UAB Football Being Shut Down

[Catch Prothro]

I don't know enough of the specifics to have an opinion.  Usually, football and men's basketball are the money makers, and the other sports are revenue drains.  But football has become more expensive to finance, and many of the smaller schools are not making money with it.  UAB has a few TV appearances, played at two SEC schools this year (and got paid to do it), and plays in a decent conference.  That should be enough, ordinarily, to justify a football program.

But with an ailing stadium, and a state-wide fan base dominated by two schools, the revenue question has to be addressed.

Birmingham is a relatively large city, without a professional football team, and I would think that sufficient local interest would exist to keep a team and generate revenue.  The problem is that UAB isn't independent, but part of the UA System.  And there are those in the UA System, heirs of the Bryant era, who never wanted UAB to have football in the first place. 

Of course, they're probably looking at the revenue equation differently.  If UAB were to become successful, they might be in direct competition with UA over support revenue.  Especially revenue from wealthy Birmingham.  UA will still attract the majority of the money, but the largest fish are always hungry for more.

So there is a conflict of interest between UA and UAB over football.  UAB will never be able to enjoy success existing under UA's shadow.  It seems to me that the time is long past due for UAB and UAH to make their own decisions, to have their own boards.

But really, I never watch UAB football, so what do I know.


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[Chechem]

I never attended a UAB game, so I know little about them.

But I doubted they'd ever be successful from the start, for all the reasons CP listed above.  Didn't you?

[2Stater]

I never attended a UAB game, so I know little about them.

But I doubted they'd ever be successful from the start, for all the reasons CP listed above.  Didn't you?

[Chechem]

I never attended a UAB game, so I know little about them.

But I doubted they'd ever be successful from the start, for all the reasons CP listed above.  Didn't you?

 

[roll tide roll]

It was always going to end like this.

It never should have begun in the first place.

All of their other athletic programs have suffered b/c of the huge money drain from an irrelevant football program.

blah, blah, blah UA BoT are scared of UAB football.  Nope.

Small state, crummy conference, crummy facilities = DOA

Universities spending taxpayer money should be required to perform a simple costs/benefits analysis on any project that will cost over $1million. 

[Marshal Dillon]

I was just about to post this.  Sad for Birmingham.

This will have an upside for Birmingham and Alabama generally. We are viewed as a backward state in which high schools would prefer to spend money on shoulder pads over text books. That a state university here is the first in the nation to give up FB in 20 years will reflect well outside of the sports world. Honestly, in our little state, with Bama, the Farmily, UNA, USA, Troy, JackState etc. it's not like we are short of football.

I disagree, UAB had a higher average attendance than any other instate school except the UA and the boogs, a small on campus stadium (why cant they play at regions?) would have increased attendance more.  

We don't disagree about the point you made. I don't know if they had better attendance than the other programs or not, but I'm happy to concede the point. The issue is not whether their attendance was better than the others, but whether it was enough. But the bigger point is what does the program do for the university. It is doubtful that it increases applications, significantly impacts fundraising, attracts better faculty or graduate students. It was certainly a loser from a direct revenue standpoint (ticket sales), attracting  sponsorship dollars / media dollars. With two large state universities, one of which being a stones throw away, UAB would be much better off limiting it's offerings to things related to it's top notch health science work, maybe the arts. Maybe even marketing itself as the "anti-" sports school to attract the considerable number of in-state counter culture types who do not want the whole football frat thing. They certainly are doomed if they try to out UA UA.

The University of South Florida is making it work if I'm not mistaken and they are less than 15 miles from the U I think.  Athletics and academics can go hand-in-hand if the administrators want to put the effort into making it happen... Sad time for Birmingham IMO...

You're confusing universities. USF is in Tampa, 200 miles away. Florida International (FIU) is the major public university in Miami with enrollment of 50,000. Miami is an expensive private college of 16,000 students. FIU football is a train wreck like UAB with a 43-99 record since its inception & both are in C-USA.
I had to look all this up so don't be embarrassed.


 









 

[TideRavens]

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Sad thing to see. I went to UAB and while Bama is my favorite team, I hate to see this happen to the university.

[Marshal Dillon]

Apparently UAB had 2 choices, invest many millions to improve the program or close down.




 

[Chechem]

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Sad thing to see. I went to UAB and while Bama is my favorite team, I hate to see this happen to the university.

I blame you.   

Actually, in truth, I don't blame you.  It's understandable.

Have an e-cred!   

[Bandit]

Can't we just shut down Auburn's program and give it to UAB? 

[Marshal Dillon]

Here's a good explanation of why UAB was closed.

UAB already subsidizes $20 million of the roughly $30 million annual Athletic Department budget, which is the fifth-largest budget and subsidy in Conference USA. We will continue to support Athletics at this level, which amounts to an institutional investment of at least $100 million over the next five years. According to expert analysis by CarrSports Consulting, UAB would have to substantially increase our operating budget and our capital investments in facilities to support an Athletic Department that fields a competitive Conference USA football team.
The difference between our future Athletic Department with and without football is an additional $49 million investment on top of the $100 million UAB will already invest in Athletics in the next five years.

From an operating budget standpoint alone, the difference between the scenario in which we maintain a competitive Conference USA football program and eliminate it is more than $27 million over the next five years. This does not include additional needed capital investments of $22 million for football facilities alone. These capital projects would include a field house, an indoor practice facility and a turf field, but not a stadium.

 


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