One School's Commitment to Football That's Successful

[DL65]

There's an interesting article in today's Des Moines Register by Sean Keeler that indicates Iowa's commitment to its football program. The article is about Joe Paterno and Kirk Ferentz (Iowa plays Penn State this week) and talks about (remote as it may be) the possibility of Kirk replacing Joe Paterno when he retires. What was interesting for me, however, was the graphic presented that's related to commitment and financial costs of winning programs.

Finnancial commitment: In the article, according to stats for 2008-2009 by the Department of Education, Penn State football revenues were $61.7 million and Iowa brought in $38.9 million. However, during the same period, Iowa's football expenses were $26.9 million and Penn State spent $19.1.

Football is big business, and schools with winning programs treat it as such.

It would be interesting if stats were available that show revenue streams to schools via donations by fans and friends of schools that field winning football programs. It's been reported that donations to Wisconsin took a decided spike upward when they went to the Rose Bowl in 1993. I bet that's the case at the top tier programs.


Go Gophers!!

 

[GO4FAN65]

You got that right!

 

[GopherGod]

I don't know about all of the top programs but I can tell you that the University of Nebraska athletic department is entirely self supporting and does not receive a penny in state funding nor from student fees. The Minnesota Athletic Department needs to do a better job of fundraising and marketing itself to get that additional support from alumni and industry instead of expecting the handout from the general university fund.

 

[washgopher]

so PSU football 'profit' is $42M and IA $13M. Minnesota took in $840M in research grants this year. Is it hard to understand where UM priorities should lie? UM's ten year plan is to be one of the top three research schools IN THE WORLD, and is well along that path. It's up to Alumni and fans to fund football through cash, vibrant support and all the things community support can do, not just the school admin, they've got much bigger fish to fry. To compare, Boise State has an unbelievable football program (but sucks at other sports) yet brings in only $12M in research and offers two masters programs and no PhDs. Yes, they get a lot of interest in grad student requests after football victories but those seekers find out how little they have to offer, of corse it's really easy to get into BSU (got a checking account or valid credit card? Come on over).

 

[Ewert86PC]

Great article.

 

[Silvio]

so PSU football 'profit' is $42M and IA $13M. Minnesota took in $840M in research grants this year. Is it hard to understand where UM priorities should lie? UM's ten year plan is to be one of the top three research schools IN THE WORLD, and is well along that path. It's up to Alumni and fans to fund football through cash, vibrant support and all the things community support can do, not just the school admin, they've got much bigger fish to fry. To compare, Boise State has an unbelievable football program (but sucks at other sports) yet brings in only $12M in research and offers two masters programs and no PhDs. Yes, they get a lot of interest in grad student requests after football victories but those seekers find out how little they have to offer, of corse it's really easy to get into BSU (got a checking account or valid credit card? Come on over).

Idagopher,

Why don't you compare apples to apples. I'll wait for your comparison to Wisconsin, Michigan and Texas. Since Boise State offers primarily undergrad degrees I would be interested to see their number of applications for admission as well as any increase/decrease quality of students applying after their success in football compared to before.

Thanks.

 

[GraniteCityGopher]

Surely, the Athletic Department and the Carlson School have done some cross department research on the phenomenon

Take a look just a little farther south for just one example. Kansas State was a perennial football bottom feeder, but a few years into Snyder's first tenure they started winning and the money started pouring in.

Minnesota's alumni base is huge and spread nation, even world, wide. A winning football program with high-profile bowl appearances would see wallets opening up with pride from places yet untapped. The program could be self funded and the anxiety expressed by the likes of Ida could be alleviated. Minnesota could have a winning and entertaining football program and a world class reserach facility.

 

[tikited]

Surely, the Athletic Department and the Carlson School have done some cross department research on the phenomenon

Take a look just a little farther south for just one example. Kansas State was a perennial football bottom feeder, but a few years into Snyder's first tenure they started winning and the money started pouring in.

Minnesota's alumni base is huge and spread nation, even world, wide. A winning football program with high-profile bowl appearances would see wallets opening up with pride from places yet untapped. The program could be self funded and the anxiety expressed by the likes of Ida could be alleviated. Minnesota could have a winning and entertaining football program and a world class reserach facility.

Love your pic. GraniteCity.

I think the Carlson school would prefer you change it to this though: Minnesota could have a world class research facility and winning and entertaining football program.