Pigskin Wishes Should Come True (BU Scout)

[Lurking Dog]

Published: October 06, 2006

Pigskin wishes should come true

BY ADAM METTRICK

The college football season is in full swing on campuses across the country.

It???‚¬?„?s not on Bradley???‚¬?„?s campus, though. Here the only place people throw the pigskin around is on the quad. Bradley hasn???‚¬?„?t fielded a football team since 1970.

The lack of a football team has left a void in the fabric of this school. Come Homecoming Week, instead of the traditional football game most schools enjoy, Bradley celebrates with a soccer game. Soccer is a wonderful sport, but it???‚¬?„?s just not homecoming material.

Having homecoming without football is like having Thanksgiving without turkey. Sure, you can do it, but it???‚¬?„?s just not right.

Football is an important part of the college experience. No other sport brings out more school spirit in students. No other sport generates more excitement. Football creates a sense of community and camaraderie no other sport can compare to.

There???‚¬?„?s simply no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon in the fall than watching your school???‚¬?„?s football team walk onto the gridiron and crush its opponent. Unfortunately, Bradley students can???‚¬?„?t do that.

It???‚¬?„?s time to bring football back to the hilltop.

The administration will likely laugh at this suggestion. They???‚¬?„?ll list a few reasons why it can???‚¬?„?t be done and say it???‚¬?„?s simply not feasible. The idea will probably never be taken into serious consideration.

The biggest excuse will be the cost. Administration members will say there???‚¬?„?s no way Bradley can afford to field a football team. While starting and maintaining a football program is an expensive venture, it isn???‚¬?„?t an unrealistic one.

Hundreds of schools smaller than Bradley support football teams. If Eureka College, a school of only 520 students, can afford to field a team, so can Bradley. There are also a number of schools, many comparable in size, that have started football programs in recent years.

Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C., is an excellent example.

Campbell, a school similar in enrollment and tuition, will begin fielding an NCAA Div. I-AA non-scholarship football program in 2008 after more than 50 years without a team.

According to Campbell???‚¬?„?s official athletics Web site, www.gocamels.com, the school has established a plan that will allow its football program to be financially self-sustaining in three years.

Campbell???‚¬?„?s plan calls for start-up costs somewhere in the range of $5 million. Those funds will cover facilities, offices, equipment and other supplies. I see no reason why Bradley couldn???‚¬?„?t raise the money.

I???‚¬?„?m sure there are plenty alumni who would love to see football back at Bradley. Donations to bring back football should come rolling in.

Bradley even has one prominent alumnus with strong football ties. Who better to help bring football back to campus than Bradley???‚¬?„?s lone NFL player? I???‚¬?„?m looking at you, Marcus Pollard.

Bradley already has a $90 million expansion plan in place. It wouldn???‚¬?„?t be hard to simply add a football program into those plans.

In the long run, football would actually benefit Bradley???‚¬?„?s finances. No other sport is more profitable.

Campbell???‚¬?„?s plan shows that with some research and careful planning, the financial aspect of starting a football program shouldn???‚¬?„?t be an obstacle. Money is the main reason cited for Bradley???‚¬?„?s lack of football, but it???‚¬?„?s not the only one. Another big issue is the lack of a place to play.

Funds for a new field are already accounted for in the start-up costs mentioned earlier, but space could be a problem. There???‚¬?„?s no obvious site to build a football field, but there are options.

The first and simplest option would be to renovate Shea Stadium to allow for both soccer and football. Bradley could also consider buying more land south of campus or building a field in Bradley Park. I???‚¬?„?ll admit that none of these options are particularly appealing, but they???‚¬?„?re possibilities. Some might also question whether a football team would draw the necessary support to succeed. However, that should be of no concern.

Students routinely express their wish for Bradley to field a football team and would likely come out in droves to support them. The always high sales of the ???‚¬?“Bradley Football: Still Undefeated???‚¬?? T-shirt demonstrate that.

Support from the community shouldn???‚¬?„?t present a problem either. The Peoria area has proven its love for football for years. Local high schools have consistently high turnouts for games. Many of those fans would likely support Bradley as well.

