SCU needs to hire someone that can really fundraise.
Memphis has at least double the budget, maybe triple depending on how FedEx NIL is broken down between football and basketball.
We know the money is there.
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You do realize SCU is fundraising 100% of their NIL funds with a conference media payout of essentially zero. Memphis received an $11M payout from the AAC. Not to mention generating over $3M a year in ticket sales.
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Isn’t that just their money from the number of times they get on major network TV? No one else in the AAC is making anything near that kind of money on basketball. With NIL Memphis might be above 10M. Don’t really know.
St. Louis is also around 10 per Google AI. VCU similar to SCU. Obviously a huge gap in coaching quality makes the difference in outcomes between Memphis and St. Louis/SCU/VCU.
The problem with losing your best players every year is that in replacing them, you have to get it right every time. Gonzaga never had this problem. It’s so frustrating and the way out of it is fundraising. Or the university dipping into their own coffers to invest, but that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.
There’s a value to major athletics that is bigger and stretches far beyond the original investment when you have success like this season. I think we all agree on that.
That said, it’s not unlimited. I moderate a fan forum, so I’m definitely very pro-invest in basketball. But $4 million sounds like an amount that approaches what my blood can handle. You can send something like 60 top students to SCU for free for that money or get a decent start on a new building on campus or start a new major.
At the end of the day, SCU is an educational institution. I’m in favor of basketball investment to the point where it enhances SCU’s fundamental purpose. But seeing some of these schools put tens of millions of dollars into revenue share and NIL makes me worry that athletic departments are starting to see the university as a necessary evil in maintaining their budgets, rather than the overall purpose for their existence. LSU spent a reported $200 million just in coaching salaries last year. Santa Clara will start training new doctors for years to come for a similar amount. I love me some sports, but I can’t justify chasing the top of the market now.
Point being, $4 million seems like a decent amount from a distance. If you can’t get a successful basketball team for that amount, I have a hard time stomaching the opportunity cost for the rest of the university at ever-climbing dollar amounts.
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What a refreshing outlook. Thank you for this.
I know it’s not the same, but yesterday I read that the University of Florida is considering a renovation of its football stadium that would cost around $1.45 billion – for what, 6 or 8 home games per season? – and it nearly broke my brain.
For so many reasons, I am thankful to be a Bronco.
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That was a thoughtful and cogent observation PM. I have loved SCU basketball for 55 years, but attach it to the value of the University’s educational mission. I would never want the hoops tail wagging the university dog. It should enhance, not define the school.
Of course if a well heeled alum wanted to pull a Mark Cuban, I’d not complain, assuming no strings were attached.
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Investing in basketball wouldn’t take away from SCU as a university; there’s a strong chance based on where the program is now that it would enhance it. Both the AD and the president have experience to know what a difference athletics can make for a university. Seem like the right people to support going big. So I guess it’s up to the Board of Trustees to show the vision and Owen and Sullivan to make the ask.
Basketball transformed Gonzaga - transformed enrollment, the academic profile, selectivity and establishing a global brand.
SCU has shown they can get players to the NBA - and have success when they get there. And now they have the NCAA proof as well. So the key to taking the next step is being able to offer enough money to get more high level talent and keep them longer if they aren’t ready to go to the NBA.
Gonzaga is finally out of the way. SCU has every chance to be the new Gonzaga - but not if they won’t pay. That’s what it’s all about.
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