Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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OBRAM
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Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by OBRAM »

Should URI Drop Football? Maybe Not
http://ripr.org/post/should-uri-drop-football-maybe-not

Thirteen consecutive losing seasons. Three winning seasons since 1985. Zero championships since the 1984 and 1985 teams won back-to-back Yankee Conference titles. Zero playoff appearances since the 1985 team lost in the quarterfinals of the NCAA I-AA Tournament. Its 6,500-seat “stadium” tied with New Hampshire for the smallest in the Colonial Athletic Association. Except for brief streaks in the 1950s and early 1980s, no tradition of winning football going back more than a century to the inaugural campaign in 1895.

All that at an annual cost of about $3.6 million.

It’s time to pull the plug on football at the University of Rhode Island.

Or is it? Thorr Bjorn, the director of athletics, has heard the call to drop football since he took the job eight years ago but has not wavered in his support.

“My opinion has not changed. Football is very important,” he said when I spoke to him at the end of August. Football brings people to the Kingston campus five or six times a season for events that would not be held were it not for the sport. Last year, despite a one-win season, home attendance was good, he said. In addition, football contributes to the diversity of the student population in Kingston. Are those benefits worth the cost? Bjorn says yes.

That was before the season opener at Syracuse last Friday night, a 47-0 humiliation. The offense produced a gaudy total of 64 yards, two first downs and four yards rushing; fumbled four times and lost three, and had an intercepted pass returned for a touchdown. Ram runners averaged seven inches per carry. Inches, not yards! If you tripped over the line of scrimmage, you’d average more than seven inches per carry.

Rhody’s defense gave up 426 yards and three scoring drives of more than 60 yards. The punt team allowed a 74-yard return for a touchdown on the last play from scrimmage in the first half.

Coach Jim Fleming chose “embarrassing” and “disappointed” to describe that horror show. Unfortunately, it was not an aberration. URI visited Syracuse in 2002, lost the game, 63-17, and lost its quarterback. URI opened at Connecticut in 2006 and lost, 52-7. I could go on, but you get the picture right? And the prospects for this season are grim. Four of URI’s first five games are on the road. The Rams will visit Albany on Saturday and host Ivy League champion Harvard on Sept. 19. They will make the long trip to Maine on Sept. 26 and visit Brown on Oct. 3 for the 100th meeting in the series. The rest of their October schedule includes home games against Delaware and Richmond and a visit to CAA champion New Hampshire. In November URI will face Villanova and Stony Brook at home and close at Towson, the Rams’ only victory in 2014.

Nevertheless, Bjorn and the URI administration are committed to football. A big reason that critics usually fail to comprehend is that football costs the university about $500,000. That’s all. You see, the football operating budget is about $1.3 million, and the athletic department raises about $800,000 of that total. This year the projections are $200,000 from donations and $150,000 from ticket sales. Syracuse paid a $400,000 guarantee. That’s right, the Rams collected $400,000 to travel to upstate New York to get whipped. Next year URI will head to Kansas for $500,000 and in 2017 to Eastern Michigan for $400,000. Boston College and UConn are future guarantee games.

What about scholarships, you ask? URI awards the equivalent of 58 full scholarships worth about $2.3 million to football players, Bjorn said. He agreed that even without a football program, the university would probably use that money for financial aid, unless it wanted to reduce expenses or enrollment.

So, for an outlay of $500,000 from the institution, URI gets a home opener, Family Day, Armed Forces Day, Homecoming, Saturdays are potential crowd pleasers. This year is also the 30th anniversary of the 1985 Yankee Conference championship, the 100th meeting of URI and Brown and the first meeting of URI and Harvard.

Befitting an optimist, Bjorn sees brighter days ahead.

“I have all the confidence in the world that we’ll see progress and growth,” he said. But Thorr, just how do we measure progress and growth? “Wins and losses,” he replied. “We have to win games.”

When? Of all the old Yankee Conference teams still playing football, URI has gone the longest without a championship or playoff appearance. Two former Yankee Conference rivals, Boston University and Northeastern, dropped football in recent years and are thriving. Ditto for Hofstra, a former Colonial Athletic Association rival. And let’s not forget that the University of Vermont dropped football after the 1974 season and has not suffered in the least.

The same could be true for URI. But not now, it appears. And hey, 30 years have passed since Rhody’s last mini-dynasty. It could be time for another.
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rambone 78
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

All that is just wonderful.

Unfortunately, the losing will continue, until the university spends a LOT more than 500K to upgrade the sorry ass facilities.

