http://www.easternecho.com Without a winning record since 1995 and a 12-47 record over the past five years, there has been a lot of talk from the public about Eastern Michigan University dropping its football program down to a lower level of competition. en-us Gryphon 2.3.1-dsw (pewabic)/Foundry5 Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:41:00 -0500 webmaster@easternecho.com http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/380 While I agree with everything Dr. Gragg has said, Eastern still has to fine the way out of the tunnel of constant losing seasons in football and basketball, because as he said, these are the revenue making sports. It is very hard to make money at home games when you are constantly losing. If you charge $5.00 a ticket at football games and two thousand fans show up, all you have made is $10,000. That probably doesn’t cover the cost of putting the game on in the first place. Conversely, if you sell out, at the same charge you end up with $150,000. I’m sure everyone understands the simple arithmetic, but as I have said in other blogs, if you have winning programs fans will come. I am very proud of Eastern’s athletic teams, however we need to get football and basketball on a winning track. Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:17:58 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/380 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/381 I agree with everything that Dr. Gragg said. The other consequence of dropping to Division II is that you don’t save that much money or maybe none at all. The University and certain past and present administrators are to blame to for several mis-steps in the administration of our football program. As Gragg put it “We’re pretty much at our minimum level as far as being able to operate,..” The only thing I disagree with Gragg about is the dropping of sports. EMU should drop to NCAA minimum of 16 sports and redistribute the money. Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:39:59 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/381 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/382 I compliment the well written article. Two fast points. First, EMU gets money back from the NCAA based on the number of teams EMU has. More revenue would be lost by cutting teams. Second, let’s remember that revenue does not equal profit. The question that should always be asked is if the revenue that a sport generates pays for that particular sport. Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:55:10 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/382 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/384 I love coming to Eastern Michigan University football games because they are affordable and I can find a seat that is comfortable. I compare this to the big house down the street where I must pay $40 to park, $60 for a ticket, and be squeezed in like a sardine with someone’s knees in my back. Going to a game at the big house takes an entire day whereas at Eastern I can make it an afternoon or just and evening. I still get to see a good game either way. If Eastern wins a game; it’s like winning the Superbowl to me. Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:55:46 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/384 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/385 Excellent article. The football programs at FCS schools are, for the most part, massive money losers. Villanova, a very successful FCS school who won the FCS National Championship game this year, loses something more than $1 million dollars each year on football (Dick Weiss of the NYDaily News wrote an article earlier this year claiming they lost $4million on 2008, but I’ve heard its usually a little less than that). They almost never sell out, and they had something like 40% capacity for their playoff games. Hopefully coach English can get some momentum going and build the program up to CMU/ECU status. That’s a better bet than toiling at FCS. Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:17:42 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/385 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/387 since the huron name was stripped from emu the football and basketball programs have been an EMBARRASSMENT and should be dropped out of the mac ! Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:09:09 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/387 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/389 Look like the writer trying to make case of advantages of having BCS Football and Basketball programs. Of course Dr. Gragg will make case for advantages of keeping those so called revenue sports at EMU. What I would like to see myself and other readers is actual budget for EMU Athletics and how much money EMU athletics on a whole makes, If any. I strongly believe EMU Athletics don’t make anything. We loose money every year. I would like to see comparison of Educational budget and Athletics budget and who makes how much for the university. Lastly most importantly what is making our University to sustain. Lack of good athletic program have enormous affects of students. Our tuition fees are being raised every year. Jeremiah, please bring light all the numbers involved.a Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:41:50 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/389 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/415 wait until concordia gets football Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:41:00 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/415