Bret Bielema Wants to Play Nebraska in 2012 & 2015
by Husker Mike on Apr 6, 2010 10:05 PM CDT
in Nebraska Husker Football
Email
PrintThis afternoon, Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema grabbed his cell phone and tweeted:
Also trying to lock up a home and home contest with Notre Dame or Nebraska for the future. (Home 2012 away 2015). Would be fun for WI fans.
Could Nebraska add Wisconsin to their 2012 and 2015 schedules? Yes, but at a price.
It's a quality opponent, and after ticket holders have had to stomach the Sun Belt teams last season, and three more money games this fall, I'm all in favor of bulking up the schedule a wee bit. It improves Nebraska's exposure on television, and it's a reasonable distance for fans to drive to the game.
But there is a downside to this proposal. In both 2012 and 2015, Nebraska already has away non-conference games scheduled. In 2012, Nebraska is headed to UCLA and in 2015, Nebraska travels to Miami. From a budget perspective, Nebraska can only play one non-conference foe on the road each season. Or maybe more accurately, Nebraska needs the revenue from three non-conference home games each season to power the athletic department. So this proposal doesn't really fit, sadly.
Now, playing in Lincoln in 2015 and Madison in 2016? That fits: Nebraska has three home games scheduled for 2016 in the non-conference portion of the schedule: Fresno State, Tennessee, and Wyoming. A road trip to Wisconsin would fill that schedule out nicely.
Is that too much of a schedule? Perhaps...but is that a bad thing? Shouldn't college football teams be encouraged to play that type of a schedule? One of the worst things that has happened to college football in recent years was the removal of strength of schedule from the BCS formula. In college football today, it makes little sense to risk a loss when there's so much to gain from playing in a BCS bowl game. See Texas' gutless schedule last season.
What's your take? Would you like to see Nebraska play Wisconsin in 2015 and 2016? Or would you like to only play six home games in 2012, and play the Badgers in 2012 and 2015?
20 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Count me in
I’m always in for a better schedule and would it really hurt NU’s athletic department to play one more away game if we got Wisconsin to come to Lincoln in 2016? Sounds like a win win proposal to me. GBR
It's about $4 million...
75,000 people (throwing out the 10k or so student seats) at $50+…plus concessions, parking, etc. brings in about $4 million a game. I don’t know how the Nebraska athletic department works around that drop in revenue in NU only plays 6 home games in 2012. Heck, some people are going to argue that Nebraska should regularly play 8 home games, and only do one home-and-home at a time.
That $4 M number is a misleading in that context...
For that is only revenue. There are substantial costs for having an additional home game as well. In actual operational profit, it is only around $1M to $1.5M in benefit. (and it this case, that benefit is spanned over 2 years, since Wisky would play in Lincoln for one of the two years) That is why there is so much discussion around the increasing cost of scheduling non-BCS foes. The increase of $200K to $300K these schools are starting to demand over the historical normal is reducing the profitability of these games by 20% to 30%.
But for a school that needs national exposure for recruiting, the decrease in revenue for losing a home game every other year will be a pittance compared to enormous opportunity cost of not having a nationally competitive team.
I don't think it costs THAT much to put on a game...
There are expenses, but I’d venture that UNL nets $3 million or more for each home game after the guarantee and all the expenses (security, ushers, HuskerVision, etc.) Other than a little bit from men’s basketball, football subsidizes the entire athletic department. No way they could do that if football wasn’t paying the tab.
Heck, if NU with average crowds of 85k can only net $1 million or so, Colorado has to be losing money on football.
if I have time, I will see if I can dig it up again.
but I am pretty sure that 1.0 to 1.5 M is pretty correct. The non-BCS schools are demanding 700K to 800K alone nowadays. Also, remember, that is per game, so over the season that puts it around 8M to 10M range. Considering that, say, the women’s soccer coach probably gets paid around 80K and other non revenue sports are handled similarly, 10M covering the rest is believable.
I will give you this, I do bet that there is a large amount of fixed costs in that number, like salaries, that the program has to pay regardless of the amount of home games. What % of the total cost is that number, don’t know.
You haven't even begun to count scholarships...
85 players at probably $10k a season when you count tuition, room/board, training table, books, etc. That’s close to a million there. Add in coaches salaries: $2 million for Bo, Carl & Wats probably get $1 million combined, the rest of the staff probably over $1 million. So that’s $5 million in expenses for the football program.
I don’t think the other $5 million can cover the rest of the athletic department.
Just found the 2008-09 Report
This doesn’t break it out by sport, but in 08-09, Nebraska netted $39 million in ticket sales after taxes. You know and I know that 80-90% of that was football ticket sales.