Thank God the BB program has moved way past that.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Hal Kopp »

Answer is no:
> A. $$ just will be pissed away somewhere else.
> B. What type of school does not have a FB team?
> C. Attendance too strong
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by TruePoint »

The answer isn't to drop football, it is to make a real investment in it.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

That's what they need to do if they want to win games, not just HOPE they will win games with the current state of the program.

Otherwise, just be happy with the one and two win seasons that will happen far more often then not....

Are they waiting for the basketball program to start bringing in millions, so they can spend some of that?

I'd like to see URI invest in a winning program, just don't see them doing it. Fleming and staff may turn out to be good, but they need more than that.....
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Hal Kopp wrote:Answer is no:
> A. $$ just will be pissed away somewhere else.
> B. What type of school does not have a FB team?
> C. Attendance too strong
Agree
Only $150,000 comes from ticket sales so,even if attendance doubles at most would see only an additional $150,000

Also if URI drops football completely what does that do to donations?

Attendance is strong, alumni and students enjoy going to the games win or lose.

Nothing like URI football at home on a crisp Saturday afternoon with the leaves changing color.
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rambone 78
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

Agree totally, ramster, except it would be nice to at least be competitive and actually WIN a few games once in a while.

I'm not asking, nor do I expect, URI to become a CAA powerhouse.

No way that happens, ever, even if the school starts spending a few dollars to improve the facilities.

But, isn't the object of playing is to try and WIN? Bjorn has said that himself on many occasions.

What's the point otherwise?
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Honest question, not trying to be a jerk, but do students really enjoy going to games? Granted I have not been a student since 2003, but I can promise you no students went to any games ever. Maybe on Family Weekend or whatever it was called because it was something to do with your parents for a few hours.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by ATPTourFan »

Sure seems like students have been going to games the past two seasons. That's been my direct observation and a big part of why the attendance is higher than many would expect for a crappy on-field product.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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ATPTourFan wrote:Sure seems like students have been going to games the past two seasons. That's been my direct observation and a big part of why the attendance is higher than many would expect for a crappy on-field product.
Wow interesting, well thats great then.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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adam914 wrote:Honest question, not trying to be a jerk, but do students really enjoy going to games? Granted I have not been a student since 2003, but I can promise you no students went to any games ever. Maybe on Family Weekend or whatever it was called because it was something to do with your parents for a few hours.
There was a good student turnout last year for Albany because it was a nice day, though not nice enough for them to stay to the end of the third quarter as Albany started to whoop us. And there was no turnout last year for the Brown game with the weather. And we had a student on here last year that said the football team is roundly considered to be a joke and disliked for their attitude among the student body. So to answer your question, sure they like coming out just so long as the weather is nice, they have other students to socialize with and they have nothing else to do, but they're not exactly hardcore fans.

That said, the students aren't even the biggest problem when it comes to fanbase. Just look at ramster parroting the familiar loser mentality of "oh I have such a great time, win or lose. I mean look at the leaves! LEAVES!!!" If you're a real fan you don't have fun when your team loses, no matter what the damn leaves look like. You want to know why our team sucks, just look at the fan base. Our boosters pissed and moaned and threatened to take their ball home if we followed through on dropping to the NEC but they can't donate enough money to ensure we have a competitive CAA team and facilities. And our rank and file fans don't particularly care if we win or lose just so long as they can tailgate and we have leaves. The only reason we had change in the basketball program was because attendance plummeted so we had to get rid of Baron for the sake of the program. When it comes to football there's no pressure on the administration to improve the stadium or facilities or field a competitive team because people will keep taking the same garbage. Game after game, year after year, decade after decade.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

RR2, good post.

I don't think Dooley will take much more of the losing, I really don't.

He came from a school that had great success at their level in football. It must be embarrassing to him to see his school being made the laughingstock of their conference year after year.

From what little I've heard, no matter what Thorr says publicly, either Fleming turns the program around with what little they have, or it's over. The only question is how long. He's got 3 or 4 [not sure] years left on his meager contract.

The program is on life support.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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I've said many times here (and RR02 has yelled at me for it many times haha) but I really want the URI football team to be good. I really do. But even if they aren't, the football program and football games on campus serve a bigger purpose for the University as a whole than just the W-L record. Now, having said that, if you are going to have the program you might as well try to win, and the program will be able to better serve its larger purpose if it is a respectable program that people care about.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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rambone 78 wrote:I don't think Dooley will take much more of the losing, I really don't.