This school has been without football far too long. It???‚¬?„?s time to bring it back. Just think, having a football team would finally make our fight song relevant again.

http://buscout.com/ver5/sportsarticle.php?ID=205&date=2006-10-06

[Fetz86]

too bad Adam has no credibility

Starting up football would cost too much money. We dont have a place to play. Although non-scholarship football wouldnt be nearly as expensive and we wouldnt have to create scholarships for girls (and/or get rid of existing mens scholarships) its not nearly as competitive. Take Drake for example, how competitive are they on the field most of the time? While they have a good record, they dont even play in the same conference as the rest of the MVC schools, and when they played Northern Iowa they got blown away. Student support for football wouldnt not be significantly higher than it is for basketball, which is low. Pointing to the fact that they sell joke t-shirts well doesnt mean that the kids would be willing to go fill the stands. And there is no way you can justify that because people show strong support for local high schools that they will just instantly become Bradley fans if a team was brought back. Thats akin to saying Bears fans would support the Cardinals if they were brought back.
Football is not coming back, it costs too much to be competitive, and there is no point having a team that cant win, college football has enough punching bags like temple, buffalo, and the directional michigans. Look at some of the top MVC programs for basketball, does WSU or CU have football, no, and they are the better for it, same as us.
besides with no football on campus, we can stay in our nice warm dorms and watch multiple games at once on tv.

[Da Coach]

Bradley already has a $90 million expansion plan in place. It wouldn???‚¬?„?t be hard to simply add a football program into those plans.
In the long run, football would actually benefit Bradley???‚¬?„?s finances. No other sport is more profitable.

Starting a football team could cost more than the entire expansion plan already in place. And there is no way it could ever turn a profit. That's why Bradley dropped the sport in 1970. No one cared then for football, and no one would care now if they brought it back.

The Peoria area has proven its love for football for years. Local high schools have consistently high turnouts for games. Many of those fans would likely support Bradley as well.

Are you serious? This would never happen. The community didn't support Bradley football prior to 1970 when it was here, and they wouldn't support it now. Has anyone checked to see how many community fans show up for Eureka football, or Drake's football games? And the few students (who also did not support the team when it was here) that might attend games would want to get in free.

Bradley could also consider buying more land south of campus or building a field in Bradley Park.

Not a possibility. Didn't this writer see what Bradley had to pay for the properties to the west of the campus? The latest were $500,000 each and more. And the properties to the south include many that are far more valuable and some that have historic value. And Bradley Park is not an option. Bradley University does not own the park, it belongs to the city and Park District. And there isn't enough flat land anywhere in that park for a football field and all the parking, etc that would be required.

And there is one factor never mentioned that will make it a certainty that Bradley will never bring back football--- Title IX.
Even if Bradley can overcome the prohibitive costs of fielding a football team, the impossible costs of scholarships, travel, housing, equipment, training facilities, and staff, perhaps the bigger cost would be the government mandated equal number of sports and scholarships for women that Bradley could not afford to comply with.

Students routinely express their wish for Bradley to field a football team and would likely come out in droves to support them. The always high sales of the ???‚¬?“Bradley Football: Still Undefeated???‚¬?? T-shirt demonstrate that.

By the way, I have seen college kids wearing Tee shirts that say "Vote for Pedro". Maybe those who are promoting the return of football should try to get Pedro elected instead.

[tornado]

Football is not coming back, it costs too much to be competitive.

and any effort to build a football program would soon lead to whining and complaing from various sources that BU isn't funnelling as much effort and $$ as they do for basketball.

Bingo--then you'd see the PC movement trying to steal funding for the various basketball projects and channelling the dough into a bottom feeder football program.

Nope, I don't want to see BU FB, and I want basketball to reign supreme.

[BradleyBrave]

Fantastic article that I agree with wholeheartedly. The Pioneer Football League would be a perfect place for BU to re-establish itself on the gridirion. There's no reason Butler, Drake, and Valparaiso can have football and BU can't.

http://www.pioneer-football.org/

BU could always play at Peoria Stadium. There is plenty of room to park and tailgate, and a few dollars pumped into the place could make it a perfect little home for BU Football, and a great place to feature marquee local high school games.

[BradleyBrave]

Bradley already has a $90 million expansion plan in place. It wouldn???‚¬?„?t be hard to simply add a football program into those plans.
In the long run, football would actually benefit Bradley???‚¬?„?s finances. No other sport is more profitable.

Starting a football team could cost more than the entire expansion plan already in place. And there is no way it could ever turn a profit. That's why Bradley dropped the sport in 1970. No one cared then for football, and no one would care now if they brought it back.

The Peoria area has proven its love for football for years. Local high schools have consistently high turnouts for games. Many of those fans would likely support Bradley as well.

Are you serious? This would never happen. The community didn't support Bradley football prior to 1970 when it was here, and they wouldn't support it now. Has anyone checked to see how many community fans show up for Eureka football, or Drake's football games? And the few students (who also did not support the team when it was here) that might attend games would want to get in free.

Bradley could also consider buying more land south of campus or building a field in Bradley Park.

