Minister: Football schedule shows greed
Easy games are just a ploy to make money.
Monday, October 8th, 2007
As a critic of the football team’s incredibly soft non-conference schedule, I was concerned last week when I opened the paper and was told I had been quieted by the team’s four victories. Really? I thought I felt vindicated. Why hadn’t anyone told me sooner how I felt?
The reality is that I am far from quieted. The non-conference schedule shows just how cynical and money-hungry the Athletics Department is. The football program has an all-but-notarized plan for reaching a lucrative bowl game: destroy four small schools, beat Iowa State (and K-State yesterday), and hope one other game accidentally goes its way. Last year Kansas went to Missouri and found itself in a competitive game late in the third quarter, only to quit playing twenty minutes earlier than the Tigers, who went on to win 42-17.
The department should just come clean and say, “We like money.”
Just how unfit for a bowl game was last year’s team? I brought my kids to sit on the hill and watch the first half of the Oklahoma State game. When we left at halftime, with Kansas winning 14-0, my daughter asked me who won.
“No one yet,” I said. “But with the way KU’s been playing this year, I bet Oklahoma State will.” The Cowboys came back for a 42-32 victory.
Throw in the Baylor fiasco (a blown 18-point fourth quarter lead) and it embarrasses me that anyone spent any time at all last year talking about going to a bowl game. Time was; bowl games were for good football teams. Now, evidently, they are for just about anybody.
Before this season began we heard why we shouldn’t discount the strength of this schedule. Then, after winning the first four games by a combined score of 214-23, Coach Mark Mangino said, “I feel like we’ve been tested about as much as I wanted to be for the first four games.” Those first four opponents now have a combined record of 4-15, and some analysts call Kansas’s schedule the weakest in the entire FBS. So, in translation, Coach Mangino didn’t want to be tested at all.
The department should just come clean and say, “We like money.” From the decision to charge infants full price (you know, for fire regulation purposes) to the decision to squeeze the hillside with stadium views out of existence (because a football team that plays all its games outdoors needs to practice indoors) to the decision to claim trademark to the word “Kansas” and the color blue (since why else would anyone buy our overpriced licensed clothing) to the decision to increase the licensing fee while limiting the amount of revenue the Chancellor’s office receives (because, um, well, just because), the University has shown its top priority is making money for the athletic corporation.
Maybe it’s time for Kansas to follow Kansas State’s lead and adopt some new traditions. The football team can change its name from Jayhawks to Moneymakers, and the KU “power towel” can be a dollar bill.
Minster is a Lawrence senior in economics.
Discussion
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My hats off to the Jayhawk football team and coach Mangino. You showed yourselves to be a quality, hard-playing football team. There's nothing better than beating K-State and you guys did it two years in a row! Congrats!
Brandon- thanks for trying to bring us down from celebrating a good weekend of KU football. Your're quite the investigative reporter; I never would have known that the athletic department was looking to make money. Maybe sometime you'll buy a ticket to the game instead of watching half of it for free and then disparaging the team to your child.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Hearing people question any type of large non academic spending is getting old. Maybe we should tell the Athletic Department (not corporation you idiot) to stop making money. We could make up for the lost revenue by raising tuition fees. That would be a great idea wouldn't it Brandon? And by the way, Mangino and Big Lew have done more for the University than anyone over the past few years. Kansas was mentioned on College Gameday yesterday for the first time in God knows how long. This recognition of the football program (whether you like it or not) has a ripple effect that creates better recognition for the University as a whole and higher admissions. And anyone who thinks that the new football facilities near the stadium are a product of greed are complete fools. Maybe greed for making the University of Kansas a better school overall.
Brandon- You probably would have been the type of person with enough ignorance to protest the creation of Allen Fieldhouse for $10 million 50 years ago. As someone who works for great people like Paul Buskirk and yes, Lew Perkins in the Kansas Athletic Department, it really disappoints me to see that the Kansan lets such nonfactual trash to be published. (Maybe it's because you're on the editorial board?)
Now go ahead and think that I'm wrong, but consider that since Mangino has been here, we have set single season attendance records. We also set the single day attendance record for the Nebraska game two years ago. The "athletic corporation's" greed is really coming full circle when the Lawrence and KU economy gets the boost from the nearly 50000 people who show up for the games isn't it? Also, that money from all that over-priced apparel goes to every person at this University that is on scholarship. Maybe the University should also cut the prices of this clothing and take away some scholarship opportunities. It sounds like that's what you're suggesting.
People like Jake Sharp, Aqib Talib, and Todd Reesing don't need dumb a55holes (I can't say that word I guess. This coming from the paper that publishes "Sex on the Hill" and publishes other words like f*ck and sh*t) like you to question them and their coaches work after one of the biggest regular season sports victories for this school (football or basketball) of the last decade.
^^
this.
JayRod:
The Kansas University Athletic Corporation (KUAC) is an officially-recognized affiliate of the university that functions as a separate corporation.
