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Topic:  Russell Contract

Topic:  Russell Contract
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The Optimist
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  Message Not Read  Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 7:08:17 AM 
http://www.thepostathens.com/sports/russell-contract-russ...

The part about incentives was interesting. There is always talk about the bowl game finances. Russell paid us 15k for our bowl appearence this year.

Enjoyed this line:
"Ohio can earn up to $145,000 in cash incentives by becoming national champions in either men’s or women’s basketball, football and baseball in a year. The Bobcats have yet to earn any of those cash incentives."
Lets get it done.

I've seen crazier things happen.

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.
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 9:27:51 AM 
Feel free to skip this. It's a musing.

This kind of language in a contract always sends me on a tangential daydream: if a program like Ohio were to make a run and win, let's say, a men's basketball national title (and we were three wins away in 2012 if we make a free throw), how much money would that be worth? I know gigantic programs can print money once they've won it, but would Ohio have the fanbase size and corporate sponsors to adequately capitalize on something that monumental? Would Columbus businesses suddenly be putting advertising money into OU sports? Would bandwagon become so big suddenly that Ohio would instantly be a gigantic program? Because we have a such a large arena for a MAC school, that helps. I think the student body suddenly becomes pretty fanatical. But would it be sustainable? I guess Butler is the closest comparison, but that's a small university that's in a big city. Florida Gulf Coast is an outlier, in my mind. There was no way for THAT school to capitalize on it. That campus, in that state and what was clearly a weird firecracker program that was never going to maintain a great college basketball program isn't a good comparison to Athens.

Ohio would be an interesting test case to answer my question: Can you flash fry national prominence and could a place like Athens instantly build the mechanisms needed to create an athletics money-printing machine?

Last Edited: 2/5/2016 9:33:28 AM by .
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OrlandoCat
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 11:27:45 AM 
Brian Smith wrote:
Feel free to skip this. It's a musing.

This kind of language in a contract always sends me on a tangential daydream: if a program like Ohio were to make a run and win, let's say, a men's basketball national title (and we were three wins away in 2012 if we make a free throw), how much money would that be worth? I know gigantic programs can print money once they've won it, but would Ohio have the fanbase size and corporate sponsors to adequately capitalize on something that monumental? Would Columbus businesses suddenly be putting advertising money into OU sports? Would bandwagon become so big suddenly that Ohio would instantly be a gigantic program? Because we have a such a large arena for a MAC school, that helps. I think the student body suddenly becomes pretty fanatical. But would it be sustainable? I guess Butler is the closest comparison, but that's a small university that's in a big city. Florida Gulf Coast is an outlier, in my mind. There was no way for THAT school to capitalize on it. That campus, in that state and what was clearly a weird firecracker program that was never going to maintain a great college basketball program isn't a good comparison to Athens.

Ohio would be an interesting test case to answer my question: Can you flash fry national prominence and could a place like Athens instantly build the mechanisms needed to create an athletics money-printing machine?


How does Gonzaga hold up? No national title, but several deep runs. I don't know if they 'print money,' but they have to be doing well for themselves I'd imagine.

In a different sport, TCU and Utah were able to ride BCS success into better confrences, and more money, but without looking it up, I'm guessing they had more money in the system to begin with - the teams that are more like us (Boise State and NIU) haven't had the same type of success that TCU and Utah had, at least in my eyes.
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.
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 11:30:49 AM 
OrlandoCat wrote:
Brian Smith wrote:
Feel free to skip this. It's a musing.

This kind of language in a contract always sends me on a tangential daydream: if a program like Ohio were to make a run and win, let's say, a men's basketball national title (and we were three wins away in 2012 if we make a free throw), how much money would that be worth? I know gigantic programs can print money once they've won it, but would Ohio have the fanbase size and corporate sponsors to adequately capitalize on something that monumental? Would Columbus businesses suddenly be putting advertising money into OU sports? Would bandwagon become so big suddenly that Ohio would instantly be a gigantic program? Because we have a such a large arena for a MAC school, that helps. I think the student body suddenly becomes pretty fanatical. But would it be sustainable? I guess Butler is the closest comparison, but that's a small university that's in a big city. Florida Gulf Coast is an outlier, in my mind. There was no way for THAT school to capitalize on it. That campus, in that state and what was clearly a weird firecracker program that was never going to maintain a great college basketball program isn't a good comparison to Athens.

Ohio would be an interesting test case to answer my question: Can you flash fry national prominence and could a place like Athens instantly build the mechanisms needed to create an athletics money-printing machine?


