That's quite a divergence. Does playing OVC football account for that staggering difference in revenue?

In the 2014-15 academic year APSU played a football game at Memphis, best case, that was $750,000 in guarantee for them. That was their "biggest" game, so without seeing the line-by-line (like a potential big restricted donation, or monies from other revenue streams), it would be a guess. Maybe they have great PSL's for their basketball arena - which I'd find shocking. Their basketball arena, The Dunn Center, holds 7,257, so if they averaged 50% capacity (3,629), for 12 games, they'd have total tickets sold of 43,548. If they average $20 per ticket, that is just shy of $900,000. There appears to be a large delta, but again, without info, it is a SWAG.

 

APSU's total football attendance in the fall of 2014 was 24,206. Maybe they pulled another $500,000 in ticket sales there.

 

There would be concessions / parking (I assume) for those 17 events totaling 67,000 people, but not monumental.

I'm fascinated by this. As far as I know, Dayton hasn't offered football scholarships since at least the early 1970s. When D-III formed, Dayton joined and stayed until the NCAA said that if the Flyers wanted to keep playing Division I basketball, they had to move their other sports to Division I. It's the reason the Pioneer League was created and I can't imagine many of the other private schools in the league have seriously considered adding scholarships in a long time.

 

It's a huge expense and I'm pretty skeptical of the potential returns.

I'm fascinated by this. As far as I know, Dayton hasn't offered football scholarships since at least the early 1970s, I think. When D-III formed, Dayton joined and stayed until the NCAA said that if the Flyers wanted to keep playing Division I basketball, they had to move their other sports to Division I. It's the reason the Pioneer League was created and I can't imagine many of the other private schools in the league have seriously considered adding scholarships in a long time.

 

It's a huge expense and I'm pretty skeptical of the potential returns.

 

At Dayton, with 83 × $40,000 ($3,320,000), you'd be buried on your expense line before you even hired a get-back coach.

At Dayton, with 83 × $40,000 ($3,320,000), you'd be buried on your expense line before you even hired a get-back coach.

 

There's definitely no consideration of 83. The Patriot League moved to 15 per year (60 total) in 2013, but Georgetown still doesn't offer football scholarships. For a long time, there was a lot of hope among alumni that UD would move to the old Patriot League model of enhanced financial aid.

 

The real problem Dayton faces in trying to do anything with football is that there are just so few schools to try and make a move with.

 

Personally, I'm fine with non-scholarship. I'd just like to see the athletic department push football more but playing in a run-down cracker box owned by the local school board and 30 years of crackdowns on student tailgates don't do perception any favors.

 

UD and Morehead definitely face very different situations, but I'm just curious about all the schools that chose to stick it out when cutting the program would've been much easier.

UD and Morehead definitely face very different situations, but I'm just curious about all the schools that chose to stick it out when axing the program would've been much easier.

 

I know when Ted Kissell was the AD up I-75, the decision to keep football was entirely driven by President's Office / Admissions. Had zero to do with having a football team.

I know when Ted Kissell was the AD up I-75, the decision to keep football was entirely driven by President's Office / Admissions. Had zero to do with having a football team.

 

I'm glad UD still has it. It's always up and down but they made the FCS playoff for the first time last year and that was a boatload of fun. That won't happen this year, but I'll watch on ESPN3 this week and hope San Diego somehow drops a couple.