Not a possibility. Didn't this writer see what Bradley had to pay for the properties to the west of the campus? The latest were $500,000 each and more. And the properties to the south include many that are far more valuable and some that have historic value. And Bradley Park is not an option. Bradley University does not own the park, it belongs to the city and Park District. And there isn't enough flat land anywhere in that park for a football field and all the parking, etc that would be required.

And there is one factor never mentioned that will make it a certainty that Bradley will never bring back football--- Title IX.
Even if Bradley can overcome the prohibitive costs of fielding a football team, the impossible costs of scholarships, travel, housing, equipment, training facilities, and staff, perhaps the bigger cost would be the government mandated equal number of sports and scholarships for women that Bradley could not afford to comply with.

Students routinely express their wish for Bradley to field a football team and would likely come out in droves to support them. The always high sales of the ???‚¬?“Bradley Football: Still Undefeated???‚¬?? T-shirt demonstrate that.

By the way, I have seen college kids wearing Tee shirts that say "Vote for Pedro". Maybe those who are promoting the return of football should try to get Pedro elected instead.

Seems like people are taking this article a little personally.

I think the underlying point of the article is that Homecoming and Soccer don't go together, regardless of how good the soccer team might be. If basketball is our marquee sport and top revenue sport, then Homecoming should be highlighted with a basketball game, not a scrimmage and a soccer game.

[Lurking Dog]

Bradley Brave,

Do you have an old Brave logo with him carrying a football? Gotta post that one!

--------------------------------------

Unofficial PFL Page:

https://www.geocities.com/lurkingd/

[amettrick]

hey guys, its great to see so much response to my column, be it positive or negative. the goal of a column is to make people think and discuss, so i'm very happy to see that happening. i don't mind if you completely disagree with me or think i'm stupid. everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

anyway, i just wanted to point out a couple of things about my column.

the column was intended mostly to just express my own personal desire to see football back at bradley and explore the possibilities of it happening. i fully understand that it is an expensive and complicated venture and that it probably won't happen.

da coach mentioned:

Starting a football team could cost more than the entire expansion plan already in place. And there is no way it could ever turn a profit. That's why Bradley dropped the sport in 1970. No one cared then for football, and no one would care now if they brought it back.

i suggested that bradley start a non-scholarship team that could compete in the pioneer league with the other ncaa div. 1-aa non-scholarship teams. starting a team of this type costs, at most $10 million. as i noted in my column. campbell university, a school that is very similar to bradley, is starting a program for the 2008 season that will cost them about $5 million. staring a scholarship football team is more expensive, but even that would not come close to exceeding the $90 million range. we aren't talking about building $100 million stadiums here. also, almost every school that fields an ncaa football team turns a profit. football is by far the most profitable sport in america. this wasn't the cast in 1970. it's 36 years later, things are a lot different now. it's difficult for a football program not to turn a profit these days.

The community didn't support Bradley football prior to 1970 when it was here, and they wouldn't support it now. Has anyone checked to see how many community fans show up for Eureka football, or Drake's football games? And the few students (who also did not support the team when it was here) that might attend games would want to get in free.

the community didn't support bradley football back in the day, but football wasn't nearly as popular in 1970 as it is now. it's impossible to prove that fans would come out to support the team, but it's also impossible to prove your claim that they would not. as far as attendence for drake, eureka and those other schools are concerned, thier average attendence for 2005 home games are as follows:

eureka - 662
butler - 1498
valpo - 1649
drake - 2344

now these might not be great numbers, but its not like these schools are drawing just a couple hundred fans. these schools are also in markets that are either a) considerably smaller than peoria or b) in competition for fan support with much larger schools. the lowest average attendance in div. 1-aa is st. francis (pa.) at 1149. bradley is in a large market with no competition for fans in an area that loves football. there is no reason bradley can't atleast match drake's 2344 per home games, if not surpass it. as far as wanting to get in free is concerned, everyone wants things for free, but they'll still pay to come watch the games. they pay to watch basketball don't they?

Even if Bradley can overcome the prohibitive costs of fielding a football team, the impossible costs of scholarships, travel, housing, equipment, training facilities, and staff, perhaps the bigger cost would be the government mandated equal number of sports and scholarships for women that Bradley could not afford to comply with.

like i said, we're talking non-scholarship football here, so this won't be a problem. you're also over-estimating the cost of those other things.

anyway, the point i was trying to make was simply that it'd be great to see football back at bradley. it is obviously not an easy thing to do, but it is also not as unrealistic as people think it is. a little research reveals that while it isn't easy, it is most definitely possible.

[Da Coach]

You make an interesting argument. I would actually be a strong supporter if Bradley ever decided to field a football team. But I don't think there would be enough of us.

