Study concludes shuttered football program at UAB made money

KrAzY3

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That does not include a new facility and only supports them for five years. What happens then and where are they going to come up with the money for a new stadium?
They make other people pay for it, like they tried doing with Jimbo, and they've done with the program all along. We want it, others should pay for it. I mean, wouldn't you do the same thing with a new car or house if you can? Sure, I'll pay for the first few months, as long as you know... someone else picks up the tab later.

Edit: For the few that actually cared to pay attention, a major factor in shutting down the program was not simply the fact that it was wasting millions every year, it was the fact that they were faced with very large expenses in the future. This includes additional compensation for athletes, and facilities. Nothing, nothing at all we've seen addresses these factors at all, it's still just a PR stunt at this point.
 
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bamahippie

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They didn't feel the need to donate money until the program was closed. Why? They didn't care enough about it to say "I'm going to give my money to help support this because I enjoy going to their games and watching them play"?
I don't know. I wish I did. It has to start at some point, and it looks like it finally has.

Look I get it. But I also don't see why things can't change. This truly seems like a case of you don't know what you really could have had, or did have, until it is gone. If not, then why all of the continued uproar? Folks on here like to pretend that UAB football couldn't have continued support to bring back football, past all of the initial #FreeUAB, FireWatts, etc...but it has continued. Can this momentum ride right into getting football back, then into having a successful program, along with a successful fund-raising system? In other words, sustainability into the near future? I have no idea. And neither do any of you.

With Bama being far and away the number one team in my heart of hearts, all the way from my early youth I understand many of you also have a Troy, USA, Jax State, Samford, etc, that you pull for on the side. Because of where you're from, received a degree there, whatever. So... I guess what I'm getting at is this: As a UAB fan, I apologize on behalf of all that is UAB for whatever has caused every snarky comment or bitter statement re: all things UAB. They didn't mean to upset you. They were just being irrelevant in comparison, especially in football, and didn't mean to stir up so much hatred in your hearts, for you to care so much. They didn't realize that they rivaled UA in a whole lot. Will you accept the apology?

LOL, tongue in cheek of course. I just never have got it. Hopefully it's not all because of Bartow vs. Sanderson. That's ooooooold news.
 
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KrAzY3

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In other words, sustainability into the near future? I have no idea. And neither do any of you.
Yes, we do. So far the fund raising efforts would keep the lights on for a little while longer, that's it. They need 75 million dollars... if they can't come up with it, when they're all worked up, then we know they never will once their program is just back to being boring again.

As a UAB fan, I apologize on behalf of all that is UAB for whatever has caused every snarky comment or bitter statement re: all things UAB. They didn't mean to upset you.
No, they just meant to make me, against my will, support a football program I have no desire to support. I'm sorry, but other people feeling entitled to public support does upset me, and there is a football program I do desire to voluntarily support. It's just not UAB...
 

bamahippie

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Yes, we do. So far the fund raising efforts would keep the lights on for a little while longer, that's it. They need 75 million dollars... if they can't come up with it, when they're all worked up, then we know they never will once their program is just back to being boring again.


No, they just meant to make me, against my will, support a football program I have no desire to support. I'm sorry, but other people feeling entitled to public support does upset me, and there is a football program I do desire to voluntarily support. It's just not UAB...
If they wanna get back to being boring again, what's it to you?

And, Laughable. "against my will"... Give me a break. "entitled to public support"... You respond as if I or anyone else has asked you to support them. If they have, ignore them. Sounds easy enough to me. "Nope, I think I'll add my input to every UAB-related thread with some negative diatribe." Makes sense to me. Not ignore, but respond with venom. Anti-support. Soooo productive.
 

CB4

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They didn't feel the need to donate money until the program was closed. Why? They didn't care enough about it to say "I'm going to give my money to help support this because I enjoy going to their games and watching them play"?
Because football at UAB is like the puppy your kids' want. After few weeks, the kids lose interest and go on to something else. It becomes your responsibility to feed it, clean up after it, take it for walks and pay the vet bill. When you decide to take the dog to shelter or find it a new home, it is only then that the children begin to cry about how much they love "their puppy".

I have two degrees from the place (UAB). As far as I am concerned, UAB made the bed in which they now lie. If you wanted football, it should have been supported to such a great extent that no one, and I mean no one, could take it away. And now you want to whine because it has been "taken to the shelter"?

And stop with the "BOT did this" or "BOT did that". If the program had all these "bleeding hearts" coming to the fray now involved from the jump, putting in the money and the effort it needed, then there would have been 25-30k in the stands for every home game, regardless of whether they played at Legion Filed or the Wal-Mart parking lot. And no one could have taken it away.

