Boston Globe Articles on Football at ZooMass and boston university

[Husky Alum]

The Boston Globe ran a front page story (albeit below the fold) on the economics of football at ZooMass (They call it 1-AA - if you're not in the ACC up here, you get NO respect), and the sad story of the boston university football program, its last days, alternatives at the time to keep it, and the probability of bringing football back to Comm. Ave. (can you say ZERO).

Very good reads for a paper who usually swaths itself in burgundy and gold.

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/football/articles/2006/12/08/with_program_on_ice_support_sparse_at_bu/

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2006/12/08/to_umass_gridiron_success_worth_the_price/

The article on bu football was written by John Powers, a very good reporter whose beat is usually the Olympics.

[Sam Adams]

Interesting read.

[Old Cage]

....but no news.

The only time that the Globe probes UMass is when we are winning. In 1996 when we went to the Final Four in hoops they were all over that program, at one point illegally printing players grades.

I really don't know what group it is that worries about us being successful, other than the Beagles who do not want another D1 football program in the state.

[Griz0383]

IT 0700 hours and I just climbed out of my hot tub and my giblits quickly shrunk to embarrassing dimentions so that tells me it is cold! hung like fruit bat i am! :mad: My bags are packed and my pregame bar stool is reserved at Reds and I am ready to drive the old bity that sits behind me crazy! She just wants to "sit and enjoy the game " but never stops bitching at us for standing and yelling but today is a new day! if she don't stand she might as well bring a book since she won't see anything!:read: And the next time she flips me off I will break that old crooked finger and slap her : smash : with with it! Just kidding! The seasoned fans better be ready to do as the Griz nation does! BE LOUD AND BE PROUD! GOOO GRIZZZZZZ:hurray:

[DFW HOYA]

The argument made by the BTUFF group that I-A is the only option at BU is a recipe for failure.

There is an (almost) perfect home waiting for BU football of someone on Commonwealth Ave. would just look around--comparable academics, comparable facilities, and a built in rivalry with Holy Cross. It's called the Patriot League.

[andy7171]

Nice articles.
Sad to read about BU, when I played at Towson, we played them twice. Towson almost dropped the program like BU did.

About UMass going I-A. I think they could transition into I-A fairly easily. Especially into a Big East conference. This years team could have been Cincinatti caliber, IMHO. I saw them on TV against NAvy and, unfortunately, at Towson. They are a damned good team. I look forward to watching the game tonight.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Could somone clarify something in this article?


Thanks to UMass's playoff run, the school could exceed its football revenue projections of $345,000 for the 2006-07 academic year by about $20,000, McCutcheon estimated. So, with a total expense budget of $2,962,749 and revenues of $365,000, UMass football this year would cost nearly $2.6 million.

...

The UMass football program's distinction of losing more than any of the other 69 1-AA teams at public schools stems in part from different accounting practices at different schools. The greatest difference is that some schools, such as the flagship universities in Maine and Rhode Island that compete with UMass in the Atlantic-10 Conference, count state funds they allocate for football as revenues, which UMass does not.

The practice, while acceptable by federal guidelines, effectively means a small number of schools may not have disclosed football losses greater than UMass's.

Isn't this, at best, misleading? In the article they're claiming that UMass claims they lose $2.6 million dollars a year on football. But this doesn't include "state funds that are allocated for football as revenues", which is real money that is used to pay the AD. The article makes it sound like UMass is burning money to play football - but it's not. It's oversimplistic and very misleading.

This is like saying, "Well, the movie Herbie, Fully Loaded cost $100 million to make, but only made $75 million in the theaters, so it lost money - even though the money we make on the overseas/video rights totalling $50 million doesn't count."

I really can't stand that Northeastern "sportswriters" at the big media groups (Boston Globe, NY Times, Washington Post) feel the need to smack around FCS schools, whether they be Ivy, A-10, or Patriot schools. We like to smack around backwater people in Florida for calling FCS 1-AA, but it's these "scholarly types" for the big newspapers like the Globe that need the major-league bitch-slapping. Unlike what most people around here seem to think, if I were a UMass fan I would take this guy to task for calling my school the "school that loses more than any school in I-AA".

[Go...gate]

The argument made by the BTUFF group that I-A is the only option at BU is a recipe for failure.

There is an (almost) perfect home waiting for BU football of someone on Commonwealth Ave. would just look around--comparable academics, comparable facilities, and a built in rivalry with Holy Cross. It's called the Patriot League.

Right on. :thumbsup:

[DrG]

I guess we're so used to condescension from the Globe that we're just numb to it. :(

[henfan]

The financial payoff of the Minutemen's current success, however, may be minimal. Unlike Division 1-A schools, which stand to reap large sums by qualifying for postseason bowl games or sharing in bowl revenues as conference members, Division 1-AA teams participating in playoffs receive little more than reimbursement for their travel costs, revenues from games they host, and potential marketing opportunities.

Dude might not want to paint with such a broad brush. There are many schools who lose money on bowl games. I just read an article in the Jacksonville paper stating that Florida will lose money for the school and their conference by competing in the Emerald Bowl. When did a Sun Belt or MAC school ever make money on a bowl?

[ccd494]

Dude might not want to paint with such a broad brush. There are many schools who lose money on bowl games. I just read an article in the Jacksonville paper stating that Florida will lose money for the school and their conference by competing in the Emerald Bowl. When did a Sun Belt or MAC school ever make money on a bowl?


I think the point was that there is the potential for Florida State (not Florida who will undoubtedly make enough money to buy a mint on their bowl appearance) to make millions on its bowl appearance, whereas if UMass makes it to the finals it does nothing for the bottom line.

The potential reward for a I-A team, even a small school like Boise, is millions of dollars. Boise's conference mates like Idaho and Nevada are going to make money on Boise's trip to the Fiesta Bowl. Not only is there no such potential reward in I-AA, there is also no benefit to teams like Maine, URI, or anyone else in the A-10 monetarily for UMass's success.

[bkrownd]

Not only is there no such potential reward in I-AA, there is also no benefit to teams like Maine, URI, or anyone else in the A-10 monetarily for UMass's success.

Yeah, but you won't lose as much money as UMass will, either. ;)