some direct value back to the university from the success of the football program.

But there have been victories outside Ohio Stadium, too. Undergraduate applications are up 72% since 2010—as are the academic credentials of incoming students as measured by their average ACT composite scores and class rankings. The school’s endowment has nearly doubled in the last five years.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ohio-states-new-president-tackles-football-1447893940

One more:

Since 2007, Tuscaloosa has swelled its undergraduate ranks by 33% to over 28,000 students. Faculty count has kept pace: up 400 since 2007 to over 1,700. But it’s more than growth – it’s where the growth is coming from. According to the school, less than a third of the 2007 freshman class of 4,538 students hailed from out of state. By the fall of 2012, more than half (52%) of a freshman class of 6,397 students did. Various data from US News and the New York Times shows that the school’s out-of-state tuition cost – nearly three times higher than the rate for in-state students – rose from $18,000 to $22,950 a year during that period.

Add it all up – more students from outside Alabama paying ever-increasing premium tuition bills – and the school realized $50 million more in out-of-state tuition revenue for last fall’s incoming class than it did for the same class in 2007 ($76 million vs. $26 million).

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanr...f-nick-saban-everyone-wants-to-go-to-alabama/

 

[Nosoj]

Pretty small group, but 10 schools are putting money back into the university from the money they're making in athletics (net of subsidies and fees). Link.

Of the 10 colleges whose financial documents showed a net contribution to their campus, four were in the Big Ten Conference, four were in the Southeastern Conference, and two were from the Big 12. The money transferred to academics from those 10 programs grew 13.5 percent from 2011, when the NCAA first started tracking such spending, to 2014.

 

[JQRU91]

Pretty small group, but 10 schools are putting money back into the university from the money they're making in athletics (net of subsidies and fees). Link.

Pretty much all football schools except for Kentucky. Which shows why football drives the bus in college athletics. Surprised that Purdue is on the list though.

 

[Nosoj]

Pretty much all football schools except for Kentucky. Which shows why football drives the bus in college athletics. Surprised that Purdue is on the list though.

Purdue was a surprise to me on that list too. Especially since according to this: http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/ they're in the red.

Also important to keep in mind with these things is there's a reason there's an "Accounting Tricks" section at the end of the story.

 

[imbazza2]

You should ask yourself why Ivy League schools don't get all worked up about athletics. Few top quality universities get seriously competitive about athletics across a wide spectrum of sports -- Stanford, Duke, Northwestern represent the few who try.

I think it is because really serious students generally are not really serious athletes. The alternatives are to take students who aren't serious athletes. Or athletes who aren't serious students. Which would you prefer?
But unfortunately it is human nature that groups of people who share an identity like to war with each other.

U R not a student of history never was your statement so off base. Go look at the history of the university of Chicago or just who have won the most national championships in Football Bama NO you start with U of Penn and then Harvard and then Yale and so on listing almost all Ivy league schools. It got so corrupt that they had to stop and revert to what you see now. We are living the history from the turn of the last century now.

People should stop pretending there is an actual academic benefit to any of this and just enjoy their hobby.

Ditto from above U go look up U of Chicago history they open their door the same week they started their football program. BTW once they won a NC in football they dropped it like a hot potato. Football gets you where you want to go, see ND another classic of rags to riches on Football's back

 

[srru86]

Add Virginia Tech circa 1990s-2000s to the list of competent universities that really saw their out of state desirability jump based on Football success.

 

[Nosoj]

U R not a student of history never was your statement so off base. Go look at the history of the university of Chicago or just who have won the most national championships in Football Bama NO you start with U of Penn and then Harvard and then Yale and so on listing almost all Ivy league schools. It got so corrupt that they had to stop and revert to what you see now. We are living the history from the turn of the last century now.



Ditto from above U go look up U of Chicago history they open their door the same week they started their football program. BTW once they won a NC in football they dropped it like a hot potato. Football gets you where you want to go, see ND another classic of rags to riches on Football's back

Your timeline is a little off. Chicago won the 1905 national title and claim another in 1913 and then dropped football in 1939 after neglecting it for a number of years. The University President at the time saw athletics, and football in particular, as a burden and distraction to higher education. He also rallied against fraternities and religious organizations on campus for the same reasons.

 

[imbazza2]

I am sorry that was too much flair but the point is admission rose after 1905 and took off after 13 when they started having so many applicants they filtered only the top students, thus setting a foundation of exceptional students, along with a reputation of scholastic excellence. Just the way the Ivies did it

 

[JPhoboken]

Story is about Monmouth, and gives basketball examples, but the snippet below is interesting.
Good to see Barchi finally "got it" with football. Now it is time for hoops. If tiny Monmouth can do it (yeah, it's a smaller conference), Rutgers can do it too.

http://www.app.com/story/sports/col.../bench-mob-monmouth-economic-impact/78405276/

The tangible numbers relate to the turnstiles at the Multipurpose Activities Center, the $60 million arena that opened in 2009, with season ticket sales up 30 percent this season.

There was a sellout crowd of 3,911 for their Dec. 13 game against Wagner, although the actual number was likely north of 4,000 with fans standing everywhere inside the facility. The bookstore, located just inside the arena’s main entrance, shattered every record for merchandise sales that day, with Bench Mob T-shirts having been reordered several times already.

Florida Gulf Coast is a seaside school, like Monmouth, located in Fort Meyers, Fla., with a home arena about the same size as Monmouth’s. After they became the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 in 2013, knocking off Georgetown and San Diego State over a three-day period, applications for admission to the school were up 35.4 percent over the next year.

Butler experienced an increase in admission applications of 41 percent in the year after its heartbreaking loss to Duke in the 2010 national championship game, with the school estimating it received $410 million in free advertising from its basketball team’s improbable run.

Lets just say Barchi does get this. And being a pretty big critic of his, I will admit he has taken some big steps lately to show he is slowing getting on board.

However, he still is only willing to build infrastructure if the Tax credits and donors are paying for it. I think Rutgers needs to step up to the plate, show more of a commitment, and be willing to invest somehow to really show their commitment. This would lead to more donations.

Does Barchi really believe in investing in athletics?

If I was a big donor, and unfortunately did not win power ball, I would say to Rutgers I will donate 50 million if you match it. Would Rutgers do this?

The state chipped in, donors are giving............what has the Rutgers administration done to prove they are committed?

I believe in Hobbs, I believe eventually we will get the builds done with donors, I just wish Rutgers would do more.