Just because everybody wants a puppy doesn't mean everyone needs a puppy.
 

bamahippie

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Because football at UAB is like the puppy your kids' want. After few weeks, the kids lose interest and go on to something else. It becomes your responsibility to feed it, clean up after it, take it for walks and pay the vet bill. When you decide to take the dog to shelter or find it a new home, it is only then that the children begin to cry about how much they love "their puppy".

I have two degrees from the place (UAB). As far as I am concerned, UAB made the bed in which they now lie. If you wanted football, it should have been supported to such a great extent that no one, and I mean no one, could take it away. And now you want to whine because it has been "taken to the shelter"?

And stop with the "BOT did this" or "BOT did that". If the program had all these "bleeding hearts" coming to the fray now involved from the jump, putting in the money and the effort it needed, then there would have been 25-30k in the stands for every home game, regardless of whether they played at Legion Filed or the Wal-Mart parking lot. And no one could have taken it away.

Just because everybody wants a puppy doesn't mean everyone needs a puppy.
I liked the analogy, until I thought about something.

This means that most of college football's "puppies" should be taken to the shelter, as many lose money every year. So all of the "kids" need be blamed in every instance? Or are we just talking about UAB. Here.

And I'm with you on not blaming the BOT for every little cotton-picking thing. So, why do I not hear more people complaining about the lackluster job UAB's own administrators have done over the years to improve the product on the field, to make it more palatable to potential fans? Or is it all just the fans' faults. Cuz that's all I keep hearing...
 

81usaf92

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And I'm with you on not blaming the BOT for every little cotton-picking thing. So, why do I not hear more people complaining about the lackluster job UAB's own administrators have done over the years to improve the product on the field, to make it more palatable to potential fans? Or is it all just the fans' faults. Cuz that's all I keep hearing...
The problem with that is Birmingham. Bham politics are crap and are what has drove most of the possible buisnesses and things that could possibily improved the city away. Its no wonder why places like Homewood,Hoover, and vestavia have tried to distance themselves away from Bham in every way. Im not saying that a new stadium wouldve boomed UAb's fan support, but you can see that either Bham didnt want to pay for a new one or the Uab administration didnt. Either way that's not on UA's BOT even though I still think they had a hand in the disbandment of Blazer football, but not as much as the media and UAB's booger sympathizers try to make it out to be.
 

KrAzY3

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And, Laughable. "against my will"... Give me a break. "entitled to public support"... You respond as if I or anyone else has asked you to support them. If they have, ignore them.
You do understand that it's a public university, and one that's part of Alabama's university system at that? That's my issue, if this was all private, voluntarily funded dollars they were wasting, good for them. But it's not... My dislike for their program is intertwined with the fact that they are spending money that they are not entitled to spend and was not provided voluntarily. I'm a taxpayer in the state of Alabama, who also voluntarily supports Alabama's athletic department. Those funds, go to the athletic department, which has been putting millions of dollars each year back into the university's coffers... which is part of the same system.

This means that most of college football's "puppies" should be taken to the shelter, as many lose money every year. So all of the "kids" need be blamed in every instance? Or are we just talking about UAB. Here.
Not just talking about UAB. I've said several times there should be under 100 FBS programs. It's not even that I think UAB shouldn't have a football program, but clearly, they don't warrant an FBS program. Look at Alabama A&M, their athletic department operates at a fraction of UAB's, their football program has a more robust history, and they've actually been to more bowl games.

This never, ever, on my part has been only about UAB. I'm enrolled at South Alabama, and I've been adamantly against their football program since it's inception, and it's a waste I am directly on the hook for, in more ways than one.

Alabama's athletic department made over 20 million. UAB lost around 17 million. South Alabama lost around 14 million. Alabama A&M spent far less, and their loss was around 5 million. Is it too much to ask UAB, South Alabama, and the other, overly-entitled programs out there to behave more responsibly? They have no prestige in football, they have no history and tradition, they are just wasting money and up until recently not being held accountable for it.

This does extend beyond the state, but look at Alabama's population. They had no business having 5 FBS programs, and there's a reason that the bottom three's attendance combined couldn't match the #2 program in attendance. Most athletic departments are losing money, yes. Most FBS programs are losing money, yes. I'm not saying they all should go, but if you can't even meet minimum NCAA attendance requirements? By rule you should lose your program (that would apply to UAB). If your athletic department is losing over ten million a year, and you're a public university? Cuts need to be made. It's no coincidence that the programs losing the most money tend to have FBS football programs, it's a very expensive thing to operate.
 
