Clemson’s boosters have reportedly raised nearly $360 million the past six years
- Thread starter kyallie
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I don't buy this at all... I think this can pretty much be chalked up to excitement on their side as they are in an upswing, similar to where we were in 2009-12, and the complacency that comes from being in big games as often as we have the past ten years.
Lol so you don’t think a national championship or a playoff game in a vacation city isn’t exciting? I don’t buy the lack of fan excitement on this subject at all
You are correct, but the donations/contributions were not clarified as being to the Athletic Department prior to my response...
I don't doubt it. It was their first NC appearance in what seems like fifty years...
Also, IIRC they had a jump on buying up the tickets as they weren't playing in a conference championship game... :cool2:
Then I think you're ignoring the empty seats near the end of most of our home games. It's natural to take for granted what we have right now (not justifying that attitude - just being realistic). Almost every year since 2009, Alabama has been a part of the CFP or NCG. IMO, fanbase wealth has little to do with this - I think that its just fans (including me some years) taking for granted the idea that "I can always make it to the next one".
More to the point though.... the average starting salaries from both schools are almost the same, and we have 70% more students. Income is not the issue.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/compare?xwalk_id=217882&xwalk_id=100751
Edit: And I don't mean that to sound like I'm slamming Alabama fans or students at all - just reiterating that I think the biggest factor is that our opponents have not been in the same position as us (or at least as long as us) - so yes, they typically are more willing and excited to turn out in droves for these big games.
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The empty seats at the end of a blowout are not the same as fans not being able to afford the travel to Miami followed by going to Santa Clara a week later after already spending money to go to Orlando and Atlanta earlier in the season.
No I’m not ignoring that fact, and in fact I’ve been on here saying Alabama fans are choosing more to sit at home than paying for University greed and to watch blowout games several times. But that has nothing to do with our traveling side of our fan base. Our traveling fan base use to be comparable to the Pittsburgh Steelers fans in that they bring a ton of fans regardless of the game, opponent, or level of importance. After going to LA, NOLA 5x, Atlanta numerous, Miami 2x, Dallas 3x, and Phoniex all in the last 12 years they are broke.
Ok, maybe I misunderstood your original point. I totally agree that the number of expensive games has had an affect on our attendance for the NCGs the last few years. I just don't think there is a huge income gap bt the alums from each school driving the attendance gap. Beating a dead horse at this point though. I think we are pretty much on the same page otherwise.
I think this may help clarify the donations being a part of revenue. The Crimson Tide foundation funds many scholarships and I believe that is part of the revenue. The total that is raised thru fundraising is not counted as a part of revenue. It is generally used for capital improvements. The Crimson Standard last I heard was over 250 million raised in about 2 years. It could be more, I really don't keep up. The general revenue fund is used to pay the cost of athletic scholarships and the actual cost associated with playing the sport. If you look at the schools ahead of us in revenue, they are much bigger schools. Texas has over 50k students as does A&M. OSU is about 60K. Michigan is slightly smaller but still has a lot of automobile revenue.
You may be right but if I'm not mistaken the article I linked to mentioned the record revenue being set by Oklahoma State around 2006 when T. Boone Pickens donated $165 million. Their total "revenue" that year was $241 million but a lot of Pickens donation was supposed to go to stadium renovations.
My overall point is that raise all the money you want it's not the determining factor in building a "dynasty". The Clemson article seemed to be saying that all that money was going to turn Clemson into a football dynasty. However, a lot of schools can and do raise a lot more money than Clemson or Alabama.
I was in Seneca, SC yesterday...Talked to a few locals. They are not happy with the changes that winning (money) brings...
"***So many stoplights now.***What was a 5 minute drive is now 20 minutes... ***Too many people here now. ***It's not our little hideaway anymore."
I put this here talking about how money can change things, not necessarily athletically. While it sounds like the locals need to learn to appreciate what winning brings, they're a little bent right now about Change/Growth...
"***So many stoplights now.***What was a 5 minute drive is now 20 minutes... ***Too many people here now. ***It's not our little hideaway anymore."
I put this here talking about how money can change things, not necessarily athletically. While it sounds like the locals need to learn to appreciate what winning brings, they're a little bent right now about Change/Growth...
I am guessing here, but there are some donations made directly to the athletic Dept which I suspect is Boone Pickens did. I could be wrong, but I don't think most schools have a separate entity like Alabama does like the Crimson Tide foundation. Irregardless of how the beans are counted, Alabama is one of the top revenue producing athletic depts almost to its detriment. At some point the average Joe may be priced out of the stadium. TV money continues to rise while attendance is down at most schools. The generation(my generation) who grew up going to live games are aging quickly and the younger fans simply seem to be losing interest in going to live events.
I went back and looked at the USA Today article. It goes back to 2005 for each school and sure enough in 2006 when Oklahoma State set the revenue record of $241 million, $211 million was contributions.
There's a link to the methodology used which says that while the NCAA has tried to standardize the reporting some schools still interpret the rules differently.
Under contributions it states: "Contributions: Includes amounts received directly from individuals, corporations, associations, foundations, clubs or other organizations for the operations of the athletics program. Amounts paid in excess of a ticket’s value. Contributions include cash, marketable securities and in-kind contributions such as dealer-provided cars, apparel and drink products for team and staff use. Also includes revenue from preferential seating."
From all that I would gather that Alabama or any other school could receive large stadium renovation contributions earmarked for the University's capital improvement that might or might not be recorded as operations revenue.
I went to most of the home games and some of the away games when I was in school but that was 40 years ago and I've only been to around 6 since then. I went to Coach Saban's first spring game and a couple of more since.
I do prefer watching the games on TV. Going to a game now is more about revisiting the school and enjoying the game day experience which god bless them a lot of people do every week.
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