How does Gonzaga hold up? No national title, but several deep runs. I don't know if they 'print money,' but they have to be doing well for themselves I'd imagine.

In a different sport, TCU and Utah were able to ride BCS success into better confrences, and more money, but without looking it up, I'm guessing they had more money in the system to begin with - the teams that are more like us (Boise State and NIU) haven't had the same type of success that TCU and Utah had, at least in my eyes.


Great point with the Zags. They're probably the equivalent.
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GoCats105
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 12:15:31 PM 
Brian Smith wrote:
OrlandoCat wrote:
Brian Smith wrote:
Feel free to skip this. It's a musing.

This kind of language in a contract always sends me on a tangential daydream: if a program like Ohio were to make a run and win, let's say, a men's basketball national title (and we were three wins away in 2012 if we make a free throw), how much money would that be worth? I know gigantic programs can print money once they've won it, but would Ohio have the fanbase size and corporate sponsors to adequately capitalize on something that monumental? Would Columbus businesses suddenly be putting advertising money into OU sports? Would bandwagon become so big suddenly that Ohio would instantly be a gigantic program? Because we have a such a large arena for a MAC school, that helps. I think the student body suddenly becomes pretty fanatical. But would it be sustainable? I guess Butler is the closest comparison, but that's a small university that's in a big city. Florida Gulf Coast is an outlier, in my mind. There was no way for THAT school to capitalize on it. That campus, in that state and what was clearly a weird firecracker program that was never going to maintain a great college basketball program isn't a good comparison to Athens.

Ohio would be an interesting test case to answer my question: Can you flash fry national prominence and could a place like Athens instantly build the mechanisms needed to create an athletics money-printing machine?


How does Gonzaga hold up? No national title, but several deep runs. I don't know if they 'print money,' but they have to be doing well for themselves I'd imagine.

In a different sport, TCU and Utah were able to ride BCS success into better confrences, and more money, but without looking it up, I'm guessing they had more money in the system to begin with - the teams that are more like us (Boise State and NIU) haven't had the same type of success that TCU and Utah had, at least in my eyes.


Great point with the Zags. They're probably the equivalent.



Gonzaga has a few things going for it that Ohio doesn't:

-Athens is remote, but Spokane is even more remote. It's four hours from Seattle by car according to Google maps. Ohio's proximity to Ohio State kills Ohio. And Spokane is a pretty decent sized city is it not?

-I don't have the figures in front of me, but Gonzaga doesn't have to compete against anywhere near the number of other D1 basketball programs that Ohio does. It's bad enough that you have the rest of the MAC and OSU, but then you sprinkle in UC, Xavier, Dayton, Wright State, Cleveland State, etc and it gets pretty competitive market-wise.

-Just the name Gonzaga or Zags is a distinguishable name to begin with. No one can replicate that. Unfortunately for Ohio, there are some out there that will always think of OSU first. Xavier is capitalizing on this a little bit by using the brand "X" as much as they can. It distinguishes them from the rest of the pack.

I'm trying to think of an even more comparable program to Ohio. I was gonna say VCU? Although I'm not sure how big the city of Richmond is.



Last Edited: 2/5/2016 12:18:12 PM by GoCats105
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BillyTheCat
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 12:25:06 PM 
GoCats105 wrote:
Brian Smith wrote:
OrlandoCat wrote:
Brian Smith wrote:
Feel free to skip this. It's a musing.

This kind of language in a contract always sends me on a tangential daydream: if a program like Ohio were to make a run and win, let's say, a men's basketball national title (and we were three wins away in 2012 if we make a free throw), how much money would that be worth? I know gigantic programs can print money once they've won it, but would Ohio have the fanbase size and corporate sponsors to adequately capitalize on something that monumental? Would Columbus businesses suddenly be putting advertising money into OU sports? Would bandwagon become so big suddenly that Ohio would instantly be a gigantic program? Because we have a such a large arena for a MAC school, that helps. I think the student body suddenly becomes pretty fanatical. But would it be sustainable? I guess Butler is the closest comparison, but that's a small university that's in a big city. Florida Gulf Coast is an outlier, in my mind. There was no way for THAT school to capitalize on it. That campus, in that state and what was clearly a weird firecracker program that was never going to maintain a great college basketball program isn't a good comparison to Athens.

Ohio would be an interesting test case to answer my question: Can you flash fry national prominence and could a place like Athens instantly build the mechanisms needed to create an athletics money-printing machine?