Game expenses were $6.6 million, and concessions were $2.3 million. That’s $9.2 million. Round it up to $10 or $11 million to add in any wages or utilties, and Nebraska netted about $27 million on games. 80% of that would be about $22 million for football…which would be just shy of $3 million a game for 8 home games in 2008/09.
See page 16 for more information
Interesting
that one of the items was $3.3M in “Support to UNL”.
Giving back? Is that what that is? Unheard of.
Go Big Red Nebraska!
Our Cobs Are Bigger Than Yours!
Corn Nation!
Twitter!
cornnation@gmail.com
That is correct...
The athletic department helps fund the rest of the University; I believe some of that money goes to the library.
This is a great idea.
We all complain about creampuff schedules that all schools put together. This adds a marquee game for ABC/ESPN/FSN to broadcast, so I think that might help pad the budget too.
"Where do you put the bayonet?" (upon seeing a flamethrower fo the first time)
I'd love it
playing Wisconsin is kind of like playing your long lost brother anyway (they’re red, they run a power running offense, and there’s the Barry Alvarez factor).
I’ve always wanted to go to Camp Randall, and Wisconsin really does have better beer than any place on the planet.
In fact, I’m in Eau Claire today and tomorrow….. but, sadly no beer this time.
Go Big Red Nebraska!
Our Cobs Are Bigger Than Yours!
Corn Nation!
Twitter!
cornnation@gmail.com
NU -v- WI
This would be a fantastic game. First, Husker Fans would enjoy Camp Randall and Madison. Second, the Huskers would feel right at home in a sea of red. Third, it would probably be televised. Fourth, Big 10 teams are fun to play. Fifth, Wisconsin is a great football state, just like Nebraska. Sixth, beer gardens. Seventh, food. Tank up on beer, brats, and cheese curds and watch football…and do all this without needing to die and go to heaven. This is what you might call a win-win-win-win-win-win scenario.
If you want NU to play for National Championships
Or BCS at large bids, you have to schedule accordingly.
Why should NU voluntarily play a hard schedule than most other big name schools? cough Florida, Texas, cough Until the system rewards schools for playing real live competition NU should use the system to it’s advantage, schedule wins, everyone like wins!, and try to get to the big money BCS games.
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
you guys
do realize that the point may be moot by the time 2015 rolls around, right?
Go Big Red Nebraska!
Our Cobs Are Bigger Than Yours!
Corn Nation!
Twitter!
cornnation@gmail.com
Because we'll be back-to-back-to-back National Champs, so who really cares?
Yes… I do realize that. :)
well i was going to go
with the fact that we’ll be part of the Big 16, formerly known as the Big 10, but I like your idea better.
Go Big Red Nebraska!
Our Cobs Are Bigger Than Yours!
Corn Nation!
Twitter!
cornnation@gmail.com
by Jon Johnston on Apr 7, 2010 3:31 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Love the idea
Yes, the money thing kind of sucks, but an OOC game against Wisconsin would just be awesome. They’re easily my favorite school in the Big 10+1 (probably because they remind me of a sort of 1990s Husker Lite). The game would be fun, the national exposure would be there, and NU would garner the national respect of having the balls to play a real OOC schedule.
With that said, I doubt that it’ll happen, because money tends to rule CFB these days, and playing South Dakota State in Memorial Stadium is apparently the more attractive option for us. Of course it IS Osborne and Alvarez heading up the scheduling, so I’ll hold out hope that those two can shock us all and give us a September game that won’t put us all to sleep. 2016 if UW can make it work, but 2012 works ok too.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
Doubt it
happens. No strength of schedule factor their is no inncentive to play it. Why take the chance of losing. We’ll probably drop one in conference play, and a two loss team has made it before in LSU, but I doubt it happens that way again. Not a two lose Big XII team only the SEC has a chance to get a two lose team in the National Championship game. That being said I would love to go to a Wisconsin vs. Nebraska matchup. Gotta say I do love their colors!!!!
Make it happen!!!
Oen game at a time. Last year’s loss is proof with Iowa State. Bring on the strength of schedule and learn to play one game at a time. This will translate into Bowl win victories, even better recruits because of more national respect, and yes in the end we will have an undefeated season with the “special players” we will get that enjoy the challenge of the schedule.
Both WI and NE could use this type of hype to surge ahead of national programs such as Ohio State, Florida, USC, ALABAMA. Just make this stuff happen and stop playing the also ran schools….
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SHOP THE CORN NATION STORE
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
