AF/Navy game cancelled

Sounds like the games are on again.

This was on ESPN:

"The games (Air Force at Navy, Army at Boston College) have been approved to be played by everyone at the service academies, even the lawyers," the source told McMurphy. "Everyone is in. All the boxes are checked, just waiting for approval by the Secretary of Defense, who has final say, which would make it official."
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Even Coast Guard was mentioned.

Meanwhile, Division III Coast Guard will play its home game against Western New England on Saturday as planned because coach Bill George and his staff are also faculty members and therefore exempt from the furloughs.
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But no mention of our KP Mids. :mad:
 
Home games aren't the real issue. It's travel costs that look bad.

United can offer free flights, but I wonder if that goes agains the $25 limit (or is it $50?)
 
Just to keep things in perspective...

I would bet that cancelling a big game like Air Force / Navy does equate to lost revenue; maybe even a net loss... for that game.

That's because the lion's share of the cost for these programs is not in a single flight and hotel. Rather it's year-round salaries for coaches, assistant coaches, trainers, staff; facilities/equipment maintenance and depreciation; insurance premiums and medical; security; etc etc etc.

I think the game cancellations are more akin to a corporation cancelling the big company barbeque during a budget crunch. It's about perception and sending the message that "we are looking at everything" for savings.
 
Oh! Great line LITS!!! Love that!

OK, someone correct me: in general, is not football at USAFA, USMA, & USNA a revenue generator? I am sure there are all sorts of twists and turns with the numbers, but ultimately, football pays for itself and half a dozen other sports.

I can see not sending the fencing team to New Hampshire for the weekend.

Seems to cancel the football game is just so much political punishment.
 
fencersmother said:
OK, someone correct me: in general, is not football at USAFA, USMA, & USNA a revenue generator? I am sure there are all sorts of twists and turns with the numbers, but ultimately, football pays for itself and half a dozen other sports.
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I think that's one of the big questions here... You're right of course that the belief is commonly held, but is it a myth or reality?

It's hard to get broken out numbers, but earlier in this thread there were some links and facts provided from what I could find. The bottom line is that by NCAA's own numbers, and what could be obtained through other records, it apppears as if AFA had to subsidize it's D1 sports program to the tune of $26 million in 2011. That continued a trend line from the previous 6 years so it's safe to assume that thrend continues today.

Only a handful of D1 football programs actually net money for schools. That's a fact supported by NCAA and numerous studies from ESPN to Forbes to USA Today. Is AFA one of those precious few? From what I've read and seen.... no.

But to your point, there are lots of twists and turns in how accounting can be done. Where certain expenses get charged to vs where revenues get booked to can certainly create the IMPRESSION that a particular program generates positive cash flow.


Hypothetical examples...There are dedicated gym facilities at AFA for ICs. Right? If the costs and depreciation for all of that is booked against a general facilities budget, vs an atheletic budget, you start to see what can happen. The stadium costs? How about field maintenanc crews? How about a trainer/therapist... is that medical or athletic program? You get the idea.

But best estimates from a third party show that AFA is likely to spend well over $100 million subsidizing D1 athletics during my child's time there. Should they? That's the debate...
 
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Waiting to hear about the other sports. I hope the same reasoning applies to them as well ie:funding source. Hope to cheer the Falcon harriers tomorrow at Notre Dame!
 
Apparently football is the only team being granted the privilege of playing, even though funding source is the same. I understand it is a economic issue for Navy and their athletic program. My daughter works just as hard all year round to be able to compete on an high level. If funding is not the issue, since these are not appropriated funds, I do not understand the Pentagon decision. I do not feel any ill will towards the football team. This cetainly send a negative message to all the other dedicated athletes.
 
Unless the other sports can sell tickets and make money "in the black"...you can see why football can keep on competing....at least for now...:thumb:
 
As in most universities, it's usually football and basketball that subsidizes the rest of the college sports. The academies are no different. Except for a few areas, it's the football ticket sales, merchandise, tv contracts, bowl games, and some other sources, that not only pay for football, but also for most of the other IC sports. And that's even tougher for air force because the academy truly believes in supporting ALL of their cadets, so they have 27 intercollegiate sports. Most colleges don't come close to that many athletic teams.

Government shut down or not, this is actually one of the few times, where it's a fact, that stopping the football games, or basketball if it was that season, would actually cost the air force/military/federal government MORE money. The money lost by playing the game would have to be made up somewhere else. Or, the academies simply tell some of the non-revenue generating sports: "Too bad". We're cutting you.

So for all those who think the academy only cares about their football and basketball team; ahead of non-IC athletes; I challenge you to go out and find other colleges and universities that have 27 intercollegiate athletic teams. In a traditional college, unless you're making money or are nationally recognized and thus help in recruiting students to the school, most colleges drop athletic teams that just take up space. The academies go out of their way to ensure as many students can participate in the athletic sport that they like. Whether it makes money or not. That's what the football and basketball teams are for.
 
I must say the 3rd string QB was VERY effective last week! Tough loss...I expect a great game against Navy...I hope the defense can step it up though. :smile:
 
I talked to a major in the public relations office at USAFA. The AF/Navy football game is an onetime exception. A private donor is paying for food, travel and lodging. After this, no game or sporting events will be contested until the the knuckleheads in D.C. get things solved!
 
Happy its on....... My DD paid her own way, arranged transport and got a ticket from a Mids parent to go by herself to the game. All were doing is dropping her off at airport at 4:30am. She was going to go anyway even if the game didnt happen, but she might not have had much to do. She still holds onto a dream of getting into either AFA or NA, and then a bigger dream of playing football for them. But, I told her one step at a time.

As she says, more people have seen her play football at one game then 10 years of playing womens soccer. Thanks to the money raise by the 6000 people every friday watching football, they have a womens soccer team.
 
Make no mistake about it, football revenue is the driver of revenue generation for colleges and universities. That is why all the conference re-alignment that has occurred in the past few years and will occur again over the next few years is driven by football programs, not any other sport, not even basketball. That is why a program like the University of Kansas with its heralded basketball program but worthless football program was rumored to be headed to the Mountain West conference a couple of years ago when the big 12 conference almost imploded with Texas and Oklahoma coming close to leaving the conference. They had no place else to go due to poor football revenue. That is also why most college analysts are in agreement that within the next couple of years Div I schools from the major football conferences will break off and have their own "NCAA" for football. The TV revenue generated by these schools is in the 10's of millions for each school in the conference.

I can't verify it, but it was reported in the media today that Navy would have lost $3- $4 million in revenue if the game Saturday was cancelled. That is a lot of money to be made up somewhere else, especially when it is generated in one day for one game.

Anyway, that is a long way of saying that, whether it is fair or not that football gets special treatment, football is the revenue generator that helps provide for other sports at most colleges and universities.
 
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