How does Gonzaga hold up? No national title, but several deep runs. I don't know if they 'print money,' but they have to be doing well for themselves I'd imagine.

In a different sport, TCU and Utah were able to ride BCS success into better confrences, and more money, but without looking it up, I'm guessing they had more money in the system to begin with - the teams that are more like us (Boise State and NIU) haven't had the same type of success that TCU and Utah had, at least in my eyes.


Great point with the Zags. They're probably the equivalent.



Gonzaga has a few things going for it that Ohio doesn't:

-Athens is remote, but Spokane is even more remote. It's four hours from Seattle by car according to Google maps. Ohio's proximity to Ohio State kills Ohio. And Spokane is a pretty decent sized city is it not?

-I don't have the figures in front of me, but Gonzaga doesn't have to compete against anywhere near the number of other D1 basketball programs that Ohio does. It's bad enough that you have the rest of the MAC and OSU, but then you sprinkle in UC, Xavier, Dayton, Wright State, Cleveland State, etc and it gets pretty competitive market-wise.

-Just the name Gonzaga or Zags is a distinguishable name to begin with. No one can replicate that. Unfortunately for Ohio, there are some out there that will always think of OSU first. Xavier is capitalizing on this a little bit by using the brand "X" as much as they can. It distinguishes them from the rest of the pack.

I'm trying to think of an even more comparable program to Ohio. I was gonna say VCU? Although I'm not sure how big the city of Richmond is.






And the biggest, No DI Football to take revenue
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Casper71
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 4:48:00 PM 
Which is probably why a guy like Nee recruited NYC (of course he had ties there), Philly, NC and other areas. That brought us Devereaux, Alexander, Hicks, etc. I agree, either FB or BB you just don't have enough really good players to recruit only this state and win big given all the schools in the area.
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Mike Johnson
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 6:40:10 PM 
Casper71 wrote:
Which is probably why a guy like Nee recruited NYC (of course he had ties there), Philly, NC and other areas. That brought us Devereaux, Alexander, Hicks, etc. I agree, either FB or BB you just don't have enough really good players to recruit only this state and win big given all the schools in the area.


Yesterday's Plain Dealer published recruiting classes for OSU, Akron, Kent. Only 4 of OSU's class are from Ohio high schools.

http://www.facebook.com/mikejohnson.author

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BillyTheCat
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 7:06:23 PM 
Mike Johnson wrote:
Casper71 wrote:
Which is probably why a guy like Nee recruited NYC (of course he had ties there), Philly, NC and other areas. That brought us Devereaux, Alexander, Hicks, etc. I agree, either FB or BB you just don't have enough really good players to recruit only this state and win big given all the schools in the area.


Yesterday's Plain Dealer published recruiting classes for OSU, Akron, Kent. Only 4 of OSU's class are from Ohio high schools.



I'm not real sure what your definition of Ohio High Schools are but OSU signed well over 4, more like double that number of Ohio kids

Last Edited: 2/5/2016 7:09:44 PM by BillyTheCat
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catfan28
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 9:14:47 PM 
GoCats105 wrote:


I'm trying to think of an even more comparable program to Ohio. I was gonna say VCU? Although I'm not sure how big the city of Richmond is.





Really?? It's the capital and a huge metro area. More like Columbus or Indy than Athens.

We are unique in that Athens is not just remote, but also the poorest county in the state and one of the poorest in the US. The other poorest counties? They're our neighbors. That means limited disposable income for tickets (which we've conquered somewhat with low price options) and also donations/sponsorship.

On top of that, O$U is just over an hour up the road and has a stranglehold on the entire state. The closest analogy I can think of for us in FBS is App State. Small, remote town in a state with lots of other FBS schools and (in their case) multiple Power 5 schools. But even they have a couple advantages over us: their county is quite a bit wealthier, and the Power 5 schools are hours away.

We truly are in a unique situation. There's positives and negatives to it, but quite a few factors that likely keep us from becoming a powerhouse program.

Last Edited: 2/5/2016 9:15:55 PM by catfan28
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RPO R6V
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 9:22:57 PM 
What blew me away in the article is the contracts the other MAC schools have. I've often wished we would go with a brand like Adidas instead of Russell, but I had no idea schools like Fiami have to PAY Adidas, for instance, while Russell pays us instead.

Last Edited: 2/5/2016 9:23:50 PM by RPO R6V
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OhioCatFan
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 9:51:05 PM 
catfan28 wrote:
. . .

