C-USA Value Rankings: Breaking down the top dogs and dead weight

[Chris McLaughlin]

Marshall comes in at #3.

3. MARSHALL

Breakdown: Like USM, Marshall offers a quality football brand. The Herd is coming off rough 3-9 campaign, but you can’t ignore a combined mark of 23-4 over the two previous seasons.

Facilities: Marshall hits the mark in football and basketball, but the lack of a baseball stadium in Huntington is still baffling.

Fan support: Marshall ranked second in C-USA in football attendance at 24,760 despite stumbling badly in 2016.

Interesting read: http://www.sunherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/patrick-magee/article157238319.html

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

A lot of our fans complain about/thumb their nose at ODU but articles like these prove they were a wise choice.

 

[The Real SamC]

Well, no. Articles like this one express the opinion that they were a wise choice. Others have a different opinion.

Very few facts and figures in the article, but the author seems pretty accurate. Except when you get to ODU. OK, ODU, with 25K students, sells out a 22K seat stadium, "giving" 6,500 seats to students. That is 15,500. Now, yes that is about 15,350 more sales than FIU, but nobody is confusing them with Virginia Tech either. It gets close to selling out a 7K basketball arena, again with about 2K student tickets. That is solid, but nobody is confusing them with UVa. And, at least according to its website, it sells football season tickets for less than $200 with no booster club giving needed.

The problem with ODU is, well, it is using the students to pay of all of this. 65% subsidy. Students pay over $1700/year just for athletics. The Virginia legislature has just passed a law that schools can have no more than 55% subsidy. 65% is a heck of a lot of subsidy.

On the other hand, the immediate Tidewater area is 1.7M people in the CSA (37th largest) or 717K TV households according the Neilsen (42nd largest). (And neither measure fully counts the huge military presence.) I would like to think that anybody worth a darn as a promoter could sell 15K seats to the Rattlesnake Roundup if he had 1.7M within 20 or 30 miles of the facility.

I don't know. I'm tired of hearing about all this "potential". ODU is going to have to show me that it can actually raise some money from somebody not named Joe Student or John Taxpayer.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Good post Sam

 

[beefcake0520]

Good post Sam. While they do well on the court historically and football is coming along, they are going to be between a rock and a hard place if they can't get the fan base to aid in funding. Jury is still out on that. Of course they under shoot the capacity of a new stadium too, so if they don't increase ticket price once built, I'm not sure how they will pay that bill.

 

[herdalicious]

"According to WKU, the Hilltoppers have claimed a total of 21 C-USA regular season titles or C-USA tournament titles over the last three years, outpacing Rice (10) and UTEP (8)."

You have to wonder if there was maybe another source available to verify this statement. Like Wikipedia.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

"According to WKU, the Hilltoppers have claimed a total of 21 C-USA regular season titles or C-USA tournament titles over the last three years, outpacing Rice (10) and UTEP (8)."

You have to wonder if there was maybe another source available to verify this statement. Like Wikipedia.

I have seen that reported on many boards and in the media. That of course includes individual titles such a track, tennis, swimming. Still very impressive.

We have what? 2 Titles total? UGH!

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

Well, no. Articles like this one express the opinion that they were a wise choice. Others have a different opinion.

That's fair.

 

[C.K. Ocsevol-Evad]

The problem with ODU is, well, it is using the students to pay of all of this. 65% subsidy. Students pay over $1700/year just for athletics. The Virginia legislature has just passed a law that schools can have no more than 55% subsidy. 65% is a heck of a lot of subsidy.

..

Your posts are usually factually wrong or extremely misleading. This fits the latter.

The legislation doesn't take effect for another decade. Then, after that decade, there is a five year grace period. In other words, your concern is for something that won't impact them until 2032.

If you think that the college football landscape won't be incredibly different by then, you probably also think 75% of black students at Auburn are on their sports teams, that wvu has never finished higher than tied for 3rd in the Big 12, that Kentucky football has been better than wvu in recent history, and that Richmond is a major city.

.
. And, at least according to its website, it sells football season tickets for less than $200 with no booster club giving needed.

Yes, you can get ODU season tickets for $199. If you want premium seats, you'll have to pay more and make a contribution. At Marshall, you can buy $99 season tickets with no contribution. What you're ripping on ODU for doing is done by Marshall, yet at a discount of over 50%

, sells out a 22K seat stadium,

.

Their proposed new stadium will seat 22,000. Their current stadium, which they have sold out for nearly 50 straight games, seats 20,000.

". ODU is going to have to show me that it can actually raise some money from somebody not named Joe Student or John Taxpayer.

Every four years, ODU reallocates their season tickets. It leads to season tickets holders increasing their donations. Last time, just the reallocation brought in nearly $2 million. With future teams like UNC, tech, UVA, Wake, etc. coming to visit, the reallocation should bring in even more money.

Very few facts in the article, ..

More than in your typical posts.