A few days ago Foote posted the article about the budget woes in athletics and it seemed like the blame was being put on academics for lack of institutional support. But who is really to blame? The Ragin’ Cajuns’ Financial Merry-Go-Round
Cajun mafia stealing . Starts with T Joe downward
1 Like
I agree with most of this article, especially as regards football. We, as a university and as a fan base, cannot justify spending the amounts of money we spend on football, a sport in which we can never expect to sustain a high level of performance. The window to get into a conference that would allow us to sustain performance has closed; largely as a result of incompetence and/or laziness and/or disdain for athletics by personnel in the AD’s office and in Martin Hall.
In my opinion, we could still be successful in our other sports, but only if we support them better financially and demand a high level of performance from our coaches. I don’t hold out much hope of either of those conditions ever existing here.
1 Like
Great read Lane. I think right now all we can do is sit and wait for the new president and see what come of it and hope he helps with a culture change (similar to Texas State)
also I hope they find a way to increase student athletic fees but lower a cost of something else to help keep costs the same
I appreciate it man. One can hope that we have a culture change soon. I unfortunately don’t see the students voting and accepting to spend money on athletics especially when the athletic department gives them no reason to attend games other than they get in free.
2 Likes
That’s why they would have to find some other fee they could lower to offset it. It’s the only way it could happen.
I struggle to understand the incentivizing the students because there no incentive for big programs students any more than ours, if not less. Only difference is on field success and creating a sense of community and unity between the university and the athletic dept
What is the current UL fee? What is the MEDIAN Sun Belt fee? Thats the amount it should be, if it isn’t already. Same with tailgating spots, tickets, etc.
I can’t remember the exact number but it’s not a lot. We are way below the SB average only second to last behind ULM. It was in I think the recent Kevin Foote article.
We are towards the top in dollars raised (not including student fees), then Factor in student fees we are mid table. Then only student fees we are 13th
@NattyDaddy i apologize I’m wrong actually. I found the information. See below.
“In last year’s Sun Belt Conference comparisons, UL ranked seventh out of 14 schools in both revenue and expenses without institutional support. When institutional support was included, UL dropped to 12th, ahead of only Southern Miss and UL Monroe.
UL reported $33.5 million in revenue with institutional support — about $9 million below the Sun Belt average of $42.3 million. James Madison led the conference at $76.3 million.
In institutional support alone, UL again ranked 12th at $18.9 million, roughly $9 million below the league average of $27.7 million. James Madison led that category with $59.9 million.
Student fees make up the largest portion of institutional support. The Sun Belt average was $13 million, while UL received just under $500,000 in student fees.”
Us being significantly behind on the student fees is essentially where the financial issues are hurting us most. If we were just at the SBC average for student fees we would be towards the top in the conference in total budgets
1 Like
Congrats, we’ve cracked the code.
2 Likes
I deserve a raise tbh
1 Like
A 12.5 million gap between us and the average is insane to think about tbh. Even at the P5 level. Imaging what an extra 12.5 million would do for this program.
1 Like
At the VERY least, we should be charging the average of all Louisiana schools. This also includes tickets, tailgating, ETC.
1 Like
They need to find a way to get close to this. I think it can be don’t but the athletic department needs to educate them why it’s important and how I. Turn can help the unversity
Louisiana schools, other than private, don’t really have an athletic fee to speak of. They’re all in the same boat, meaning it must pass a student vote. We’re one of very few, maybe the only, state that such a restriction.
This sums up the barrier to student fees. Unless Athletics and Martin Hall make a significant push with students to boost interest in attending athletic events, an attempt to pass a student fee will fail. We have a number of Cajun ThREDs posters here who were always in the student section on Game Day over their years at UL/USL. They were committed and would have voted for a student fee in a heartbeat. Take a look at the student section now, do you see that level of passion week in and week out? It will take more than placing the student fee on a ballot, you have to sell the benefit, especially in today’s economy.
2 Likes
The benefit is getting in to ALL games completely free. The athletic fee is a buy-in with your student ID. It’s basically a season ticket purchase, across all sports. I’d set it at $100 a semester.
And, I see the other side of your argument too. If students are no longer going to physically support athletics, there should be fees in place to support monetarily, at the very least.
The alumni before them (you, me, most on thREDs) have done both. And now, neither is happening. Like it or not, athletic fees need to be raised if we wanna compete within our own conference. Times have changed.
4 Likes
It is going to be a hard sell. Not only will an athletic fee likely increase the cost of tuition but students know that many athletes are receiving NIL money while they are working 2 jobs just to go to college.
1 Like
Working 2 jobs or going into serious debt so student athletes can be paid? Yeah that’s going to be very hard to get approved by student vote
1 Like