He came from a school that had great success at their level in football. It must be embarrassing to him to see his school being made the laughingstock of their conference year after year.

From what little I've heard, no matter what Thorr says publicly, either Fleming turns the program around with what little they have, or it's over.
And this is the other big problem with the program in addition to the fan base issue I talked about in the last post. We've been in a death spiral since at least Carothers because of this "win without resources" strategy. The program's facilities are in such tough shape that it's almost impossible to win. But we won't improve facilities unless we start winning. It's almost like saying that a person that needs a blood transfusion to live needs to get better before they're worth receiving a blood transfusion. You're not going to make many patients better with that philosophy.

I love the football program, but the last few years have just totally turned me off to the point where I'm no longer in love with it. There's only so many times Rhody could pull the ball away while I ran up to kick it and landed on my ass before I said enough is enough. Yeah, going to games in Kingston is great, when they win. When they're at least competitive. We haven't had a competitive program in a long time. I probably should have the attitude that most of you seem to have, but when we lose I'm done for the weekend or until the Patriots make everything better. Then again, maybe if more people had my attitude the administration would finally feel actual pressure to improve instead of just paying lip service to the plight of the program. I think overall Thorr has done a good job here, but the football program has never been worse in our history then under his stewardship. That's not all his fault, it's the cumulative effect of years of erosion, but what has he done to stem the tide? Doesn't seem like much, and anything he's done certainly hasn't been effective to this point.

And that doesn't get into my growing misgivings about the game as a whole and the damage it does to its players. I've heard the line several times on here, "what school doesn't have a football program"? Well what school actively participates in scrambling the brains of some of its students? Is it time that universities said this is a game that actively clashes with out mission to mold and improve the young minds of our nation? I don't know the answer to culture defining issues like that, but I do know we should at least be asking and discussing them.

Ultimately I want URI to cure the program. I want to go to a Meade Stadium that's safe to sit in, which I don't believe it is right now. I want a team that can compete week in and week out and will have our share of wins. But if they won't cure the program, if Meade Stadium is a tragedy waiting to happen, if we can't compete and win, it's time to cut our losses and do better with our limited resources.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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TruePoint wrote:I've said many times here (and RR02 has yelled at me for it many times haha).

haha, yeah we've had some wars. I'm trying to distance myself from commenting on the team this season, but someone saying leaves on this board is like throwing up the Bat Signal over Gotham.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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RhowdyRam02 wrote:
TruePoint wrote:I've said many times here (and RR02 has yelled at me for it many times haha).

haha, yeah we've had some wars. I'm trying to distance myself from commenting on the team this season, but someone saying leaves on this board is like throwing up the Bat Signal over Gotham.
Sure I commented about leaves turning colors on the trees RR2. Basically refering how nice it is to go to URI Football games in the Fall.

I get so sick and tired of every time URI loses I have to hear about how URI should drop the program.

Fact is that if URI drops the Program at most the savings would be $500K per year - and that assumes that Alumni Donations would not drop off. I can assure you that my donations would drop if Football is dropped.

As for Thor, I said at the time and continue to say, his two biggest mistakes were keeping Baron too long and dropping out of the CAA, only to rejoin again - at least he realized his mistake but not after damage was done.

If anyone was surprised by the result at Syracuse, I was not at all. The game was expected to be a blow out - but we brought home $400k. Kansas will bring home $500k.

But not this year, next year, or 10 years from now will I propose getting rid of URI Football - never.

Can the team be managed better? Sure. Can facilities be improved? Absolutely. Should we be better? Absolutely.

Should we drop the program if we don't get better? Absolutely not.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

Very well reasoned, ramster.

Except the last sentence.

If we keep winning an average of ONE game a year, which I think is the average of the last 4 years, it's got to go. The program, that is.

That isn't enough, no way, no how.

Do you or anyone else think URI is going to throw eight figures at this program, in order to save it?

Sure. If I hit Powerball.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by ATPTourFan »

Can we at least see how the team does against its normal level of competition this season as a basis for saying there is or is not improvement???
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

ATP, that's what I'm waiting to see. The coaches all say there's more talent here.

We'll see. A few wins, and competitive against the better CAA teams, and things might be looking up.

A little at least. Fleming will most likely get a full 4 year cycle to get the talent level in a better place.

Still going to be uphill no matter what they do.

If there is decent improvement the next couple of years, will the school step up with some money to improve facilities?

Have any promises been made if it indeed does happen?

