North Texas Athletics Finances from USA Today

[oldguystudent]

Ignore the erroneous Sun Belt thing and look at the trends of revenues, contributions, and student fees. Contributions dropped from $2.6 million in 2005 to a low of $592,332 in 2010 before spiking back up again. Lots of stories can be extrapolated from this. Have fun.

[MDH]

Would like to know how much of ticket revenue drop was due to men's BB. I wonder if our HOD ticket sales prior to 12/31/13 are in there - if so I'm really disappointed with football ticket sales last year.

[UNT90]

Gotta spend money (marketing, which oncludes an effective marketing staff) to make money.

Something UNT still doesn't understand after 100 years of football.

[oldguystudent]

I wonder if our HOD ticket sales prior to 12/31/13 are in there - if so I'm really disappointed with football ticket sales last year.

Do bowl game ticket sales count? Don't all the proceeds from ticket sales for HOD go to charity?

Edit: And now that I think about it, bowl games are a payout, not a gate receipt, so any revenues from that should be under the "other" column, yes?

Edited June 8, 2014 by oldguystudent

[Mean Green 93-98]

And now that I think about it, bowl games are a payout, not a gate receipt, so any revenues from that should be under the "other" column, yes?

That would be my take.

[UNTFan23]

I'd like to understand what "School Funds" represents because it represents a huge chunk of the 50% increase in the budget between 2012 and 2013.

[the green rokemi]

I'm guessing ticket sales were down last year because more tickets were either cheaper or free. Thoughts?

[Ben Gooding]

I would like to see students being charged. Most schools charge their students, a small % of face value, but nonetheless they still charge. It could decrease attendance, but shoot up ticket sales. It's a slippery slope to get into with a large portion of student fans being rather disloyal. In contrast to that if the team wins the student body attendance IMO would stay about the same. A value to the game of paying for a ticket would might get the casual fan student to attend. It sounds like an oxymoron, but a free product holds a lesser value to the consumer and in correlation with that a free product most times than not is going to be below standards bc it is more times than not expected to be below standards. Put a value on the individual ticket and it might raise attendance. This sounds a little unorthodox, but very well could help.

[adman]

I would like to see students being charged. Most schools charge their students, a small % of face value, but nonetheless they still charge. It could decrease attendance, but shoot up ticket sales. It's a slippery slope to get into with a large portion of student fans being rather disloyal. In contrast to that if the team wins the student body attendance IMO would stay about the same. A value to the game of paying for a ticket would might get the casual fan student to attend. It sounds like an oxymoron, but a free product holds a lesser value to the consumer and in correlation with that a free product most times than not is going to be below standards bc it is more times than not expected to be below standards. Put a value on the individual ticket and it might raise attendance. This sounds a little unorthodox, but very well could help.

I can hear some students retorting: "We already pay for our tickets in advance by way of an athletics fee."

[GrandGreen]

I would like to see students being charged. Most schools charge their students, a small % of face value, but nonetheless they still charge. It could decrease attendance, but shoot up ticket sales. It's a slippery slope to get into with a large portion of student fans being rather disloyal. In contrast to that if the team wins the student body attendance IMO would stay about the same. A value to the game of paying for a ticket would might get the casual fan student to attend. It sounds like an oxymoron, but a free product holds a lesser value to the consumer and in correlation with that a free product most times than not is going to be below standards bc it is more times than not expected to be below standards. Put a value on the individual ticket and it might raise attendance. This sounds a little unorthodox, but very well could help.

'

You are looking at the numbers and you make a comment like that. Student fees last year of $9.8m and where do you think the school funds come from? This program has always been funded on the back of the students and you want to charge them again for admission. They are already paying more than enough, don't be ridiculous.

[GrayEagle]

If the School Funds comes from the University general funds to make up a deficit then I really don't understand these figures.

