bigredmed wrote:Their retiring Chancellor is leaving due to retirement. Athletic departments in most D1 programs lose money. The degree of hemorrhage is still unacceptable at $600k, but by cutting football and wrestling, they took a zero off the loss.
The Athletic Department needs to focus on making the experience of the game and the interaction with the AD itself better. We were Hockey STHs for more than a decade. We gave money to the Blue Line Club. The One Fund was set up as the only game in town and the BLC support was ignored. Baxter meant the end of our on the glass seats. The corporate donors got the good seats and STHs were used to disguise the empty corp. seats in the lower bowl.
UNMC Family Ned's Sports Medicine did all their work for free. Our buddy Trent wanted his friend in orthopedics to take over, but at a substantial cost.
Many other stories of UNO's AD's BS could be told, but sum it to say, they have brought this and continue to bring this on themselves. May they stew in their own juices.
I don't get what you're saying about "the degree of hemorrhage is still unacceptable at $600k, but by cutting football and wrestling, they took a zero off the loss."
The OWH expose indicated that the athletic department lost $1.5 million last year and the arena lost $1.6 million. All told, that equates to over $3 million in losses from athletics and athletic facilities. $600k was only the amount that Trev Alberts committed to cutting from the athletic budget to try to mitigate the amount that the University of Nebraska system would have to dip into reserve funds. When football and wrestling were cut, it was noted that football was losing over a million a year and wrestling was losing $250k a year. So, I would contend that the current situation is every bit as bad in 2016 as it was in 2011, if not worse.
You'll get no argument from me about UNO needing to do a better job with engaging ticket holders and alumni. I absolutely agree and have made this point on other forums. The only thing that matters at this point is One Fund donations. That's the only thing that moves the needle in the athletic department. Ticket holders receive no perks or engagement simply from holding tickets anymore. I used to get some extra freebies from basketball, but not anymore. UNO should be sending offers for other sports, having ticket holder events, discounts on merchandise, etc. Most of the time, the only correspondence I get from UNO is a renewal letter each year telling me when they need my money. UNO could learn a thing or two from how Martie Cordaro and the Storm Chasers have engaged their ticket holders. They could also look at how Creighton built their fanbase in basketball and soccer in the early to mid 00's for reference.
Bottom line: UNO still operates with D-II mentality when it comes to ticket sales, fan/alumni engagement, and marketing. That can't continue with the commitment they've made to athletics with Baxter Arena. There is too much riding on this now.