Dooley told me that lights for Meade was a done deal. For this year. They are probably taking a wait and see attitude become committing any money for improvements.

The pressure is on the coaching staff, imo. Good luck to them, they will need a lot of it.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Hal Kopp »

The only game that did not draw last year was Towson (which they won).
I have season tix and there is not a disproportionate amount of students there.
Very diverse attendance mix. Well heeled and committed supporters. No Tom Ryan type admittedly.
URI FB continues to outdraw playoff games at other places.
For crying out loud,the FB golf tournament was packed this year. Guys come from all over for it.
FB is only small fraction of the overall budget.
Only half ass schools do not have a FB team.
How many women's teams could they cut if eliminate Football?
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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I don't think anybody truly WANTS football cut. Everybody is tired of the embarrassment thrown out there every week.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

Nothing that $20-$30 million won't cure.

Nobody WANTS to see football bite the dust.

But last week was terrible. Really, how good is Syracuse? They haven't exactly been worldbeaters themselves lately at their level.

But URI? 4 first downs? Come on man.......that game could have been 60-0 or more if Syracuse had wanted to......

We'll know soon enough if they have more talent, I'm not convinced it will matter....
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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I know all the bad stuff. But seriously if somehow the stands were considered unsafe by an expert, isn't possible there could be a solution?

High schools build stands. put it to question and sell it as replacing stands that have stood forever. Chances are you might get 100yrs out of the next ones.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Hal Kopp »

Seawright-agree. Many local HS's are upgrading their facilities.
Conservatively,what would new east stands cost?
Let's go third party objectively,why can't the outstanding track and field teams get a first rate outdoor facility?
Do not tell me no one goes to meets.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Look at the bright side, if Syracuse didn't lose their best player / QB on the first series of the game we would have lost 70-0.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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58 full scholarships , how many are allowed in FCS? is it 63 or 65.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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bigappleram wrote:Look at the bright side, if Syracuse didn't lose their best player / QB on the first series of the game we would have lost 70-0.
Wasn't the spread 32 points? You Could have made a boatload betting against Rhody if you were that sure we would get destroyed like that.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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This weeks line is 15
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Unread post by Rhody15 »

They actually have upgraded facilities/upgraded fan experience, with tailgating being allowed a few years back, along with the Ryan Family Student Athlete Complex, which includes a brand new S&C facility in one of the old Tootell Gyms, a training/sports medicine room, and a commons room (as many of you probably already know). So facility upgrades have happened, albeit at a slower pace than we would like.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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OBRAM wrote:58 full scholarships , how many are allowed in FCS? is it 63 or 65.
63. And if we dropped to the NEC where we belong we'd only need 40.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by TruePoint »

RhowdyRam02 wrote:
OBRAM wrote:58 full scholarships , how many are allowed in FCS? is it 63 or 65.
63. And if we dropped to the NEC where we belong we'd only need 40.
Yeah, but we couldn't sell ourselves to FBS programs that will give us a half a mil to be human tackling dummies. That income stream is important to the program. I actually think if we moved to the NEC we'd have the same basic problems, they'd just right-size themselves to that conference. The answer is to find a way to marginally increase the budget wherever you can until you get to a respectable place.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

Dropping 18 scholarships (our current 58 to the NEC maximum of 40) would shave $713,793 from our operating expenses. That figure is significantly more then what we make from being a punching bag, so while we currently rely on that income, we'd be in a better fiscal situation being in the NEC and not having that game on our schedule.

And in theory the problems would just adjust themselves to the level of the NEC if we moved like you said, but I think you're ignoring a few things. One, in theory, we should be able to win more, something this fan base desperately needs and would help to continue having a successful program. With the way college athletics works, success breeds success and failure breeds failure. Good coaches don't really come here because if they wash out here like they're more then likely to do they might not get another shot somewhere else and good recruits don't come here when they can go to a more successful program. Why come here to lose all the time? And from the fans perspective, finally building a winning program would all but end the talk and theories about killing football. Two, our facilities and stadium wouldn't need to be as grand to compete, which speaks to the "right-size" theory, but in a good way, because three, it's relatively speaking much easier to get the $11-14 million we'd need for a competitive NEC stadium as opposed to the 20-30 million we'd need for a proper CAA facility. Not only is the dollar figure necessary easier to swallow on an absolute level, but when you factor in fundraising intangibles like more wins, an energized fan base and no more whispers about the death of the program it because significantly easier to raise the necessary money.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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My biggest issue is that I don't think we would be any better in the NEC than we would be in the CAA, because right now we are at least recruiting CAA caliber players (in theory), so when we move to the NEC we will have to move down a whole class of player and will likely end up on the bottom rung of the NEC recruiting ladder, just like we are in the CAA. And even in a best-case scenerio, if we ever get good we will set a ceiling for ourselves in the NEC. If we actually put forth a respectable effort and commitment to succeeding in the CAA and it ultimately failed, I'd sign on for the NEC. But I would like to try to compete at the highest level we are capable of, and giving up without ever really trying would be sad to me.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by brady1 »

