If you were AD

and WBB was losing a reported 4mm/year to be lower mid SEC (currently 10th) would you:

  • Its WBB, balance the budget, fall to the bottom and put the dollars elsewhere

  • Commit more dollars and get to top 1/4 of league

  • Stay status quo

  • Im glad Im not AD


Results are only viewable after voting.

TXDawg.sixpack

All-Conference
Apr 10, 2009
2,393
2,305
113
How much more were we spending and what was the bottom line when Vic was here?Vic showed we can field a consistent winner, but I don’t know what our bottom line revenue was back then. I’m assuming we were still losing money, but if the bottom line is -$4MM either way, I’d rather be a winning program.
 
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aTotal360

Heisman
Nov 12, 2009
21,764
14,434
113
WBB is the third most popular college sport. I assume you’d want to allocate that money to baseball, which 80% of the country doesn’t give a schitt about.
But that doesn't mean it's the 3rd popular sport in MSU's portfolio.

If I had to pick out what non-revenue sport would I rather be good at, it's baseball 100 times out of 100.
 

Leeshouldveflanked

All-American
Nov 12, 2016
13,828
9,000
113
First of all I'd be scratching my head tryng to figure out how and why you even had to spend at least $4MM on women's basketball , much less lose $4MM on top of what you spent??
I doubt the whole Coaching Staff cost $1M… maybe we need a Department of MSU Efficiency
Elon Musk GIF
 

Seinfeld

All-American
Nov 30, 2006
11,154
6,977
113
First of all I'd be scratching my head tryng to figure out how and why you even had to spend at least $4MM on women's basketball , much less lose $4MM on top of what you spent??
Out of sheer curiosity, I just looked at the lady gamecocks budget to see what a national championship caliber program was doing, and I was surprised to see that even they had a $5M+ deficit last year.

The claim is that while men’s tournament credits go straight to the men’s budget, women’s tournament money gets buried elsewhere. That said, even if you do the math and estimate tournament revenue for them based on the fact that their media rights deal is about half of the men’s deal, it still leaves these programs in the red.

Let’s face it. It’s a result of media deals growing exponentially for several decades and ADs having more money than they know how to spend, so salaries for even small sports have gone to the moon. It can’t continue, and tough decisions are gonna have to be made
 

OG Goat Holder

Heisman
Sep 30, 2022
12,269
11,339
113
Depends. Are they currently winning and do you have tradition? If yea, maybe spend money there. If not, no.

In the case of MSU in 2025, no. We had our chance in 2018, didn’t win. Now invest elsewhere unless we get lucky on a coach.
 

BulldogBlitz

Heisman
Dec 11, 2008
16,199
20,341
113
Cut football to the bare minimum, it makes money for us because of the league we in, no one tunes in to see mstate.

Whatever we spend on football isn't coming back because we spent it on football, it's coming back because the rest of the league are drunken sailors.
 

onewoof

Heisman
Mar 4, 2008
14,979
13,077
113
The loss of WBB is not sustainable. Move it to a club sport like soccer. Same thing.
 

Podgy

All-Conference
Oct 1, 2022
3,583
4,092
113
Well 80% of the country thinks college baseball doesn’t matter. Obviously it’s important to you, so it skews your thinking.
But why does that matter. I better 80% of the country doesn't care when our football team is on TV. I don't really care whether 80% of the country enjoys the things I do.
 

POTUS

Heisman
Sep 29, 2022
3,905
10,327
113
Baseball means something to us. Still a huge gap between football and men’s basketball and baseball, but we get a return out of having a good product at dudy noble.
And we are only hurting ourselves by acting like it matters. A men’s final four or a football playoff appearance is worth more than 10 CWS appearances. Our fans don’t want to hear that, but it’s true. And we’ve snuck by while some of our conference mates have ignored baseball. That’s no longer the case. Makes spending smartly more important.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,841
26,242
113
WBB is the third most popular college sport. I assume you’d want to allocate that money to baseball, which 80% of the country doesn’t give a schitt about.
More like 90%, but we're part of the 10-20%, so I'm not sure it's relevant what the Big 10 thinks.
 

johnson86-1

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2012
14,334
4,838
113
And we are only hurting ourselves by acting like it matters. A men’s final four or a football playoff appearance is worth more than 10 CWS appearances. Our fans don’t want to hear that, but it’s true. And we’ve snuck by while some of our conference mates have ignored baseball. That’s no longer the case. Makes spending smartly more important.
If we could get a final 4 or college playoff spot by reducing spending in baseball, then that would matter. But the money we could carve out of baseball won’t really move the needle that much. We’re better off having a good baseball product so we have people coming to campus in the spring.
 