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81usaf92

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Cuts need to be made. It's no coincidence that the programs losing the most money tend to have FBS football programs, it's a very expensive thing to operate.
Not going to happen. Too much money lost by the NCAA. The only reasons the UAB situation moved fast is because it had a parent school and Birmingham is a dying city that wont support it. South Alabama is in its infancy in a vastly growing city in Mobile. USA went from 1,000 students in 2007 to 15,000 so growth is there. I will level with you and say they probably should go back to FBS for awhile and see if they grow in fan support, but what's done is done and there is noone to get the ball rolling against Mobile and Troy. Unless the Power 5 conferences take full control of the NCAA and how it operates its best to accept that there are over 120 teams with 50 to 60 bowl games, its the world we live in and until someone on this board becomes a 1%er that is in control of these situations there is nothing that can be done.
 

Rama Jama

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It is not that I am against football at UAB. I frankly could care less if they have a football program as long as there was interest and it was financially self sustaining. This program was on life support for years and no one was willing to contribute a dime toward a lost cause. All of a sudden donors supposedly are coming out of the woodwork PLEDGING money. Remember a pledge is NOT collected funds and I'd be surprised if their actual donations are anywhere close to the numbers they are publicizing. The bottom line is UAB is a public institution and as such they have to be held to some sort of standard for funding the program. I have no objection if the UAB supporters pay the freight of the football program, but it will not happen and the residents of the City of Birmingham have proven time and again they won't support a loser.

The media has to have something to talk about during the off season and UAB football is their pet talking point. The media is pushing this every day even when most of them ever voluntarily attended a single UAB game. Some are not even from this area and don't know enough to speak intelligently to this issue.

They should have a FCS program, not a FBS program. Their costs are way too high for the product they put on the field. Geographically they will never be able to compete with the Alabama's and Auburn's of the world for recruits. The bottom line is UAB football as a FBS school is dead and should stay that way.
 

81usaf92

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They should have a FCS program, not a FBS program. Their costs are way too high for the product they put on the field. Geographically they will never be able to compete with the Alabama's and Auburn's of the world for recruits. The bottom line is UAB football as a FBS school is dead and should stay that way.
Also add 459 to the equation and they are directly competing with Bama gameday traffic.
 

CB4

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I liked the analogy, until I thought about something.

This means that most of college football's "puppies" should be taken to the shelter, as many lose money every year. So all of the "kids" need be blamed in every instance? Or are we just talking about UAB. Here.

And I'm with you on not blaming the BOT for every little cotton-picking thing. So, why do I not hear more people complaining about the lackluster job UAB's own administrators have done over the years to improve the product on the field, to make it more palatable to potential fans? Or is it all just the fans' faults. Cuz that's all I keep hearing...
No. It means that you should simply show you truly "care" about your puppy before animal control shows up or your parents put him in the back of the car and head for the animal shelter.

If the football program at UAB had showed me a growing fan base over the last 15 years with a ground swell of support by the student body, alumni, and administration and growing paid* attendance (paid meaning the grass roots fans reaching into their pockets and actually buying a ticket) then I would be all over the "Free UAB" bandwagon regardless of the financial bottom line. And if that would have happened, there would have been no way the program was shelved no matter if it ran a deficit like other programs.

Going back to the puppy analogy, most people wouldn't get rid of the puppy even with costly vet visits, grooming and feeding, and other commitments if they were truly convinced that the family was truly invested in it. Where were all these talking heads and their love of "UAB football" prior to news of the possible shutdown? You know what I heard? ***crickets**** This tells me few were invested in the program.

You can attach blame to whomever; the students, the alumni, the athletic dept., the booster program, the administration, etc.. Even if you go back to Bartow years (Gene) in basketball, it wasn't the student body, the alumni or the administration that supported that program. It was driven by Birmingham basketball fans that were actually fans of other schools. The rank and file UAB students and alumni couldn't have given two hoots about the program. And look at it today. In the conference championship game, played in your home city, with a NCAA birth on the line, and you only put 8,000 in the BJCC?

I see this as part of an entitlement mentality. I want it because I want it. Not because I care about it.
 

81usaf92

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There would actually have to be fans going to the UAB game for their for there to be a traffic problem in B'ham.
True but it is a nightmare going that way or competing with the boogs that are coming out of Birmingham on 280.

I honestly wish this story would die and give UAB a FCS team at the BJCC so we can make both sides happy. USA and Troy should be wait and see mode to gauge how they do in the next 4 to 5 years and then consider making them go back to FCS. Point is noone cared about this story until rumblings started happening and it just so happened when Bill Clark was hired and Uab had their first credible season since 2004 so all these "Free Taiwan" or rather "Free UAB" supporters think they have something to stand on.
 

RTR91

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And now UAB is going raise fees to help raise money for the football program?

@JTalty UAB undergrad SGA extended fee increase to include summer term. Would result in estimated $825k annually for return of football.
 

CB4

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Local news in B'ham (Fox6) reporting that UAB President Ray Watts will announce tomorrow afternoon, via email and social media, that UAB will not reinstate the football program.
 

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