CBS: Canceled Gopher Football Season Likely To Cause Financial Strife For Other ‘U’ Sports

[BleedGopher]

per CBS:

Billions of dollars are on the line as the college football season hangs in the balance.

The Big Ten Conference will reportedly vote Tuesday on canceling all games. Other conferences could follow, but the impact of no Minnesota Gopher football season wouldn’t just be felt on the field.


The team rowed the boat last year to their most successful season in 50 years. They finished with 11 wins and just two losses. But this year, the losses could be felt off the field.

Stephen Ross is a sports management professor at Concordia University in St. Paul.

“Some estimates I’ve heard is if there is no football season this year, they can lose approximately $60 million,” Ross said.

He says those losses would trickle down to non-revenue sports that rely on football to stay in the game.

“Without football, it’s a question of what happens with other sports in the fall,” Ross said.

Canceled Gopher Football Season Likely To Cause Financial Strife For Other 'U' Sports

The impact of the Minnesota Gopher football team losing a season wouldn't just be felt on the field.

minnesota.cbslocal.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[MplsGopher]

The worst case is all college sports are cancelled for fiscal year 2020-21.

And the school basically just writes it off. One year blip.

Demand for sports, both to participate in, and view, will be exactly the same as it was, when we come out the other side of this horrible tunnel.

 

[LakerFan]

It the loss of revenue, prospect of honoring scholarship and housing, paying coaches AND if you end up having half your incoming freshman opt to take online classes at Normandale for 1/10th the cost that's going to be a apocalyptic event for the U.

They like to refer to football as the front porch of the university. Good luck getting kids to enroll without a front porch and a big "no entry" sign in the front yard.

 

[Pete smith]

Hey,MplsGopher, go back to your basement I hear your Mother calling.

 

[MplsGopher]

It the loss of revenue, prospect of honoring scholarship and housing, paying coaches AND if you end up having half your incoming freshman opt to take online classes at Normandale for 1/10th the cost that's going to be a apocalyptic event for the U.

They like to refer to football as the front porch of the university. Good luck getting kids to enroll without a front porch and a big "no entry" sign in the front yard.

 

[NotAFanOfBecky]

The worst case is all college sports are cancelled for fiscal year 2020-21.

And the school basically just writes it off. One year blip.

Demand for sports, both to participate in, and view, will be exactly the same as it was, when we come out the other side of this horrible tunnel.

Ok, I don't have the answers either but you typically have good thought in your replies (I don't always agree with them but you seem to have good thought) when you mention a blip how much debt are we talking vs. revenue? I thought the budget was pretty massive ($150 million/year) and I know that includes travel but what about scholarships, coaches salary, etc. If we assume none of the athletes are on campus are they allowed a stipend for food or do parents provide that (I know that there are some pretty big nutrition requirements for the athletes and I'm not sure all families could afford this). Would that be part of the obligation to the student athlete? I'm not being facetious with my comments I'm just seriously wondering would the U or many other universities be able to come back from the financial obligations? I think if the coaches agreed to merely add a year on their contract and take dramatically less or something like that then perhaps they could make it work. Is there an endowment (I'm guessing no)? Boosters (can't see it because unless it's home depot or Amazon I'm guessing revenues are way down for most businesses)? I'm skeptical because they still haven't even finished the funding with the new faculties and it's been a few years. But ultimately we are not dealing with just monopoly money here and there are real financial consequences. It's an interesting discussion to be certain.