UAB shutting down football program

#126
#126
If it isn't football or men's basketball, it is a loss leader.

Kentucky will also have to find a replacement game this fall.

bamawriter said:
You know more about UAB's bottom line that I do, so I won't argue those points. But I will disagree on the Title IX issue.

There are cheaper male sports that UAB could simply add to make up the difference. Shoot, they don't currently sponsor track and cross-country. It's a heck of a lot cheaper to maintain those sports than football.
Click to expand...
 
#127
#127
T.N. Buckingham said:
Using that logic, we should only have about 50 teams playing football. That is a provincial argument and typical for an individual who doesn't have a clue about football beyond his hayseed Western Alabama ****-pot.

Not every school is going to draw 100,000. That doesn't mean the game isn't worth playing at a Gettysburg, a Mount Union, or a Maryville. It doesn't mean Lafayette and Lehigh should quit playing a rivalry game that means as much to them as any rivalry we have down here. And it doesn't mean Tulane should just give up building a new stadium because they couldn't draw fans to a facility designed for the NFL.

UAB had a valid stadium plan in place for their campus. It would've fit their needs and it would've been more in line with their level of support.

Guess who blocked it?

With that facility on campus, football would have been a winning proposition at UAB in terms of record. The fact they managed to double their crowd at that cesspool should serve to indicate what they could've accomplished on their campus.

When your world is Tuscaloosa, then I guess you fail to notice that colleges and universities are adding football programs around the country. For every Belmont that remains D1 hoops-centric, there is a Hendrix, a Berry, an ETSU, a Hardin-Baylor, a Georgia State, a Kennesaw State, and several others who choose to bring in football. They are not merely doing that in some hopeless pursuit of glory. They are not doing it to damage big boy football in their native states. They are doing it because football attracts community-wide interest in a way no other sport can match.

You didn't want to give UAB that opportunity. So your boys tried to kill it with a thousand different cuts. And even when it appeared to have renewed life, you found a stooge willing and able to slit its throat.

College football is more than just the SEC. It is the Monon Bell and The Game. It is as much Crawfordsville as it is Knoxville. It should be allowed to thrive in Birmingham as well as Tuscaloosa without the interference of ignorant morons who truly believe there is only one community in Alabama that should have the sport and one community in Alabama that should have a university.
Click to expand...

Flawless Victory.
 
#128
#128
Vercingetorix said:
Maybe fan support would have been higher if they'd had a winning team. And maybe they'd have had a winning team if they'd been allowed to hire Jimbo Fisher. Or if they'd been allowed to build that stadium on campus, instead of being forced to stay in Legion Field, which is a sewer.

The Alabama trustees made it impossible for football to flourish at UAB, and then they pointed at its failure as proof they were right all along.
Click to expand...

They dug their own grave with Legion Field. They couldn't have predicted it at the time, but they allowed themselves to be used as a wedge in the city's negotiations with Bama, and the city was never going to make the renovations without Bama's tenancy. Such is life.
 
#129
#129
Vercingetorix said:
Maybe fan support would have been higher if they'd had a winning team. And maybe they'd have had a winning team if they'd been allowed to hire Jimbo Fisher. Or if they'd been allowed to build that stadium on campus, instead of being forced to stay in Legion Field, which is a sewer.

The Alabama trustees made it impossible for football to flourish at UAB, and then they pointed at its failure as proof they were right all along.
Click to expand...

This this this
 
#130
#130
T.N. Buckingham said:
Using that logic, we should only have about 50 teams playing football. That is a provincial argument and typical for an individual who doesn't have a clue about football beyond his hayseed Western Alabama ****-pot.

Not every school is going to draw 100,000. That doesn't mean the game isn't worth playing at a Gettysburg, a Mount Union, or a Maryville. It doesn't mean Lafayette and Lehigh should quit playing a rivalry game that means as much to them as any rivalry we have down here. And it doesn't mean Tulane should just give up building a new stadium because they couldn't draw fans to a facility designed for the NFL.

UAB had a valid stadium plan in place for their campus. It would've fit their needs and it would've been more in line with their level of support.

Guess who blocked it?

With that facility on campus, football would have been a winning proposition at UAB in terms of record. The fact they managed to double their crowd at that cesspool should serve to indicate what they could've accomplished on their campus.

When your world is Tuscaloosa, then I guess you fail to notice that colleges and universities are adding football programs around the country. For every Belmont that remains D1 hoops-centric, there is a Hendrix, a Berry, an ETSU, a Hardin-Baylor, a Georgia State, a Kennesaw State, and several others who choose to bring in football. They are not merely doing that in some hopeless pursuit of glory. They are not doing it to damage big boy football in their native states. They are doing it because football attracts community-wide interest in a way no other sport can match.

