Makes you think of how we should spend OUr athletics spend.

In terms of achievement (past and potential), reknown (present, potential) and dollars, I'm wondering if our priorities shouldn't be something like this:

Volleyball

Hockey (upgrade to championship level)

Wrestling

Field Hockey

Football

Baseball

Swim/Dive

Track & Field & Cross Country

Basketball

Soccer

I know basketball seems lower that it oughta be.  Let's discuss without animosity and with all factors considered (budget needed, level of achievement needed, fan excitement, ability to bring good pub to the University, etc).

How meaningful was it for 'kron to title in soccer?



 

 

If you had $2-3 million that you could add to athletics budget, how would you allocate it?

Hey now, OHIO's coach left...and became the coach of the US National Team (since replaced by Klingsman). But seriously, Akron's soccer success has only moved the needle within the hardcore soccer world, and I've yet to see any studies (even non-peer reviewed studies of dubious quality) attempting to put a dollar or enrollment value upon it.

Edited to address your second comment as well: Why would unionization benefit soccer? The Chicago NLRB ruling, if upheld, won't be limited to football. As for concussions, one of my housemates played scholarship D1 soccer in college (Patriot League). He was pretty adamant that soccer could scramble your brain pretty efficiently too.
 

The vast majority of us recognize (as a few have elsewhere posted) that upping the ante in hoops seems to be part of an arms race that could have us saying good-bye again if Saul succeeds and attracts attention in a year or three.  So, the issue of what Athletics priority should be is relevant...is one that anyone with a little vision should consider.

Some of us prefer considering, preparing for the future instead of getting smashed in the face with it.  Schaus, obviously, is a future guy; he was prepared, hired Saul quickly.






Some truly impressive lack of vision/thinking:  columbus11 can't think in a hypothetical way of expanding the hockey venue and isn't aware that we have women's sports despite that Volleyball could be our most exciting and consistent sport...     donuts--we all get it.  you'll blast whatever I write.  with all the thought of a fried pastry. almost 500 posts and not a bit of content.  better to keep your mouth shut and leave them guessing than to confirm what we all suspect.                oz--why bother.  there's no dealing with the unreasonable.  maybe some day you'll have a new thought, break out of your smugness.  but i doubt it.

Football:             $2,129,490

M. Basketball:   $1,532,210
Baseball:              $605,991

Volleyball:             $411,086

W. Basketball:     $131,078
Softball:                   $91,777

Soccer:                    $77,994

Field Hockey:         $59,342
Swimming/Diving: $22,478

Wrestling:                  $6,558
Track & Field:            $5,593

M/W Cross Country: $2,693

Of course, these figures are 5 years old, so the numbers today will be different.  I know the impact from Men's basketball is significantly higher today considering the average attendance per game is about 2,000 people higher than in 08/09.

Ice Hockey is not included here because it is a club sport and not sponsored by the athletics department and was not part of this study.  If I can find some figures though, I will post them.  

If anyone knows more recent figures, I would love to see them.





 

The primary returns on investment that the athletic department should be concerned about are (1) the direct financial impact of the sport TO THE UNIVERSITY (what is the program's net revenue) and (2) prestige/accolades that the program brings TO THE UNIVERSITY. While a positive economic impact on Athens is a nice side effect (setting aside for a moment that the reported numbers for these studies are typically bunk), our Athletic Department isn't funded by the Athens County Commissioners, and it shouldn't base its athletic priorities as if it were.
 

I appreciate what you're saying Monroe, but to address your summary statement: No, I do not think that sustained (multi-year) success (titles) in wrestling, track & field, CC, field hockey, women's soccer, swimming & diving AND baseball/softball would move the needle more than the occasional good MBB season (a couple of NCAA appearances or advancing from the round of 64 to just the round of 32, let alone 16) or football season (MAC title OR exciting bowl victory, plus the usual complement of weeknight ESPN games). 

To wit: Who won the NCAAs last year in field hockey, lacross, cross country, etc. (You're not allowed to answer if you make a point of following those sports, only if you know the answer based on general sports knowledge). 

Hockey and women's basketball do offer a greater chance to move the needle than the others, no doubt, but both are still limited. Hockey fans, while more numerous than ever, are still disproportionately located in the Northern Tier of the country. I like watching hockey, don't get me wrong, and I used to LOVE watching the team at Bird Arena, but its not even on the same order of magnitude as MBB/Football in terms of national appeal (yet?). 

Women's basketball does offer a chance to make some noise. It has a fully televised tournament for one (albeit not show on the plum days/times), so some possibility there. But, I think you'd have to win a national title (or 2) to get the same sort of NATIONAL impact that you get from advancing to the Sweet 16. While its potentially easier to get ranked in WBB than in MBB, from my casual glimpsing of women's basketball it seems like the top teams are REALLY GOOD and have a large gulf between themselves and the rest of the sport, so a title might be equally tough to achieve. 

Your earlier list:

1 & 2) Yes, the marginal impact of a dollar spent in most of these sports is likely high than that of an additional dollar spent on football/basketball - probably many times more impactful in terms of on-the-field performance but much less of a premium when it comes to tickets sold/national exposure/economic impact

3) This is the metric where the other sports are going to suffer the most, if we're taking economic impact as a read-out of attendance. A couple of years ago, in the midst of consecutive national titles or championship appearance (I can't remember if they won all of them or not) UCONN's WBB coach complained (rather vehemently) about the lack of fan support/turnout. Like it or not, most of those sports don't draw in the casual fan of the school. Even among a school's committed fan base, most of those sports don't draw well outside of fans of the particular sport. 

4) Going along with #3, casual fans hear about football and basketball success on ESPN, out-of-region local news. Thats just not the case with a lot of the others.

5) All of these sports can be exciting as hell (especially if you know enough about the event to be able to follow it.

6 - 7) I don't really know enough about these to comment.