We are unique in that Athens is not just remote, but also the poorest county in the state and one of the poorest in the US. The other poorest counties? They're our neighbors. This means that students who live in college dormitories would not be included. That means limited disposable income for tickets (which we've conquered somewhat with low price options) and also donations/sponsorship.



In discussing poverty in Athens County, it's important to keep the following in mind, from an article in the Athens News in 2013. In bringing this up, I do not mean to dismiss the problem, or to say that more doesn’t need to done to address the issue. This is just put it into proper perspective.


"With a high number of college students at Ohio University and Hocking College, Athens County poverty has traditionally been difficult to gauge precisely, as many students are supported by their parents and/or student loans.

"Community Research Partners, which conducted the study on behalf of the OACAA, said Wednesday that their poverty data from the U.S. Census Bureau includes all people except those living in group quarters such as college dormitories, military group quarters or institutionalized people.

'This means that students who live in college dormitories would not be included in the calculation of poverty data in Athens," the CRP said in an e-mail. "However, students who live in houses and apartments that are independent of a college or university would be treated the same as any other individual in the calculation of poverty for Athens.'"

The full article can be read here: http://tinyurl.com/j78mxl8


The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

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RSBobcat
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 10:14:05 PM 
OhioCatFan wrote:
catfan28 wrote:
. . .

We are unique in that Athens is not just remote, but also the poorest county in the state and one of the poorest in the US. The other poorest counties? They're our neighbors. This means that students who live in college dormitories would not be included. That means limited disposable income for tickets (which we've conquered somewhat with low price options) and also donations/sponsorship.



In discussing poverty in Athens County, it's important to keep the following in mind, from an article in the Athens News in 2013. In bringing this up, I do not mean to dismiss the problem, or to say that more doesn’t need to done to address the issue. This is just put it into proper perspective.


"With a high number of college students at Ohio University and Hocking College, Athens County poverty has traditionally been difficult to gauge precisely, as many students are supported by their parents and/or student loans.

"Community Research Partners, which conducted the study on behalf of the OACAA, said Wednesday that their poverty data from the U.S. Census Bureau includes all people except those living in group quarters such as college dormitories, military group quarters or institutionalized people.

'This means that students who live in college dormitories would not be included in the calculation of poverty data in Athens," the CRP said in an e-mail. "However, students who live in houses and apartments that are independent of a college or university would be treated the same as any other individual in the calculation of poverty for Athens.'"

The full article can be read here: http://tinyurl.com/j78mxl8




OK - then Vinton, Hocking, Meigs, Morgan, Perry........

RS Bobcat

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OhioCatFan
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 10:50:04 PM 
RSBobcat wrote:
OK - then Vinton, Hocking, Meigs, Morgan, Perry........


True, but one of the counties that Athens borders is Washington, which ranks 34th out the 88 Ohio counties; and part of Athens County (Hockingport area) borders one the wealthiest counties in West Virginia. As an aside, I always thought we could do a better job of marketing in the Parkersburg-Marietta SMSA. Anecdotally, I remember at the heyday of Ohio basketball toward the end of the Snyder Era, when we were getting very good and growing attendance, especially for weekend games, I ran into a group of fans who had come over from Marietta. They told me that the had attended most of the games that year, and most of this group were not OHIO graduates. So, I think it's possible to appeal to fans in this nearby area that is significantly wealthier than some of our other surrounding counties.

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

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BillyTheCat
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 11:02:32 PM 
OhioCatFan wrote:
RSBobcat wrote:
OK - then Vinton, Hocking, Meigs, Morgan, Perry........


True, but one of the counties that Athens borders is Washington, which ranks 34th out the 88 Ohio counties; and part of Athens County (Hockingport area) borders one the wealthiest counties in West Virginia. As an aside, I always thought we could do a better job of marketing in the Parkersburg-Marietta SMSA. Anecdotally, I remember at the heyday of Ohio basketball toward the end of the Snyder Era, when we were getting very good and growing attendance, especially for weekend games, I ran into a group of fans who had come over from Marietta. They told me that the had attended most of the games that year, and most of this group were not OHIO graduates. So, I think it's possible to appeal to fans in this nearby area that is significantly wealthier than some of our other surrounding counties.



25 years ago everyone around me were from Marietta, probably 10-12 of them that never missed a game.
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Deciduous Forest Cat
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/5/2016 11:16:02 PM 
The Optimist wrote:
http://www.thepostathens.com/sports/russell-contract-russ...

The part about incentives was interesting. There is always talk about the bowl game finances. Russell paid us 15k for our bowl appearence this year.