You didn't want to give UAB that opportunity. So your boys tried to kill it with a thousand different cuts. And even when it appeared to have renewed life, you found a stooge willing and able to slit its throat.

College football is more than just the SEC. It is the Monon Bell and The Game. It is as much Crawfordsville as it is Knoxville. It should be allowed to thrive in Birmingham as well as Tuscaloosa without the interference of ignorant morons who truly believe there is only one community in Alabama that should have the sport and one community in Alabama that should have a university.
Click to expand...

A "valid stadium plan" with 75 million in subsidies? Right.
 
#131
#131
bamawriter said:
A "valid stadium plan" with 75 million in subsidies? Right.
Click to expand...

And the Alabama BOT spent $147 million minimum in stadium upgrades over the past 15 years. And that's not counting the annual maintenance.

Don't play the numbers game here.
 
#132
#132
Grand Vol said:
And the Alabama BOT spent $147 million minimum in stadium upgrades over the past 15 years. And that's not counting the annual maintenance.

Don't play the numbers game here.
Click to expand...

Not a single cent of that money was subsidized. Every bit came from donors and PSL sales.

Take a look at the numbers before accusing someone of playing a game with them.
 
#133
#133
T.N. Buckingham said:
Using that logic, we should only have about 50 teams playing football. That is a provincial argument and typical for an individual who doesn't have a clue about football beyond his hayseed Western Alabama ****-pot.

Not every school is going to draw 100,000. That doesn't mean the game isn't worth playing at a Gettysburg, a Mount Union, or a Maryville. It doesn't mean Lafayette and Lehigh should quit playing a rivalry game that means as much to them as any rivalry we have down here. And it doesn't mean Tulane should just give up building a new stadium because they couldn't draw fans to a facility designed for the NFL.

UAB had a valid stadium plan in place for their campus. It would've fit their needs and it would've been more in line with their level of support.

Guess who blocked it?

With that facility on campus, football would have been a winning proposition at UAB in terms of record. The fact they managed to double their crowd at that cesspool should serve to indicate what they could've accomplished on their campus.

When your world is Tuscaloosa, then I guess you fail to notice that colleges and universities are adding football programs around the country. For every Belmont that remains D1 hoops-centric, there is a Hendrix, a Berry, an ETSU, a Hardin-Baylor, a Georgia State, a Kennesaw State, and several others who choose to bring in football. They are not merely doing that in some hopeless pursuit of glory. They are not doing it to damage big boy football in their native states. They are doing it because football attracts community-wide interest in a way no other sport can match.

You didn't want to give UAB that opportunity. So your boys tried to kill it with a thousand different cuts. And even when it appeared to have renewed life, you found a stooge willing and able to slit its throat.

College football is more than just the SEC. It is the Monon Bell and The Game. It is as much Crawfordsville as it is Knoxville. It should be allowed to thrive in Birmingham as well as Tuscaloosa without the interference of ignorant morons who truly believe there is only one community in Alabama that should have the sport and one community in Alabama that should have a university.
Click to expand...

Drops mic, walks off stage.

Great post.
 
#134
#134
T.N. Buckingham said:
That doesn't mean the game isn't worth playing at a Gettysburg, a Mount Union, or a Maryville. It doesn't mean Lafayette and Lehigh should quit playing...

...there is a Hendrix, a Berry, an ETSU, a Hardin-Baylor, a Georgia State, a Kennesaw State, and several others who choose to bring in football...
Click to expand...

The board of one of these schools has a potential multi-year feasiblity study on the table, similar to the one that just shuttered the program at UAB.

Try to guess which one. It shouldn't be hard.
 
#135
#135
Vercingetorix said:
Maybe fan support would have been higher if they'd had a winning team. And maybe they'd have had a winning team if they'd been allowed to hire Jimbo Fisher. Or if they'd been allowed to build that stadium on campus, instead of being forced to stay in Legion Field, which is a sewer.

The Alabama trustees made it impossible for football to flourish at UAB, and then they pointed at its failure as proof they were right all along.
Click to expand...

A lot of truth right here. The BOT made it difficult at every move. They should have had the balls to deny it rather than starve it.

Sucks that the BOT would not want to see it succeed
 
#136
#136
ToineMac said:
This. Sounds like they did everything they could to make there program non viable. If I am understanding correctly they didn't kill the program because it was currently costing too much. But because a committee told them it would cost more to make it better? Why wasn't moving down to the FCS or D3 levels discussed like it is in other instances. I usually look for any reason to hate Bama but this is awful even for them
Click to expand...

