of booze hounds in the cheap seats at TCF.
was arguably the knock-out blow to the football program (though it worked very nicely for the Twins and Vikings organizations).
It's a chicken-egg argument. Revenue and spending would be correlated too. You have to spend in a way that improves your chances of winning. If the U just doubled its football budget overnight, it probably wouldn't matter.
The U's football revenue took a hit shortly after the Vikings arrived. When you look at attendance data it is clear that the Vikings immediately dinged the U for at least 15,000 at the gate. The U responded by dis-investing in the football program. Meanwhile there was a college football arms race starting in the rest of the country.
Losing started to follow; then less revenue was generated, more disinvestment, and more losing. The decision to mothball Memorial Stadium to save money was landmark as part of this death-spiral. And signing a lease at the Metrodome that literally handed almost all streams of revenue over to Minnesota's professional sports franchises
At some point between firing Geutekunst and hiring Mason the decision was made to make some effort to compete in D1 football again. But Minnesota is far behind in the arms race. TCF should prove to be a major step in catching-up.
At some point early in the Mason era I remember the public finally buying-in to the indisputable fact that the U couldn't continue to play in the dome forever and compete in the Big Ten. I believe the only reason this dilemma ever became part of the public's consciousness was because of the very public revenue discussions that were suddenly going on pertaining to the Vikings, Twins, North Stars, Wild, Timberwolves. Unfortunately, people were naive to the revenue vs. winning relationship in the 60's and 70's when the football program was being disassembled.
It's a chicken-egg argument. Revenue and spending would be correlated too. You have to spend in a way that improves your chances of winning. If the U just doubled its football budget overnight, it probably wouldn't matter.
The U's football revenue took a hit shortly after the Vikings arrived. When you look at attendance data it is clear that the Vikings immediately dinged the U for at least 15,000 at the gate. The U responded by dis-investing in the football program. Meanwhile there was a college football arms race starting in the rest of the country.
Losing started to follow; then less revenue was generated, more disinvestment, and more losing. The decision to mothball Memorial Stadium to save money was landmark as part of this death-spiral. And signing a lease at the Metrodome that literally handed almost all streams of revenue over to Minnesota's professional sports franchises
At some point between firing Geutekunst and hiring Mason the decision was made to make some effort to compete in D1 football again. But Minnesota is far behind in the arms race. TCF should prove to be a major step in catching-up.
At some point early in the Mason era I remember the public finally buying-in to the indisputable fact that the U couldn't continue to play in the dome forever and compete in the Big Ten. I believe the only reason this dilemma ever became part of the public's consciousness was because of the very public revenue discussions that were suddenly going on pertaining to the Vikings, Twins, North Stars, Wild, Timberwolves. Unfortunately, people were naive to the revenue vs. winning relationship in the 60's and 70's when the football program was being disassembled.