Enjoyed this line:
"Ohio can earn up to $145,000 in cash incentives by becoming national champions in either men’s or women’s basketball, football and baseball in a year. The Bobcats have yet to earn any of those cash incentives."
Lets get it done.


What the hell is with The Post? Once again, an article with a completely arbitrary and out-of-place ohio state comparison. Who gives a sh**?

Last Edited: 2/6/2016 12:08:29 PM by Deciduous Forest Cat
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Valley Cat
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/6/2016 8:10:21 AM 
Russell has been tremendous for Ohio. Best deal in the conference. I'm amazed at the gear the sports teams get compared to the Adidas days.
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TWT
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/6/2016 3:40:51 PM 
Brian Smith wrote:
Feel free to skip this. It's a musing.

This kind of language in a contract always sends me on a tangential daydream: if a program like Ohio were to make a run and win, let's say, a men's basketball national title (and we were three wins away in 2012 if we make a free throw), how much money would that be worth? I know gigantic programs can print money once they've won it, but would Ohio have the fanbase size and corporate sponsors to adequately capitalize on something that monumental? Would Columbus businesses suddenly be putting advertising money into OU sports?


There is an increasing OHIO presence in the Columbus market. The number of alumni in the market is increasing. The matriculation agreement with Columbus State. Campuses in Pickerington and Dublin. Companies could get better advertising rates per dollar than adverting through Ohio State. Cincinnati can put dollars into both UC and Xavier athletics. There aren't any other Division 1 schools other than Ohio University near the Columbus market. Athletics needs to work the Columbus market regardless if a national championship is won or not.

Most Memorable Bobcat Events Attended
2010 97-83 win over Georgetown in NCAA 1st round
2012 45-13 victory over ULM in the Independence Bowl
2015 34-3 drubbing of Miami @ Peden front of 25,086

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BillyTheCat
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/6/2016 5:22:55 PM 
Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:
The Optimist wrote:
http://www.thepostathens.com/sports/russell-contract-russ...

The part about incentives was interesting. There is always talk about the bowl game finances. Russell paid us 15k for our bowl appearence this year.

Enjoyed this line:
"Ohio can earn up to $145,000 in cash incentives by becoming national champions in either men’s or women’s basketball, football and baseball in a year. The Bobcats have yet to earn any of those cash incentives."
Lets get it done.


What the hell is with The Post? Once again, an article with a completely arbitrary and out-of-place ohio state comparison. Who gives a sh**?




I have read more poorly written articles these past few months than 20+ years, and I was just noticing the other day there seems to be worthless mentions of OSU in articles that I fail to see the connection.
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OUbobcat9092
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/6/2016 8:05:07 PM 
[/QUOTE]

Great point with the Zags. They're probably the equivalent.

[/QUOTE]

Gonzaga has a few things going for it that Ohio doesn't:

-Athens is remote, but Spokane is even more remote. It's four hours from Seattle by car according to Google maps. Ohio's proximity to Ohio State kills Ohio. And Spokane is a pretty decent sized city is it not?

-I don't have the figures in front of me, but Gonzaga doesn't have to compete against anywhere near the number of other D1 basketball programs that Ohio does. It's bad enough that you have the rest of the MAC and OSU, but then you sprinkle in UC, Xavier, Dayton, Wright State, Cleveland State, etc and it gets pretty competitive market-wise.

-Just the name Gonzaga or Zags is a distinguishable name to begin with. No one can replicate that. Unfortunately for Ohio, there are some out there that will always think of OSU first. Xavier is capitalizing on this a little bit by using the brand "X" as much as they can. It distinguishes them from the rest of the pack.

I'm trying to think of an even more comparable program to Ohio. I was gonna say VCU? Although I'm not sure how big the city of Richmond is.



[/QUOTE]


Gonzaga may be far from Seattle/the civilized world.. but it has several things going for it.

* A town of 100,000+ and growing.
* No other (strong) local competition (EWU is the only comparable school) within an hour and a 1/2
* No football program to dilute resources
* Southwest Airlines flies there!

Bring Back Men's Track & Field

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bobcat28
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/7/2016 8:21:06 AM 
Utah state is the most comparable.
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The Optimist
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/7/2016 10:05:53 AM 
I agree that Ohio is unique and there is both good and bad with that. Agree with OCF that while rural Athens is definitely poor the data isn't an accurate picture because of how college students are calculated... Agree that The Post is trash. Also agree with Uncle Wes on Cbus...