Footballs a small chip that one day as the years evolve might keep us in a more competitive basketball league. The few boosters I know that want to move to NEC really want to can football all together.

Beef up the program to be competitive at the level we're at now. Someone tell the hacks in Providence the best way to beef up a crappy state is to beef up your STATE UNIVERSITY.

GO RHODY!
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Blue Man »

I rarely find my way down to here, but why not:

I'm not sure where this made up money is supposed to come from to bolster the program. The reality of URI's athletic department is that the money to fund everything is going to have to come from the one team that can make legit money by winning: basketball.

The reality of college sports is that 2 types of programs can make you money: a 1A football program, or a good basketball program.

Considering that URI does not have a 1A football program, all we can do is try to put out a winning basketball program, to bring in big time money from television exposure, and most importantly, the NCAA tournament.

We are finally getting close to having a basketball program that can buoy up the rest of the athletic department. We are close, but it hasn't happened yet.

Once that happens, consistently, you can expect to see infrastructure improvements in the years to follow. Thorr is a football guy. Thorr played college football. Thorr gets it. Thorr just never had an opportunity to do anything with football because he was handed Jim Baron's ridiculous contract, and had no hope of getting out from it, or getting a winning team from it.

For now, sit tight and root for us as underdogs, understand that any time we go to play a big ass D1 school that we're going to get railed, and stop whining like the administration isn't doing everything in their power to make the program better. They are. Everything has to go to basketball first, before they can even think of having the money to get football going.

That or start donating more money to your athletic department so that they can make improvements.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

I used to agree with that line of thinking Blue Man, I mean waiting until basketball starts bringing in money to help the other athletic programs, including football.

No amount of success from our BB program, is going to pay for a new stadium, among many other needed upgrades for football. What about other programs that need help?

Doing things piecemeal would work? In how many years, 20?

Noble thoughts all, but realistically a pipe dream imo......

Maybe soon, a white knight will ride to the rescue, and give the many millions of dollars needed.

Then we could pay a staff competitive $ to help build a winner here. That's where they need to start.

That's if they're even going to start.....
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

It's a nice thought that once basketball wins consistently that other improvements will happen throughout the department, and to a small extent that's true. But as basketball wins and brings in money, more of that money will have to go to improving the basketball coaches salaries, keeping the Ryan Center top notch, improving the basketball recruiting budget and so on. Bringing in NCAA money doesn't mean we've arrived and we can disperse all that money throughout the athletic department, it means we can jump up another level in the men's basketball arms race. I highly doubt we'll ever bring in enough money from men's basketball to keep effectively funding men's basketball and produce an improved Meade Stadium.

And I wouldn't say it should even be on people who doubt the program right now to donate. Where the hell are all these great football donors? All the ones that were bitching and moaning when there was talk of dropping to the NEC. They got what they wanted, we stayed in the CAA, now it's time for them to put their money where the mouth is and donate at a CAA quality level and get us a CAA level stadium. And if they can't fund it themselves, why aren't they organizing a campaign to get the General Assembly to provide necessary funding?
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rambone 78
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

RR, the administration is taking a wait and attitude.

The problem is, like you've said, they are putting the cart before the horse, expecting the performance to improve before committing funds.

It's not going to happen.

What also isn't going to happen , is the state of RI is going to approve some huge bond issue to build a new Meade. Even if some donors come out and say they will help fund a portion of it.

That happened with the Ryan. I seriously doubt there is any groundswell of support to do the same for football.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

rambone 78 wrote:What also isn't going to happen , is the state of RI is going to approve some huge bond issue to build a new Meade. Even if some donors come out and say they will help fund a portion of it.

