Congrats to the Athletic Department at IU... if Adidas is willing to pay for IU to wear their gear... by all means take the money. Anything to get out of the red.
Adidas deal for IU
As long as they keep the Candy Stripes I have no problem with this and it looks like they will:
Warm Ups
Now they need to work on getting Big Screens in Assembly Hall and start tapping the advertising money.
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3 comments:
I agree with adding Adidas and ditching Nike, the Cauldron of Evil Athletic Wear. However, advertising next to a couple of big screens? The Diet Coke-a-tron in Assembly Hall? Aaack! Hey, while we're at it let's sell some green-screen advertising on the backboards for the benefit of the home viewers...:(
Why not? The Athletic Department needs money. They keep raising ticket prices (my bball tix have doubled in price in 5 years)... they keep raising the Varsity Club donation levels... they charge the students a $30 athletic fee. I would rather see advertisements all over Assembly Hall than the AD keep fleecing the alums and the students.
Once they got rid of Knight, they got rid of the cash cow that was the BBall program.
OK, OK, I admit that I mentally exist in a communist utopia where money doesn't matter and everything should be free. :) (Or maybe it's just that I live in the Republic of Bloomington.)
And you're right, the athletic deficit must be addressed, and it's better to address it by advertising than with a $30 fee that further bankrupts the students. It's just that any commercialization of college athletics always raises the hair on the back of my neck, even when justified.
However, there's another more practical concern here. I'd like to see the department's plan to stay solvent in the next few years BEFORE inviting much more revenue in. If advertising was just a badly needed boost for a department willing to change its ways, that would be one thing. But with Mike Davis (hopefully) on the verge of being bought out, legendary men's soccer and golf coaches needing to be replaced (and maybe baseball too, in a few years), plus a hopelessly floundering football program, I think an extra few dollars will IMMEDIATELY burn a huge hole in some administrators' pockets if they aren't careful.
In my mind, the department needs to focus less on window dressing, and focus more on why the house isn't even occupied in the first place. I'm VERY naive, but I just think if we get some coaches with heart, skill, and integrity, people will come. Then if we're still in trouble, slap a Pepsi banner across Jarrod's ass.
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