Yes, cbus is OSU's home turf... Yes, they have fans we have no chance of converting... BUT there is also VERY sizable and growing alum market in Cbus that wants to support OHIO. The Nelsonville bypass is done. The drive is easy. An hour and change. Ohio needs to make bigger push there... It'd be a lot easier if we just started winning... Winning would make it a sure thing.

Last Edited: 2/7/2016 10:07:43 AM by The Optimist

I've seen crazier things happen.

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colobobcat66
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/7/2016 10:28:17 AM 
OUbobcat9092 wrote:


Great point with the Zags. They're probably the equivalent.

[/QUOTE]

Gonzaga has a few things going for it that Ohio doesn't:

-Athens is remote, but Spokane is even more remote. It's four hours from Seattle by car according to Google maps. Ohio's proximity to Ohio State kills Ohio. And Spokane is a pretty decent sized city is it not?

-I don't have the figures in front of me, but Gonzaga doesn't have to compete against anywhere near the number of other D1 basketball programs that Ohio does. It's bad enough that you have the rest of the MAC and OSU, but then you sprinkle in UC, Xavier, Dayton, Wright State, Cleveland State, etc and it gets pretty competitive market-wise.

-Just the name Gonzaga or Zags is a distinguishable name to begin with. No one can replicate that. Unfortunately for Ohio, there are some out there that will always think of OSU first. Xavier is capitalizing on this a little bit by using the brand "X" as much as they can. It distinguishes them from the rest of the pack.

I'm trying to think of an even more comparable program to Ohio. I was gonna say VCU? Although I'm not sure how big the city of Richmond is.



[/QUOTE]


Gonzaga may be far from Seattle/the civilized world.. but it has several things going for it.

* A town of 100,000+ and growing.
* No other (strong) local competition (EWU is the only comparable school) within an hour and a 1/2
* No football program to dilute resources
* Southwest Airlines flies there!
[/QUOTE]
Facts: Spokane city population is around 212,000, metro area about 1/2 million. Pullman (WSU) is 75 miles away- 1 hour 21 minutes, southwest may be loved by many, but it is not cheap any more.
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OUcats82
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/8/2016 11:56:53 AM 
GoCats105 wrote:
[QUOTE=Brian Smith] [QUOTE=OrlandoCat] [QUOTE=Brian Smith]

I'm trying to think of an even more comparable program to Ohio. I was gonna say VCU? Although I'm not sure how big the city of Richmond is.





I remember years back on here having similar conversations, there was some popular thinking that Ohio is in a quasi similar situation as Virginia Tech in terms of geography and profile-being a larger university but located in a more rural/isolated location. I can't speak with certainty what the socio-economic profile is in Western VA compared to SE Ohio but I doubt it is vastly different based on my travels through that region.

Obviously VT is in the ACC and has a much higher national profile but they were not always that way. If you are not familiar look up their history before Frank Beamer and even his early years. They are closer to an interstate in I-81 but the closest "major" city, Roanoke, a 45-60 minute drive, is only the 159th MSA. Alumni and fans travel a good distance to fill Lane Stadium on Saturdays-likely mostly coming from Richmond/Tidewater region, Metro DC etc.

Columbus MSA is 32nd and while OSU is certainly a national leader in fan base, no place larger than Columbus, I do think there is enough pie in central Ohio for OU to carve out some. There are new converts that need to hear the message. Do they know the beauty that is only 1 hour plus from their home in SE Ohio?

Would we have a better situation if campus was located in say Springfield?

Bottom line I think we all are well aware of is that as long as we are in the MAC and not playing a home slate of higher end opponents (even if in name only that a Big Ten or ACC would offer) our reality will remain status quo. In defense of attendance, it would help if we didn't play 1/3 of our home games on odd ball nights. I think our Saturday home game attendance is pretty darn good given the competition we play and other factors.

Ohio-The State University
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Recovering Journalist
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  Message Not Read  RE: Russell Contract
   Posted: 2/8/2016 2:50:22 PM 
OUcats82 wrote:
Would we have a better situation if campus was located in say Springfield?



No. In addition to OSU's statewide dominance that is stronger than in anywhere, there are just too many hogs at the trough in Ohio. We have eight FBS programs in Ohio competing for the attention of 11.5 million citizens. There are three FBS programs (two until very recently) and 8.5 million people in Virginia. Add the fact that Joe Public sincerely believes Ohio only has one FBS program and I don't think it matter where we are on a map as far as football goes. Basketball could be another story, but feeding the football beast keeps us from becoming a successful MVC-type program.
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