Also, I challenge the statement that nearly all Div IA and 1 AA schools make money with football. It's just not true. Schools that average 1000-2000 can't possibly make money. Where does it come from? There is no TV money, there is no significant bowl money to distribute, and the amount of revenue generated by those paltry crowds couldn't support the cost of travel alone for each visiting team.

Here is an article with some statistic that are different from those you gave--

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS01/602260330

According to a study by the NCAA, the portion of Division I-A schools showing a profit increased from 35 to 40 percent from 2001 to 2003, while their average profit declined slightly.
Meanwhile, the average deficit for the remaining colleges rose from $3.8 million to $4.4 million.
Also consider that the average operating expense for a Division I-A program is $27.2 million, while it is $7.5 million on average for I-AA teams.

No matter how you figure it, the $7.5 million needed to compete at an average 1AA school would require at least 20,000 average attendance.

Now I realize you are talking about an even lower level of play, with no scholarships. Some schools in the Pioneer league have started up football teams for around $1 million, but it would still require several thousand fans a game to come close to breaking even. And I don't think there are many fans at Bradley who want a football program like the one at Drake.

And there would still be Title IX issues to deal with. Title IX does not just deal with equal number of scholarships. It also requires equal opportunity for women athletes. I am no expert in the law, but Missouri State just settled a lawsuit when they tried to eliminate 4 men's sports and 1 women's sport (women's tennis) because they were losing way too much money (their football program also loses a lot of money). Even though they eliminated many more men athletes than women, the women still sued and were awarded large settlements.

http://www.news.missouristate.edu/releases/23146.htm

[amettrick]

that's an interesting article and i had not seen that before. thanks for posting that though. i had some trouble finding actual figures for football revenues since it appears most schools don't release those figures publicly. i had read that a majority of schools turn a profit on football, but i have to assume that the ncaa's study is accurate. i still believe, if given the chance, that bradley could draw enough support to at least break even. unfortunately, we'll probably never find out.

i'm not too familiar with the specifics of title ix, but if it is just a case of having to offer an equal number of opportunities for men and women to compete, then bradley should be fine. we already offer 7 women's sports to only 6 for men. if we still had to add another women's sport, maybe women's soccer would be an option.

also, i forgot to mention this earlier, but i really like bradleybrave's idea of making the homecoming game a basketball game. it has always bothered me that homecoming just isn't the big event at bradley that it could and should be. soccer is a lot of fun to watch and bradley has a pretty good team, but it just doesn't generate the necessary excitment for homecoming. the lame western theme for this year isn't going to help either. haha.

[squeaky]

also, i forgot to mention this earlier, but i really like bradleybrave's idea of making the homecoming game a basketball game. it has always bothered me that homecoming just isn't the big event at bradley that it could and should be. soccer is a lot of fun to watch and bradley has a pretty good team, but it just doesn't generate the necessary excitment for homecoming. the lame western theme for this year isn't going to help either. haha

.

For many years, Bradley did hold homecoming in February around a conference basketball game. I remember getting tickets through the alumni office for the games, and returning to campus for activities in the middle of winter. That was probably part of the reason they changed it. It was just a bad time to have homecoming when the weather was so bad.

[Lurking Dog]

Annual expenses for teams in the Pioneer Football League are close to the $626,000 Drake reported to the OPE. Anything you spend to prepare a stadium or comply with Title IX would be extra.

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/Search.asp

Regarding Drake's attendance: remember, they played at high schools last year while Drake Stadium was being renovated. This year, they drew over 10,000 for the season opener and expect similar numbers for Saturday's game against San Diego.

[thefish7]

I'm no expert on the finances of running a college football program... I don't understand the costs, and I don't understand the revenue necessarily-- though I think it's simplistic to base all income on ticket sales, as contributions from alumni have to be at least as important, as well as residual sales at the games and advertising.

I don't really care about any of those things, ultimately. I'd love to see Bradley football. It was one of the few things that detracted from my Bradley experience was football. I'm a soccer fan and I liked going to games... but it just isn't football.

We have a facility at Shea that would be easily adaptable to football, and a scholarship free program to start would be a low risk way to go about it. I, for one, would buy season tickets as I'm sure I can find the time to attend six football games.

It wouldn't detract from my fandom of Bradley basketball, but it would allow me to enjoy college football (since I never have a team I really root for now, as I'm a Bradley man). I say, go for it, by all means. Given years and interest we could convert to a scholarship program and up the level a bit, but no need to start there.

EDIT - Shea Stadium only seats 1700 now, so that may be a problem. No idea how many Peoria Stadium seats (don't think it would be much more than Shea, 3000..?)