The Goat Pen

crashcourse wrote:division 1 schools number about what--120 that play football--wonder how many lose money. doubtful any of the 6 power conferences lose anything.

conference USA football would seemingly be a money maker as a whole--is UAB the only team hemorrhaging in that conference?

I have no idea about other schools.

UAB Athletics was losing $20 million a year, no one came to the games even though there are tons of free tickets available, and the students didn't want to pay an activities fee to help support it. The biggest purchaser of UAB tickets is the City of Bham, who had trouble giving them away, too. As faculty, I would regularly get free tix.

No one cares. Maybe that'll change. I dunno. After they announced "the return of UAB football" the celebration parade had about 15 folks in it. There's video of it, if you want to look for it. It's very sad.

Because of this lack of following, there is no real exposure or huge upside that makes the cash drain worthwhile.

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I bet hot dogs are cheap at those games

Hot dogs are free at many games.


This was the "good" crowd after the rumor that the program was gonna be shut down. They also gave every faculty and staff member of the university 4 free tickets. Which, if half had used, the stadium would have been packed.



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do they host any other games there - like a Senior Bowl?

There is a Birmingham Bowl. (Been called several things over the years, Hall of Fame, BBVA Compas, Papa Johns, etc)

Alabama A&am and Alabama State (Div 1AA) play there every year, too. A game called The Classic.


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eCat wrote:

Exactly. I laughed

I think AA is nervous because UAB just flipped The Nick the bird.

actually I'm glad I know how to do it.

There have been several twitter posts I wanted to put up here over the past year or so

[tweet]581465112340463616[/tweet]

I still don't do twitter. I have an account that I might check every month or so but I never got into it. Instagram and FB are about my extent. And instagram is basically looking at pics. I don't post there either.

It's amazing that AA continues ignoring the point that Alabama wanting Jimbo Fisher as an offensive coordinator played a role in the Board decision. Building a program and you can get Fisher, a person of that caliber, yet, undermined by a Board that has other priorities than that program.

it's not a point that I believe is factual, Spacer. I do not believe the Board colluded with a newly hired Saban to "steal" Jimbo.

The fact is, if the UAB boosters had come up with the money they had pledged, Jimbo would have been named head coach. They did not. Part of the reason was because UAB's big money donor, Richard Scrushy, had just been sentenced to prison a few months before this went down. And when the other pledges went unfulfilled, the BoT had no choice but to nix the deal.

Very few people care about UAB football. That includes students, faculty, and the people of this area. Maybe that'll change. I dunno. I doubt it.

Nick should run for Governor

Nick can't Politick. Would be a bad fit.

AlabamAlum wrote:it's not a point that I believe is factual, Spacer. I do not believe the Board colluded with a newly hired Saban to "steal" Jimbo.

The fact is, if the UAB boosters had come up with the money they had pledged, Jimbo would have been named head coach. They did not. Part of the reason was because UAB's big money donor, Richard Scrushy, had just been sentenced to prison a few months before this went down. And when the other pledges went unfulfilled, the BoT had no choice but to nix the deal.

Very few people care about UAB football. That includes students, faculty, and the people of this area. Maybe that'll change. I dunno. I doubt it.

Riiggggghht!

From the Article:

The two sides agreed to a deal worth $600,000 a year with half the money to come from UAB boosters. UAB was about to send a plane to Baton Rouge to bring Fisher back to be introduced when the Alabama trustees threw up a stop sign.

They said they wouldn't approve the contract, citing the need for fiscal responsibility. UAB officials suspected another motive: Keeping Fisher available as an offensive coordinator candidate for Saban at Alabama.

Doesn't sound as if they gave any chance for anybody to come up with the money. Self-serving for the board and for Tide supporters.

AlabamAlum wrote:[img2]http://www.thewizofodds.com/.a/6a00e553 ... 970b-500wi[/img2]

Need to bring back Cliff Stoudt and the Stallions.

Owlman wrote:

AlabamAlum wrote:it's not a point that I believe is factual, Spacer. I do not believe the Board colluded with a newly hired Saban to "steal" Jimbo.

The fact is, if the UAB boosters had come up with the money they had pledged, Jimbo would have been named head coach. They did not. Part of the reason was because UAB's big money donor, Richard Scrushy, had just been sentenced to prison a few months before this went down. And when the other pledges went unfulfilled, the BoT had no choice but to nix the deal.

Very few people care about UAB football. That includes students, faculty, and the people of this area. Maybe that'll change. I dunno. I doubt it.

Riiggggghht!

From the Article:

The two sides agreed to a deal worth $600,000 a year with half the money to come from UAB boosters. UAB was about to send a plane to Baton Rouge to bring Fisher back to be introduced when the Alabama trustees threw up a stop sign.

They said they wouldn't approve the contract, citing the need for fiscal responsibility. UAB officials suspected another motive: Keeping Fisher available as an offensive coordinator candidate for Saban at Alabama.

Doesn't sound as if they gave any chance for anybody to come up with the money. Self-serving for the board and for Tide supporters.

The article supports my statement. Thanks for that. And they did give the boosters time. The boosters had been trying to raise money since before Watson was actually fired, since he said he wouldn't be back. They had Scrushy and lint in their pockets. When Scrushy went to jail, and had his assets seized, they were left with nothing. But yeah, they wanted to hire him before they had the money. The Board wisely said that they couldn't ink the deal until the $1.5 million was raised. And Jimbo wouldn't wait.

In the end, you can believe me or not. It doesn't matter. I would assume, as an alumnus and a faculty member, with a few connections, I probably have a better idea of what actually went on, but who knows? Maybe you're right. It was all an evil plan to put a boot to the head of the UAB program! If so, it was a mercy killing. And mark my words, the verbal pledges of cash they have to bring the program back won't pan out either.