On Sep 4, 2008, at 2:29 PM, Oliver Barry wrote: > Yes, we can talk about all the student athletes who could be helped > with the $2 million every other year we would lose if we played at > Miami. And, I’d like to think that Dear Old UF is only thinking of > them when we refuse to play them on a home and away basis, but I > just don’t think that’s entirely accurate. The $2 million is an > economic reality. It pays for facilities, salaries, etc too. It > also funds a few scholarships. But, couldn’t we have looked at the > long term investment potential here? > Would we make nothing off the television revenue this game would > generate? Would the $2 million we lose one year only double on > those years we play at home because of the increased national > exposure and attention? > And most importantly, wouldn’t we have been able to recruit better > in South Florida if we’d been playing their sorry butts every year > and beating them when they were down most of the time? > > Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI
Do we know if the $2 million is gross of the amount we have to pay a Hawaii-type opponent? $500,000 or $600,000 these days. We pay that two years in a row and it works out to one million. We lose one home game every two years is 2 million, so the net would seem to be a loss of $500,000 annually; not two million. Now, the additional TV exposure won't help us, we receive a % of the SEC pie, and those are fixed contracts. We can't sell any more tickets than we do. We might sell some more t-shirts and hats. That licensing revenue is very dependent on visibility and success. IIRC, alumni donations and booster donations do improve with visibility and success. Long term, it generates additional applicants which, with a limited number of admissions, should increase the average quality of our students which (under the Harvard model) can mean more successful alumni and a higher endowment. That's pretty long term thinking and doesn't come with a guarantee. There is also the thought that denying UM-CG the revenue from this game keeps it from building better athletic facilities (such as a stadium), or funding other sports. We may derive a competitive advantage by doing so. I'm a bit conflicted. I doubt it's a pure 2 million to UF by adopting this path, but it may still be in our interests to do so. --Zeb --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
