UNC Charlotte 49ers football gets final OK

[waggy]

This is 2-3 weeks old, but don't recall seeing it discussed anywhere.

“We’ve done it,” Director of Athletics Judy Rose said in a press release. “To think that what was started way back with the initial feasibility study — and even before that with the grassroots movement — has now received the final go-ahead. It’s extremely satisfying. This has not been an easy process, but nothing worthwhile ever is. There are no more ifs, no more votes, no more approvals. We will play football in 2013. It’s a done deal.”

The university has raised more than $5.8 million with the sale of 3,200 seat licenses and capital gifts.

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2010/08/02/daily12.html?s=industry&i=sports_business

[SixFig]

Anyone who thinks Charlotte will still be in the A-10 by 2018 is nuts.

[wkrq59]

That's eight years away. Right now, they have to get their basketball program back to where it used to be before it went south.
:logo::shield:

[GoMuskies]

Richmond, Fordham, UMass, Temple, URI and Dayton all have football teams, too. I wouldn't be so sure Charlotte is going anywhere. I know they've got big dreams, but they're facing extremely long odds of ever getting their football program to a point where they would need to leave the A-10.

[xavierj]

I guess Charlotte just wanted to bleed cash. Very few teams make money with football. Just ask UC. They have a good football team but lose their asses.

[moepvc04]

UC doesn't lose money off of their football team I promise you that. They lose money because of title 9, only having a 36,000 seat stadium, and spending millions of dollars on state of the art athletic facilities. It really doesn't help either that they have the second best college basketball program in the city and can hardly fill up half of their arena.

[Benxman]

Congratulations UNC Charlotte! That is a nice accomplishment.
Whether they grow that program to Big 6 levels or not, they have at least started. Breaking inertia is half the battle. Charlotte is a big enough university and city to support both a basketball and a football program. The key is whether the populace is willing to support it or not.
I don't see that as a threat to X. We are a small university in a small to medium urban market. I think UC and Charlotte are more comperable than Charlotte and XU.
More power to them. I hope they succeed.
GO MUSKIES!
:logo:

[waggy]

This is about a month old, but..

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/queen_city_agenda/2010/09/sales_slow_as_stadium_plans_unveiled.html

[GuyFawkes38]

Outside of ND, is there a middle sized school that's consistently successful in football.

There seems to be correlation between school size and football success. You need a very large, passionate alumni base to be a profitable and winning program.

[GoMuskies]

How big is Boise State?

[GuyFawkes38]

How big is Boise State?

19,000. So I guess it is sort of middle sized.

But looking at the top programs (OSU, Texas, USC, PSU etc...) those are exceptionally large schools even for public institutions.

And I can't think of any moderately successfull football programs with under 15,000 students.

Edit: I guess UNC charlotte is also 19,000.

[GoMuskies]

Syracuse has been a football power for years. Obviously they've struggled of late. Miami(FL) is right around the 15,000 range as well. Boston College has been pretty good and is less than 15,000.

[GuyFawkes38]

Syracuse has been a football power for years. Obviously they've struggled of late. Miami(FL) is right around the 15,000 range as well. Boston College has been pretty good and is less than 15,000.

yeah, I guess there are some examples of 15,000 student universities that have been successful. And UNC Charlotte is 19,000. Still, it's an uphill battle.

[waggy]

I'll be long dead and gone before Charlotte has any cache of football tradition or history. The Carolinas in general haven't exactly been worldbeaters on the gridiron either. Probably because of so much competition. There are very few schools that are powerhouses in both sports.

[X-band '01]

They've never been consistently good in the Carolinas, but they have had some success over the past couple of decades - Duke was good for the 30 seconds that Steve Spurrier coached them, Mack Brown had Carolina in the Top 15 for a couple of years in the mid-to-late 90s, NC State was good when they had guys like Torry Holt, Philip Rivers, and Mario Williams on their team, and even Wake somehow managed an Orange Bowl bid a couple of seasons ago.

Charlotte is an untapped market for the most part in terms of college football. I suppose they could always play downtown at Bank of America Stadium if they don't build a stadium on campus.

Bill Curry (a former coach at Kentucky and Alabama) is coaching Georgia State in their first year of I-AA competition; I wonder if Charlotte could command a similar name once they get going.

[Xman95]

With news of their new football team, will it be long before Charlotte gets a basketball program?

[ballyhoohoo]

UC doesn't lose money off of their football team I promise you that. They lose money because of title 9, only having a 36,000 seat stadium, and spending millions of dollars on state of the art athletic facilities. It really doesn't help either that they have the second best college basketball program in the city and can hardly fill up half of their arena.

Title nine has no bearing on if UC Football is proitable. It does have bearing on if UC Atheltics is profitable. If you look at Football as its own profit center, much like P&G would look at a sub brand Football still looses money. With only 36,000 tickets to sell a game and the expenses connected with the coaches, scholerships, insurance, travel, and univeristy support fees then UC football (like all all others except OSU, ND, USC, and other blue blood programs) loses money. Yes football generates ad revenue and corporate sponsers, but that is money that goes into over all athletic coffers. As it's own P&L UC Football does not make money. Womens athletics do not affect the bottom line of UC football.

Data Base shows UC lost $1.8mm on football last year (http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/expense_stat/show?school_id=82)

[Flyer1407]

Boise State and Syracuse are also THE football schools in their states, so not having a huge student enrollment is not a big problem. Unless you want to root for Idaho or Army you are stuck with those 2 schools.

[rworkman09]

yeah, I guess there are some examples of 15,000 student universities that have been successful. And UNC Charlotte is 19,000. Still, it's an uphill battle.

We have 25,000 this fall.

We have 80,000 alumni.

We will have over 35,000 students in a decade.

It will still be an uphill battle no doubt, but at least we are in an attractive market.
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