TaleofTwoDogs

All-Conference
Jun 1, 2004
4,087
1,828
113
So why do over 300 NCAA schools play division 1 baseball. Did they all miss the memo that said 80 - 90% of the fan base couldn't care less. Maybe all 300 ADs are just stupid.
 

MStateDawg

All-Conference
Aug 3, 2021
785
1,199
93
More like 90%, but we're part of the 10-20%, so I'm not sure it's relevant what the Big 10 thinks.
It's completely irrelevant what other schools think. The Athletic Director works for the fanbase. He may report to the President, but he works for the fanbase. If he doesn't deliver results that make the fanbase happy, he'll be looking for a job. Our fanbase absolutely has more of an appetite for successful baseball over successful women's basketball. Whether or not the fanbase at Ohio State, Michigan, etc cares about baseball is completely irrelevant.

Football and Men's basketball make the money. Beyond investing in those, you invest in your fanbase's desired priorities.
 

TheBannerM

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2024
1,086
1,562
113
Look at Georgia. They have the worst men's and women's basketball programs in the SEC, and it doesn't seem to bother the fans.
 

mstateglfr

All-American
Feb 24, 2008
15,992
5,831
113
Look at Georgia. They have the worst men's and women's basketball programs in the SEC, and it doesn't seem to bother the fans.
Have you not looked at the standings? They could obviously change, but UGA isnt close to the worst in MBB right now.
 

mstateglfr

All-American
Feb 24, 2008
15,992
5,831
113
Shut your ***** mouth.
So you would rather win nattys with women’s basketball vs bulldog baseball??
I would absolutely take winning 3 WBB titles in 5 years over winning 3 Baseball titles in 5 years.
17 yes.
That will be chosen 10 times out of 10.
 

mstateglfr

All-American
Feb 24, 2008
15,992
5,831
113
So why do over 300 NCAA schools play division 1 baseball. Did they all miss the memo that said 80 - 90% of the fan base couldn't care less. Maybe all 300 ADs are just stupid.
Universities participate in a ton of sports that most of their fanbase dont care about.

I would love to see a poll of SPS that captures an honest assessment of how many posters have gone to an MSU track and field meet in the last year. Or how many can name current(or former) Cross Country runners.
And thats just MSU, where barely any sports actually exist. God forbid we look at schools with a lot of Olympic sports.


College athletics shouldnt exist based only on whether or not fans care about the sport.
 
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johnson86-1

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2012
14,334
4,838
113
I would absolutely take winning 3 WBB titles in 5 years over winning 3 Baseball titles in 5 years.
17 yes.
That will be chosen 10 times out of 10.
That is just wild to me. That's almost as wild as somebody wanting a baseball championship over a football or men's basketball one. I know there's not much logic to being a fan, but still can't wrap my head around it.
 

Maroon13

All-Conference
Sep 29, 2022
3,610
3,697
113
If I was AD, I would hire me to be WBB HC.

I would recruit Sweden, Denmark and the midwestern US. Assemble the tallest best looking blondes in all the world and up tickets prices.
 
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mstateglfr

All-American
Feb 24, 2008
15,992
5,831
113
That is just wild to me. That's almost as wild as somebody wanting a baseball championship over a football or men's basketball one. I know there's not much logic to being a fan, but still can't wrap my head around it.
Fair enough. I mean, we are basically debating which secondary sport is 'best' or 'most important'. In the end, its still a distant secondary sport to Football and Men's Basketball.
I just think 3 Women's Basketball titles in 5 years would have more of an impact engagement with the university from fans and media than 3 CWS titles in 5 years.

But this is really like debating who was better- Karl Malone or Hakeem Olajuwon.
Incredible players, legitimate solid debate that could be had based on metrics, but in the ends its a debate about which player was better even though both are not even close to being in a conversation for who is the best player of all time.
 
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Dec 2, 2021
184
224
43
I hear the argument that WBB loses money and am not debating that fact. What I am curious about is how much we get from SEC network for WBB. In other words, how much (if any) less money would we get if WBB was cut? Is that Check considered in the “loses $4 million/year” arguement? Seems like it should be if we are reaping TV revenue from it.

Same question can be posed for the other sports. I really just don’t know how much the TV revenue breaks down for each sport.