The "Budget" Games!

I logged on to read the Jonesboro Sun yesterday and as I did I came across the weekly "match-ups" between the Red Wolves and the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  I wasn't shocked to see that the local sports guy picked 'Huskers as the better team in each position match up.  What was interesting, though obviously not shocking, was the article about how ASU was playing a "money game" to fund the athletic budget by going  to Nebraska.  The reason I didn't find it shocking is because the article has been written what seems like a thousand times.  The thing that I find most interesting about these worn out articles is that they rarely offer anything more than a shot at Arkansas State.  I wanted to try to explain why the games are what they are...

According to USA today, in 2011 Arkansas State University had an athletic budget of $13,374,507 in expenditures.  That ranked ASU 103 out of 104 D1A programs and 8 out of 9 in the Sun Belt.  (Not all programs report their budgets but rest assured that Notre Dame and USC and the other private schools that don’t report are higher than ASU’s)  Arkansas State was behind 41 D1AA (FCS) programs in total expenses as well – including South Alabama (D1AA in 2011) which would make ASU 9 out of 10 SBC schools.  To fund the 200 or so scholarships it cost a little more than $4.5 million.  To fund the salaries it cost around $4.4 million.  The other expenses (travel, recruiting, game day operations, etc.) added up to around $4.4 million.  (UPDATE: Thanks to an inquiring mind - Winston - the cost for ASU athletic scholarships should be closer to $3.15M than the 4.5 that USA Today suggests) 

 

The ticket sales and contributions for all sports combined came in at $1.7 million.  Student fees added another $3 million in “revenue” and the rights and licensing brought in near $1 million.  The university once again transferred monies from the general and auxiliary funds that added up to around 2.2 million dollars.  With the 3.8 million worth of “other revenue” which mostly came from game guarantees that put the ASU athletic “revenues” at 11.7 million.  That adds up to about 1.6 million short of what was spent.

In 2012 the mantra for ASU is that we are going to the “next level”.   A couple of programs that we have eyed as the type of program that we need to model ourselves after are ranked 62nd (Boise State – $37,524,722) and 87th (Southern Miss – $20,673,597).  That means we are $7 million less than one and $24 million short of the other.  Now, I do agree that money isn’t the magic bean that gets you to the next level but it can help you fix problems that can arise much quicker.  And there are things like facility upgrades, recruiting budgets, and coaching salaries that have to be at the competitive level if we truly want to take the step forward.  The money needed to get there is really only coming from a few avenues.  The state is not going to allow ASU to transfer an unlimited amount of money to athletics.  There is only so high you can go with Student Fees.  So, in order to move the money stream higher we have to address the areas that we can address – ticket sales, donations, and game guarantees.  ASU has to increase the ticket sales and contributions in order to become that next level athletics program.
 

My expectations are that this issue is the number one thing discussed in the Athletic Director interviews that have gone on the last week or two.   The new AD will have to build an atmosphere around ASU athletics that can help generate more “paying” butts in seats and contributions, both individual and corporate.  And while it is important that the athletic department decide that they are going to be the type of place that wants to provide great customer service to the RedWolfNation, it is also absolutely necessary that the ASU fans buy in and are willing to be passionate about supporting the program.

Even if all the financial support from the fans and community increases, and ticket sales are boosted, the question remains is it enough?  Is that increase enough to move the budget up the ladder to that $20M or $37M budget that may be needed to provide Malzahn, Brady, and Raffo the support needed to be competitive at the “Next Level”?  7 million – 24 million more from ticket sales and donations sounds unlikely.  That is why I still see the need to fund the budget with “money games”.  

 The truth is that programs like Fresno State, Southern Miss, and Boise State all relish these games against the big boys.  They don't sit around and complain about them as money games.  Their fans don't cry about being led like lambs to the slaughter.  The media that covers these programs don't bitch about how they have to go play a major powerhouse.  The teams, the fans and even the media that cover them see these games as opportunities to be Giant Killers.  To get national exposure for being willing to play anybody, anywhere, anytime.  Do you have to win some of these games?  Well, sure.  ASU has had chances in the past and just fallen short in some of these money games - 8 point loss to Texas, 3 point loss to Iowa, 2 point loss to Indiana.  And of course the Red Wolves have knocked off Texas A&M.  All of those games have happened within the last 6 seasons.  

Let's allow Malzahn the chance to recruit, install his offense, and put that bunch up against some of the teams from the big conferences.  I'm pretty sure that there will be a different mentality in how we describe the "budget games"!