That happened with the Ryan. I seriously doubt there is any groundswell of support to do the same for football.
I'm sure there isn't, but that doesn't mean people couldn't try. I mean there's no groundswell of support, quite the opposite actually, for a Providence baseball stadium that would cost multiples of a refurbished Meade Stadium with all benefits going to a private entity as opposed to a state institution, but that's not stopping Lucchino from trying to get it done. There's literally nothing stopping the 5th Quarter Club from organizing a campaign if they were serious about putting in the effort. They'd have more support and a better pitch then the Providence baseball stadium.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

RR, my guess is, URI is hoping Fleming can get the program to a place where there would be more support for it.

As in respectable in the CAA. Right now, with the pitiful place they are in now, it's hard to see anyone giving two shits about it up in Providence.

Of course the football program is worth saving, if it can show it has a pulse. That's a tall task at the moment, however.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by SGreenwell »

A successful basketball program would probably lead to nice infrastructure improvements that all programs can use. However, it sounds like football needs a major cash infusion - in the form of major improvements to Meade - to be successful. While I think a couple runs to the NCAA tournament could definitely improve URI Athletics bottom line, it's probably not going to produce the lump sum ($10M+, I would think) needed to actually produce a college football-quality field.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by TruePoint »

Nor should we repurpose funds that the basketball program earns to try to save a bad football program. Ten million or so for a football stadium should be a no-brainer budget line item in the general assembly, but Rhode Island is dumb. No other state in the union would have such an issue.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by rambone 78 »

As to the cost of a new stadium, just replacing the East stands would cost at least 15 mil or so, and that's on the cheap. I think those numbers were discussed on here a while ago, in comparison to what other schools are spending to upgrade their facilities.

At some point, if URI keeps the team, those stands will have to be replaced. That's something else to think about.

Lights and field turf were supposed to have happened by now. Why not?

Only reason I can come up with, is the school is holding off until a final decision is made on whether to scrap the program.....they aren't going to spend several million for nothing.....
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by SGreenwell »

rambone 78 wrote:As to the cost of a new stadium, just replacing the East stands would cost at least 15 mil or so, and that's on the cheap. I think those numbers were discussed on here a while ago, in comparison to what other schools are spending to upgrade their facilities.

At some point, if URI keeps the team, those stands will have to be replaced. That's something else to think about.

Lights and field turf were supposed to have happened by now. Why not?

Only reason I can come up with, is the school is holding off until a final decision is made on whether to scrap the program.....they aren't going to spend several million for nothing.....
I think lights and turf would be a good investment anyway, since most turf fields can be used for multiple sports now. Whether they keep or scrap football, you could still use the field for men's and women's soccer, etc. Although now that I think about it, if you're going to replace the facility and spend a ton of money, you might as well throw a track on there as well and make it a whole complex.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by ATPTourFan »

Eh. Fields encircled by a track just put distance between the fans and the sports that would use the turf.

Raze Meade and build stands that are sufficiently distanced from the field that soccer could have necessary width on their field.

While football exists the new artificial field surface could serve many sports rather than just our horrible football team. If football is axed the remaining sports will continue to enjoy the multisport facility integrated with the Ryan Center.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by OBRAM »

U of Buffalo has a Track around stadium and also Brown, and the fans are too far from the action. If you were ever on Autzen Stadium field, you can't believe how it is, like the Ryan Center for basketball, you are very close. Plus Meade is to small for a track and football/soccer field. It should be moved across the street to the Physical Plant area, and the Physical Plant area moved, because that is even more of an eyesore than Meade East Stands.
I think Football needs a Fieldturf Practice field more than Field turf on Meade. Look at Brown U practice field. They have two full length Fieldturf fields, with lights and stands, and then grass at Brown Stadium. URI football Practice facility is abysmal and it was made worse then it was chopped up for the Ryan Center. Seems to me like since the Ryan Center building which took down the field house, chopped the practice field, and removed the West Stands, football has had a tuff time recruiting. Ask Stowers, they would bring in a recruit and they would say,"nice Basketball Facility, where's the football facilities"?
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by adam914 »

Haha so now its basketballs fault that football stinks? Maybe we should just suck in everything instead!
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by OBRAM »

I don't think it is a coincidence that the two best programs, URI basketball and URI indoor Track have had the most success in the 21 century and the have best facilities, and maybe you can throw hockey into that equation also, maybe baseball also but baseball needs stands.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by jmck »

Do it right. Have a grass game day surface and turf enclosed practice facilities. That is what most everybody else is doing at our level. If Bryant, Brown, PeeCee can upgrade their facilities to keep up with the competition, so should we.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by ATPTourFan »

Bryant, Brown and PC... and URI... One of these things is not like the other!
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