Secondly, the ban on profanity is an attempt to preserve civil decorum. Shockingly, some people seem to behave differently when anoymous than they do when their identities are known. As one not hiding behind an anonymous pseudonym here, I can only take your word for whether or not this is the case.
My name is Jared Goff. And my Dad told me that I was wrong only about corporation bit. My bad!
'The Corporation, a Kansas not-for-profit operation, operates under the administrative jurisdiction of the University of Kansas and is subject to all the regulations and administrative policies of the University. The Corporation operates the varsity intercollegiate athletic program at the University in facilities that are owned by the University of Kansas. The primary source of revenues and support for the program are athletic event ticket sales, conference revenue distributions and contributions.'
Notice the whole "non-for-profit" bit.
Also, our athletic department budget is $50.8 million which is pretty average in the Big 12. Texas and Texas A&M are obviously much higher while Kstate and Missouri are a little lower. Of that $50.8 million, $18.5 million comes from private contributions. That leaves about $32 million. That's how much the school makes on its own. That means 36% of the athletic department's budget doesn't even come out of money that could potentially go towards academics. I got this information from an email from my father who also likes to keep up on what kind of thoughts are coming from the people of the paper that he once read everyday as a student here. Some of it's pretty disappointing.
jayrod ... Your Daddy should teach you not to follow uninformed mistatements by calling the other person an idiot. There's a little Athl Dept spirit for you. It's all about running up the big numbers by playing crap teams ... Bill Snider may not have invented it, but he perfected it. Thing is, when you get decent, you have to step up a notch. Was it really a better game when KU hosted Northeast Southwestern Tech, or when KSU opened at Auburn? Yeah, KSU lost, but what a great statement about the self-image of the program that they had the pecans to go down there in the first place. When you play only patsies, it also sends a message about what you think of your program and the people in it ... i.e., that they can't handle anything more.
so Ralphralph.
Would you call 6-6 decent enough to start scheduling Auburn? Just so you know, Central Michigan was the winner of the MAC Conference last year (the same conference of that team that beat us was in). Are you trying to tell me that this football season is worth nothing because we played patsies? We are ranked for the first time since 1996, and we won at K-State for the first time since 1989. Mark Mangino and Lew really have no clue what they're doing huh? Again, I work in the Athletic Department. Look that statement up on the school website and you'll see that it's a non-for-profit corporation....idiot ;).
P.S. You're Daddy must be a saint if he's never called anyone an idiot without anything to back it up.
Brandon-
As you see, I was called out by some other anonymous person for calling you an idiot. For that I'm sorry. Have a good day and support the corporation by buying a $10 student ticket, $20 licensed Adidas KU hat, $15 KU T-shirt (not from from Joe College! They exploit our name!) and going to the stadium for a $3.50 bottle of water (I myself admit that is quite ridiculous!). Cheers!
Brandon,
I still don't like you.
-The Anonymous llama726
Central Michigan, Southeastern Louisiana, Toledo and Florida International.
1) Central Michigan had a great offense. No one knew coming into this season they'd do THAT pitifully.
2) SE LA: Yeah, a soft opponent added last minute.
3) Toledo: Fulfilling a contract.
4) Florida Int'l: Fulfilling a contract.
When we signed and scheduled these teams, KU was pitiful.
So a soft schedule helps them get off the blocks- it's a good call, and how a LOT of programs build. Is it about money? Surely. To make money, you have to have a winning program. To have a winning program, you can't start out playing Michigan, Auburn, USC, and LSU and expect to have a bowl-eligible team then navigating through the Big XII.
KU has at least 10 fewer wins than losses in the Mangino timeframe PRIOR to this season.
(And actually Brandon, I don't mind you that much, but you're wrong here).
jayrod-
Joe College exploits no one. its called a free-market economy. KU cannot trademark the word KANSAS. that's just silly. what's the best way to support the community? sue a local business for the color of their shirts? that doesn't sound like something a non-profit organization does. maybe if the University didn't raise tuition rates every damn year, I could afford to buy "licensed apparel." does that make me less of a fan because i don't want to pay more hard-earned money for overpriced "official" KU merch? i think not.
swishy...
I was trying to use a sarcastic tone before (but failed apparently). I actually do think that copyrighting the name kansas is beyond the Department's power (Though some of the stuff that comes from that store is quite tacky).
Jared,
I think we disagree about the meaning of "not-for-profit." It is different than "non-profit." I contend they cynically schedule weak teams to boost revenue that benefits athletics far more than it benefits academics. The connection between athletics success and academic recognition is tenuous at best (Harvard's football team is not in the running for a BCS berth this year). But I would like to say I appreciate you identifying yourself. That was nice of you (I really mean that; I'm not saying it sarcastically; I really mean that, too.)
As for Llama, my wife and I suspect that I know you in real life, and this is just a stress-reliever for you. You don't have to tell me who you are, but just tell me do I know you by your real name?
Come on Llama spill the beans. We all want to know if Brandon knows you. Are you a spurned lover, jealous of Brandon's success or just really passionate about the Daily Kansan?
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