That's the official line and is being spun as we want excellence in athletics so we had to drop it because we couldn't be excellent.

The problem is we are going to lose Conf USA affiliation and our other sports are going to move to lesser conferences - all in the name of more excellence!
 
#138
#138
volinbham said:
That's the official line and is being spun as we want excellence in athletics so we had to drop it because we couldn't be excellent.

The problem is we are going to lose Conf USA affiliation and our other sports are going to move to lesser conferences - all in the name of more excellence!
Click to expand...

I actually agree with you on the BS nature of the public defense of the decision.

Though I'm not 100% sure they'll get kicked out of CUSA. UMass is throwing themselves as a football-only member at whomever will pick up the phone. Wouldn't shock me if that came together.
 
#139
#139
Here's just a few of the unanswered questions:

1. What is the plan if CUSA doesn't agree to let UAB stay (indications are they cannot)
2. Where are the new male scholarships coming from to stay Title IX compliant
3. What is the plan to improve existing sports

3 simple questions that should have answers prior to making such a large, strategic decision.

As noted earlier - the "analysis" they used was based on adding Men's track/CC; building a new soccer stadium and an outdoor track complex. If that is in the strategic plan then why not state that? Answer: it defeats the $ argument and people will question why UAB is building facilities for programs that won't generate fan excitement or attendance by killing the most popular sport.

If this is strategic planning then the planners are morons. Clearly it's not about strategy but about killing football.
 
#141
#141
Bham,

Doing some reading on this, and I'm having some of the same questions that you are.

As I'm reading through stuff, I'm seeing funds from the city of Birmingham, but they don't appear to be included in the subsidy calculations. Is the city buying tickets for every UAB home game?
 
#142
#142
bamawriter said:
Bham,

Doing some reading on this, and I'm having some of the same questions that you are.

As I'm reading through stuff, I'm seeing funds from the city of Birmingham, but they don't appear to be included in the subsidy calculations. Is the city buying tickets for every UAB home game?
Click to expand...

I saw something about a ticket allotment that the city buys or is given - can't recall which.
 
#143
#143
volinbham said:
I saw something about a ticket allotment that the city buys or is given - can't recall which.
Click to expand...

It appears that they have to be buying them.

Which makes sense. When UAB first stepped up, the city was actually paying them to play at Legion Field (they were doing the same thing for Bama and Auburn for decades).

But that line item seems to disappear about a decade ago, while the city is still allocating similar funds; funds that weren't being included in any of the subsidy numbers.

It looks to me like the city buys 5,000 tickets for every game.
 
#144
#144
bamawriter said:
It appears that they have to be buying them.

Which makes sense. When UAB first stepped up, the city was actually paying them to play at Legion Field (they were doing the same thing for Bama and Auburn for decades).

But that line item seems to disappear about a decade ago, while the city is still allocating similar funds; funds that weren't being included in any of the subsidy numbers.

It looks to me like the city buys 5,000 tickets for every game.
Click to expand...

5000 sounds like the number I saw. I think they are distributed to city officials/employees and given away.

UAB doesn't give away tickets - as I understand it they are all paid for by some entity (city, local business, boosters, season tickets, general admission) but many of the attendees at the game didn't pay.

As for student attendance I don't know what the # is but say it's 1000/game - that's 10% of the UG student population.
 
#146
#146
volinbham said:
5000 sounds like the number I saw. I think they are distributed to city officials/employees and given away.

UAB doesn't give away tickets - as I understand it they are all paid for by some entity (city, local business, boosters, season tickets, general admission) but many of the attendees at the game didn't pay.

As for student attendance I don't know what the # is but say it's 1000/game - that's 10% of the UG student population.
Click to expand...

For most of the decade, it appears that the City of Birmingham was responsible for more than 20% of UAB's ticket sales. A little less than $250k per game.
 
#147
#147
Turns out UAB has to pay about 2.5 million to get out of games next year. Add that to continuing to pay coaches salaries and honoring scholarships and you have to wonder how much money they are really saving over the next couple years.
 
#150
#150
your BOT behind the decision


Bentley (Gov): UAT
Bice: State Superintendent – No UAT or UAB affiliation
Brooks: UAT
Bryant Jr: UAT
Espy III: UAT
England Jr: UAT
Gray: UAT
Humphrey: UAB
Johns: UAT
Leonard: UAT
Malone III: UAT
Morrissette: UAT
St. John IV: UAT
Sexton: UAT
Urquhart: UAB
Vandervoort: UAT (undergrad)/UAB (MD)
Wilson III: UAT
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement





Back
Top