The university is required to report annually to the Department of Education a gender equity report. The purpose is to see what proportion of athletics is spent on women. The report runs mid-year to mid-year so it would be different than this. But in that report our total revenue was $25.910 million dollars with expenses of roughly $21.5 million giving us a surplus of $4.4 million for the reporting period. If indeed, the School Funds is the amount to make up a deficit that would be a difference of $12.2 million and I'm not buying it. Especially when half of the figures cover the same reporting period.

My take on Ticket Sales variance is reduced basketball ticket sales. I see the increase in Contributions as a slightly larger Mean Green Club and a few large donors. I believe that the Other is the amount received from the conference via the NCAA.

[oldguystudent]

Sorry can't fancy link via phone, but recall that student attendance is down across the country, even at the big schools. Let's not make it even less attractive for them.

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304795804579097223907738780?mobile=y

[the green rokemi]

'

You are looking at the numbers and you make a comment like that. Student fees last year of $9.8m and where do you think the school funds come from? This program has always been funded on the back of the students and you want to charge them again for admission. They are already paying more than enough, don't be ridiculous.

Yep. It's free to the students because they already pay for it. Honestly, I would rather have a larger student attendance and less money than get extra money and have lesser attendance

[Ben Gooding]

I wasn't saying that needs to be done, just an idea. Someone asked for thoughts and there's a thought. As for the athletic department riding the backs of students, please save that for someone else. You must forget, above the rest for thousands less. I wouldn't object to the idea of raising tuition more. Keeping up is imperative and if raising tuition is one of the only feasible ways to keep up, then do it. I think the old saying goes something along the lines of, "you get what you pay for."

[UNT90]

Raise the athletic fee. We can. We haven't.

[the green rokemi]

And a full-time student pays more to go to the games than you probably do.

Interesting thought. What is it up to now?

[North Texas Shep]

Now, what are the costs to have all the programs we have? We need to be able to compare the revenue to the cost. Does anyone have that info?

[jdennis82]

What about an optional Mean Green Club for students?

Projecting for situations where student free admission or student discounted tickets are scarce (bowl game, bball tourney games), shoot...an Apogee sell out!), maybe some students would pay a nominal, optional fee to be guaranteed the opportunity to attend (if free for other students) or purchase (if discounted for other students).

The financial impact might be minimal initially but not only is there additional revenue coming in, but you're building an army of future Mean Green Club members when they become alumni (and gathering data for more targeted and cost effective marketing efforts as they graduate).

Edited June 9, 2014 by jdennis82

[eagle2014]

What about an optional Mean Green Club for students?

Projecting for situations where student free admission or student discounted tickets are scarce (bowl game, bball tourney games), shoot...an Apogee sell out!), maybe some students would pay a nominal, optional fee to be guaranteed the opportunity to attend (if free for other students) or purchase (if discounted for other students).

The financial impact might be minimal initially but not only is there additional revenue coming in, but you're building an army of future Mean Green Club members when they become alumni (and gathering data for more targeted and cost effective marketing efforts as they graduate).

I like this idea also because over time if we do start to win more and sell out it could be a smooth way to transition into students having to pay for tickets.

[Ben Gooding]

And a full-time student pays more to go to the games than you probably do.

I am a full time student. I will be getting season tickets after July 4th when I graduate. My wife is still going to be a full time student. I have full intentions on being as involved as I possibly can be. Another 100+ dollars in tuition a year to be directed to athletics is nothing and I am 100% in favor of it.

[GrandGreen]

Can you imagine what opposing coaches are saying about this mess to potential NT recruits? Expect peanut butter sandwiches, hitch hiking to away games and the coaching staff running for better opportunities.

[jdennis82]

Can you imagine what opposing coaches are saying about this mess to potential NT recruits? Expect peanut butter sandwiches, hitch hiking to away games and the coaching staff running for better opportunities.

I agree that I can see other coaches trying to use this strategy but I certainly don't think the operating budget of the department will be reduced in any way. Thank goodness Mac's contract and the increase to assistant pay got approved when it did.

As I speculated in another thread, I think the real impact will be a delay in the baseball program and the tabling of any thought of buying out Benford's contract.