Tubby on the Schedule

[Caravan Shaker]

Does Wisconsin have resources that are far superior to MN? If so, what are they?

Frankly, I am tired of paying big $$ for less than less non conf schedule.

Per ope.ed.gov: MN's basketball revenue was $10,404,302, its football revenue was $17,390,376 and its total revenues were $64,828,596. Wisconsin's basketball revenue was $16,438,045, its football revenue was $37,733,698, and its total revenues were $93,452,334.

Granted, the data reported for MN was for year 06-07 while Wisconsin's was 07-08, but I don't think MN closed the $30 million gap this past year. I don't know about you, but I'd consider Wisconsin's resources to be "far superior" to MN based on these data.

 

[Jim V2]

Per ope.ed.gov: MN's basketball revenue was $10,404,302, its football revenue was $17,390,376 and its total revenues were $64,828,596. Wisconsin's basketball revenue was $16,438,045, its football revenue was $37,733,698, and its total revenues were $93,452,334.

Granted, the data reported for MN was for year 06-07 while Wisconsin's was 07-08, but I don't think MN closed the $30 million gap this past year. I don't know about you, but I'd consider Wisconsin's resources to be "far superior" to MN based on these data.

I have no facts, but those bball numbers surprise me. We have (I think) the higher ticket price, I have to believe we have just as many home games, and I think we get just as many fans per game. Unless there's a huge difference in student ticket treatment, I don't see how the arithmetic can work that way. (ANd I agree with CS that the one year difference shouldn't affect the analysis much--although that was the last Monson year, and attendance had really plummeted.) So I wonder if this is some type of apples to oranges comparison.

 

[tjgopher]

Does Wisconsin have resources that are far superior to MN? If so, what are they?

Frankly, I am tired of paying big $$ for less than less non conf schedule.

Well, in case you haven't noticed, Wisconsin played Long Beach State, SIU-Edwardsville, UW-Milwaukee, Idaho State, UW-Green Bay, Coppin State, and Texas at home this year. Texas is the lone marquee matchup. Eventually, that's what our schedule will look like. A bunch of lightweights, one really good home matchup, and one really good road matchup. Next year probably.

And, Tubby Smith is earning about $500,000/yr more than Bo Ryan. Tubby at $1.76. Bo at $1.25.

A sellout at Wisconsin gets them 17,000 people. A sellout at Minnesota gets them about 14,500 people. That means to keep up, Minnesota needs a few more home dates.

And, Wisconsin has a practice facility and Tubby wants one very badly.

And, lastly, according to the linked figures, Wisconsin spent about $5.9 million on men's basketball last year. Minnesota spent about $3.1 million. So, to answer the question, yes, right now Wisconsin has more resources. Minnesota is trying to keep up and generating income with home games that don't require a return road trip is one way to do it.

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

 

[tjgopher]

I have no facts, but those bball numbers surprise me. We have (I think) the higher ticket price, I have to believe we have just as many home games, and I think we get just as many fans per game.

No, the Kohl Center sells out for all their games....17,190. Williams Arena attendance last year averaged 12,450. So, just short of 5000 PER GAME difference. At $25 per ticket (conservative estimate), that is $125,000 per game difference. Now, factor their 18 home games and you're at $2.25 million difference on ticket revenue alone. Now, factor in concessions, parking, novelty sales, TV/Radio revenue, arena advertising, game programs ads/sales, etc. Add in that the Kohl Center has 36 premium suites that are sold out every game. Williams Arena has 21 "Barn Lofts" that are sold out for most games, but not all. All of that makes it easy to see why Bucky's revenue is so high and why we have to try to make up the difference.

 

[Caravan Shaker]

For the purpose of full disclosure, I used total men's and women's revenues rather than strictly men's in my figures, but the difference between the women's revenues of MN and WI was only $300k. Interestingly, Kentucky's basketball revenue was $15 million, practically all of which is from the men's team. I would have thought with their 23,000 seat arena they'd be much higher. I'd guess the lack of luxury suites is really bringing down their potential revenue.

 

[TruthTeller]

Well, in case you haven't noticed, Wisconsin played Long Beach State, SIU-Edwardsville, UW-Milwaukee, Idaho State, UW-Green Bay, Coppin State, and Texas at home this year. Texas is the lone marquee matchup. Eventually, that's what our schedule will look like. A bunch of lightweights, one really good home matchup, and one really good road matchup. Next year probably.

