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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2015 12:08:25 GMT -6
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Post by BSSN on Jul 18, 2015 19:04:59 GMT -6
This is a perfect example of a football program overreaching. The new stadium isn't drawing crowds, because the program blows. So now the baseball program has to take the hit for it?
Morons are running that place.
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Post by Bigfoot on Jul 19, 2015 20:25:48 GMT -6
Very unfortunate but I am sure it goes well beyond the football program expense!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2015 0:03:44 GMT -6
Very unfortunate but I am sure it goes well beyond the football program expense!
It's very much more than just the football program expenses. Mismanagement across the whole university. I feel bad for coach Rick Rembielak. He brought the Kent State program to a solid level of respect (Beals and Marconi played for him), took the HC job at Wake Forest and did not succeed, but came to Akron and in 3 years, got the program turned in the right direction. |
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Post by Bigfoot on Jul 20, 2015 6:59:52 GMT -6
Very unfortunate set of circumstances indeed.
I know BSU Trustee Rick Hall over the years was frustrated by BSU (under the direction of Tom Kinghorn) to not take on debit financing of any type such as bonds etc. to build facilities and infrastructure. The Akron situation certainly speaks to the downside of such debt.
I tend to agree with Rick though, as I think debt financing is a tool that can be a catalyst to advance the university needs more quickly if managed properly and equally in a conservative manner. The recent investment scandal BSU endured certainly gives me pause and further lends weight to Kinghorn's philosophy.
We have an ever evolving campus that is beautiful and for that we can all be proud.
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Post by 00hmh on Jul 20, 2015 8:25:01 GMT -6
Very unfortunate set of circumstances indeed. I know BSU Trustee Rick Hall over the years was frustrated by BSU (under the direction of Tom Kinghorn) to not take on debit financing of any type such as bonds etc. to build facilities and infrastructure. The Akron situation certainly speaks to the downside of such debt. I tend to agree with Rick though, as I think debt financing is a tool that can be a catalyst to advance the university needs more quickly if managed properly and equally in a conservative manner. The recent investment scandal BSU endured certainly gives me pause and further lends weight to Kinghorn's philosophy. We have an ever evolving campus that is beautiful and for that we can all be proud. That good management part means assessing the future cash flows carefully. It makes good sense for Debt Financing for facilities to be reserved to leverage investment in something that shows a profit. Or, perhaps to cover emergency spending for some unexpected necessary expenditure. We have no seen a sports facility make a profit, although the Arena had potential to do so. Then came Ronnie... as the first bad management decision in a decade of malaise. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2015 8:35:48 GMT -6
Very unfortunate set of circumstances indeed. I know BSU Trustee Rick Hall over the years was frustrated by BSU (under the direction of Tom Kinghorn) to not take on debit financing of any type such as bonds etc. to build facilities and infrastructure. The Akron situation certainly speaks to the downside of such debt. I tend to agree with Rick though, as I think debt financing is a tool that can be a catalyst to advance the university needs more quickly if managed properly and equally in a conservative manner. The recent investment scandal BSU endured certainly gives me pause and further lends weight to Kinghorn's philosophy. We have an ever evolving campus that is beautiful and for that we can all be proud. That good management part means assessing the future cash flows carefully. It makes good sense for Debt Financing for facilities to be reserved to leverage investment in something that shows a profit. Or, perhaps to cover emergency spending for some unexpected necessary expenditure. We have no seen a sports facility make a profit, although the Arena had potential to do so. Then came Ronnie... as the first bad management decision in a decade of malaise. Worthen would be much more of a profit center if it had been better designed to accommodate large events like concerts, etc. I understand our loading dock was poorly designed and cannot handle very large transports. Worthen needed to become the entertainment center to East Central Indiana, and that has not happened. Now that the Muncie economy is in such poor shape, having those big events in Worthen probably would not succeed. I feel that the baseball field is very underutilized. It could host more summer tournaments, summer college league teams, etc. if it had lights. I also do not think it is too much to ask of baseball/softball attendees to pay $5 admission for games. Every HS I have been to in Central Indiana charges $5 admission for games. BSU baseball games are great entertainment (comparable to Gulf Coast Single A ball ), and well worth $5. The revenue would go to offset ongoing field maintenance. (Students would still get in for free, or based on their activity fees). |
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Post by 00hmh on Jul 21, 2015 9:24:04 GMT -6
