IU Athletics Department Budget Plan

Glad to see IU is treating its sports as a business. We all know how Businesses always take care of their consumers. This article says a lot about the state of affairs in Bloomington today.

Athletics changes approved - IDSnews.com

The skinny:

The budget plan sets out to eliminate the athletics department's $6 million budget deficit by 2008 and allows the department to operate without the $30 student athletics fee. The plan also cuts 500 student basketball seats in Assembly Hall, which will be given to donors, and raises the price of student basketball tickets by $4 per game.

Be sure to read the whole article... but this following paragraph says it all.

Increased revenue from the football program is another component of the plan. Reilly said the revival of the Hoosiers is one factor that can determine the success of the plan. He added that while a good basketball program could take in only $3 million in revenue, a football program, similar to the University of Michigan, can make nearly $40 million.

Hmmm... a good basketball program could take in only $3 million in revenue... is that all that IU is now striving for? I wonder what that GREAT basketball program under RMK would bring in per year? $10 - 15 million? I'd say it was a bit higher than $3 million. But let's take this $3 million number. If Davis made $1.2 million last year, there sure wasn't much of a return on that investment. If $3 million is the high end, then screw basketball, dump Davis and bring in a rookie coach for $200K.

And do they really think that IU football could bring in what Michigan brings in? Let's see IU has 56,000 seats, Michigan has 110,000 seats. So even if IU starts selling out, ticket sales alone could only generate half of Michigan's revenue.

What a mess down in B'Town. Just getting more depressing every day.