Division 1 Football Decision
As the Chairman of the University of Financial Turmoil (the Fighting Accountants) Football Advisory Committee we have analyzed the current financial position of the University football program and determined the most feasible course for the future of the team. This conclusion was made after looking at all of the facts, numbers, talking with coaches and alumni and the success/failures of moves by other colleges in the same predicament. Currently, UFT competes at the NCAA Division I-AA level. For the last six years they have seen a loss of 1.5 million annually which has been deemed unacceptable by the University. The decision to move to a Division 1-A program has been a hotly debated topic not only on this campus but in many other campuses around the country as well. Claims of sky-high ticket sales, hype-driven merchandising and television glory notwithstanding, the cold fact is that in the National Collegiate Athletics Associ
If the ticket sales were tripled by this attendance then they would increase from 350,000 to 1,050,000. This is less money then the school spends to keep up on the maintenance of their stadium. In 1992 and 1996 Marshall won the 1-AA Championship which allowed them to make the transition in 1997 to a successful 1-A program much easier. The cost of trying to join a larger conference that is BCS bowl eligible is even higher. Such lofty expectations would still leave them in the red. Because there are so many problems and with looking at the financial data it just does not seem like UFT could successfully make the jump and become a good Division I-A . While the building of a new stadium would ideally double attendance somewhere into the 30,000 range that would still not provide enough money to even cover the price spent on scholarships. The University of Michigan, which averages more than 110,000 fans for home football games, lost an estimated $7 million on athletics over the course of two seasons, between 1998 and 2000. Looking at UFT revenues only 50,000 dollars are received each year in booster donations. UConn has improved every year but the loss suffered by the team in moving was the fact the their mens and womens basketball teams are among the best in the country. When the University of Southern Florida joined Conference USA it cost them 2 million dollar. One such problem facing UFT is coming up with the 50million dollars in private funding that is needed to necessitate such a move. In the larger universe of college athletics, maybe one percent of the schools balance their athletics budget. Another big problem in trying to come up with money to privately fund the stadium is finding a conference in which to align. These programs bring in significant money and allow them to survive a few seasons in which to build the fan base and the quality of players in the football program.
Common topics in this essay:
Conference USA,
Looking UFT,
University Michigan,
Division I-AA,
Advisory Committee,
Athletics Association,
Southern Florida,
Currently UFT,
move division,
move division 1-a,
Division I-A,
division 1-a,
football program,
1-a program,
dollars private,
ticket sales,
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Acceptance Essays