And, Tubby Smith is earning about $500,000/yr more than Bo Ryan. Tubby at $1.76. Bo at $1.25.

A sellout at Wisconsin gets them 17,000 people. A sellout at Minnesota gets them about 14,500 people. That means to keep up, Minnesota needs a few more home dates.

And, Wisconsin has a practice facility and Tubby wants one very badly.

And, lastly, according to the linked figures, Wisconsin spent about $5.9 million on men's basketball last year. Minnesota spent about $3.1 million. So, to answer the question, yes, right now Wisconsin has more resources. Minnesota is trying to keep up and generating income with home games that don't require a return road trip is one way to do it.

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

Tubby earning 500K more than Bo is not considered a resource disparity, imo.

What did WI spend their $$ on, to the tune of 2.8M?

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

It's pretty simple actually. He adjusts the schedule difficulty to keep his streak of 20 win seasons going. As the teams gets better, he'll maybe schedule tougher NC opponents. This year, he figured (not publicly of course) that he could win 8-10 conference games. Simple math tells you that you need 10-11 NC wins so that's why it's cupcake city. The Virginia game was set by the B10/ACC folks and the L'ville game was an invite so Tubby did not schedule one single formidable opponent on his own, with the exception of maybe Cornell, but I'm still convinced they're not better than a NDSU type squad. Speaking of Cornell, today's paper (can't remember if it was Sid or Shooter) said that Wittman won't leave early for the NBA and that he'll graduate in 4 years. I almost spit out my coffee when I read that. He must have the same advisor as Rick Rickert...LOL!!!!

He played an average of 11 ranked (AP poll) teams in 10 years at UK, total of 107 ranked teams. UK (all-time) averages 7 ranked (AP poll) teams per season over 60 years of AP poll rankings.

So he played TOUGHER schedules than UK historically did and averaged 26 W (never less than 22 W) there.

 

[Rouser]

I'm with SS on this one

Tubby is the best thing to happen to Gopher hoops in..well, forever if you ask me. That said, his excuses for the scheduling "difficulties" were weak sauce.

Monson didn't have great schedules but they were a lot better than the past two years. We always played at least one BSC type program IN ADDITION to the ACC challenge. Oregon, Georga, GA Tech, Iowa St., Nebraska, Zona St., etc.

No reason we couldn't have done that this year. I mean, Oregon St or Nebraska would not have jeopardized our season.

At the end of the day, I think Tubby will boost the schedule a bit...hopefully next year. Like SS said, Tulsa would be nice but that should not be the marquee game.

 

[tjgopher]

Tubby earning 500K more than Bo is not considered a resource disparity, imo.

No, but it goes to the point...the U must play a lot of home games to generate revenue to pay the man. It has already been documented that the U has less revenue...now they pay more, too. Don't you see why they need to try for the extra home dates. It is all about the budget.

What did WI spend their $$ on, to the tune of 2.8M?

I don't know. Probably things that aren't that important, like recruiting, travel, facilities, equipment, assistant coach's salaries, etc.

It sounds to me like the Truth Teller was given the truth and he doesn't like it. The reality is it is costly to run a winning basketball program. Not just monetarily. It at times might also mean the fans have to put up with crappy home games in the non-conference because those games where you get revenue and don't have to give up a home game are important. Again, I believe they will have a "Wisconsin-like" schedule in the future. Several patsies, one good home game and one good road game. It is just reality.

 

[book]

The NCAA has to step up! They need to enforce a policy that states that the major conferences must play at least 40 percent of their non-conference games against other major conference teams. So if we have 12 of these games - we should have 3 home and 3 on the road "real games" a year - with 6 other games at our discretion! We are paying the money so asking for 3 major conference non-conference games a year is not asking the team too much!

 

[dlw4gophers]

2009 Just got tougher. Minnesota will be in the 76 classic over Thanksgiving week-end. It is held in Anaheim, Ca. Other teams in this are Long Beach St., Texas A&M, West Virginia, Clemson, Butler, Portland, U.C.L.A. and the Gophers.


www.76classic.com

Thanksgiving in Southern California. I'm there.