I feel that the baseball field is very underutilized. It could host more summer tournaments, summer college league teams, etc. if it had lights. I also do not think it is too much to ask of baseball/softball attendees to pay $5 admission for games. Every HS I have been to in Central Indiana charges $5 admission for games. BSU baseball games are great entertainment (comparable to Gulf Coast Single A ball ), and well worth $5. The revenue would go to offset ongoing field maintenance. (Students would still get in for free, or based on their activity fees). That "if it had lights" adds a need for investment and needs to pass the test of economic viability. That requires a fair amount of revenue to support the investment. Right now attendance at the baseball games, other than parents and the visiting team entourage would not be much revenue... The other factor is how other MAC schools do it. In any case if we want to draw crowds from local people, I am not sure the market is there (especially when the games are played). With weather, and afternoon games, no press coverage of the team to speak of, and poor student interest, that is not as good a game experience as Single A ball which thrives in summer, and it would be a tough ticket to sell even though the quality of play is very good. Game experience, family audience and promotion is what makes minor league baseball work. As for using the field for other purposes, I can imagine a whole set of problems in terms of schedule conflicts with BSU use, especially early in the summer, and tournaments require multiple fields and that facility is not designed for the use. But despite all the possible negatives, looking at it as a business project and doing an analysis of beefing up the business side of the baseball field sounds like a great project for the Sports Admin and Business students to take on as an immersive learning project, assuming the BSU AD staff doesn't want to do it. Might get some ideas? |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 10:31:19 GMT -6
I feel that the baseball field is very underutilized. It could host more summer tournaments, summer college league teams, etc. if it had lights. I also do not think it is too much to ask of baseball/softball attendees to pay $5 admission for games. Every HS I have been to in Central Indiana charges $5 admission for games. BSU baseball games are great entertainment (comparable to Gulf Coast Single A ball ), and well worth $5. The revenue would go to offset ongoing field maintenance. (Students would still get in for free, or based on their activity fees). That "if it had lights" adds a need for investment and needs to pass the test of economic viability. That requires a fair amount of revenue to support the investment. Right now attendance at the baseball games, other than parents and the visiting team entourage would not be much revenue... The other factor is how other MAC schools do it. In any case if we want to draw crowds from local people, I am not sure the market is there (especially when the games are played). With weather, and afternoon games, no press coverage of the team to speak of, and poor student interest, that is not as good a game experience as Single A ball which thrives in summer, and it would be a tough ticket to sell even though the quality of play is very good. Game experience, family audience and promotion is what makes minor league baseball work. As for using the field for other purposes, I can imagine a whole set of problems in terms of schedule conflicts with BSU use, especially early in the summer, and tournaments require multiple fields and that facility is not designed for the use. But despite all the possible negatives, looking at it as a business project and doing an analysis of beefing up the business side of the baseball field sounds like a great project for the Sports Admin and Business students to take on as an immersive learning project, assuming the BSU AD staff doesn't want to do it. Might get some ideas? Most DI fields have lights to help ensure that conference scheduled games are completed. Getting conference games in on schedule is ensured with field turf and lights. Lights are relatively inexpensive to install. Most of the large Central Indiana HS fields have them (MUSCO Lighting does a great job). Night games could make games more accommodating to fans schedules, and increase attendance. If you are charging $5 (average HS game cost), you help offset the cost. Purdue charges $8 for seatbacks and $5 for general admission. ISU charges $5. IU charges a little more, and I believe Notre Dame charges $5 (at least they did last time I was there). I coach summer ball for college recruits. There are plenty of fields in the area to accommodate tournaments. We do it every weekend on both grass and field turf fields. BSU's new field turf is an asset in demand. Tourneys for the college recruit teams generally do not begin until after NCAA regionals, because most of the kids are still playing sectionals/regionals. Even if BSU held a Super Regional, it would probably would be moved to Indy of Fort Wayne. If BSU held a NCAA Regional, odds are it would be held in Muncie if we had lights. U of Illinois held Regionals at their field (it holds 1,500. BSU currently holds 1,800) because they have field turf and lights. |
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Post by Bigfoot on Jul 21, 2015 14:29:06 GMT -6
Maybe we can get a baseball alum to put in some seed money for those lights?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2015 20:49:54 GMT -6
More fall out from Akron's financial woes.... Ohio.com |
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