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Season ticket renewals are already down 4%

I think CU will struggle to win 5 games, let alone 8 games.

I see games AT Cal, against Georgia, AT Mizzou, AT Oklahoma, AT Nebraska as 100% guaranteed losses.
I consider the games AT Kansas and against KSU to be likely losses.
I am not at all thrilled with the prospects of another neutral site game against CSU and who knows what Texas Tech will do this year. Baylor and Iowa State are improved teams.

I.e. I would love it if Bohn would throw your 9 game requirement out there because there is only a snowball's chance in Hell that Hawkins will win 9 games this year.

I tend to agree with you. But here's the deal: Replace UGA with Northern Colorado and you have 7 home games against mediocre teams. Win just one road game against a highly depleted Kansas squad and there's your eight wins. That's as lazy an 8 wins as you could possibly find. 8 wins is fine if UGA is still on the schedule. Otherwise, I want 9 wins. No excuses. That's a full game less than what this jackass promised last year.
 
Could not agree more..... you cannot run a program into the ground while starting lesser talent like Cody because he is a "hard worker". And when fans expect winning and get nothing for 4 years they have every right to stop paying. Ignoring the fan base was Bohn's biggest mistake and my guess is it may end up costing him a job in the next couple years

It just might. Hawk became radioactive with the disaster that was the '09 season. MB, who is a personable sort, may end up getting contaminated by this. That would be too bad, becasue IMO MB really wants to do a good job, but so far, I'm starting to think he might not be the guy to have at the helm.
 
I'm still a Mike Bohn fan. I think he's done an admirable job here. A better job than has ever been done here, in fact. However, these comments perplex me.

One thing I can say with almost near 100% assurance is that I'll be going to CU games long after Hawkins and Bohn and DiStephano and Benson are long gone. I was here long before they got here, too. So tell me, who lacks commitment to CU again?
 
Wow. Anybody look at the comments to that Buffzone article, they were brutal.

Yep, it looks like people have not forgotten about last season. One would think Bohn would've known this would happen, he really thought people would just blindly keep renewing given the product?
 
Yep, it looks like people have not forgotten about last season. One would think Bohn would've known this would happen, he really thought people would just blindly keep renewing given the product?

I really wonder the same thing... Did they not see this coming? Looks like they are in for a rude awakening when it comes to ticket sales and donation $$.
 
you were hoping for 20-30%?
**** YOU.

Regardless of hawks performance on the field 20-30% hit in ticket sales would take us completely out of Division 1, glad that was your goal.

Well **** YOU too then. And no that amount will not put us in DivII and if you really think that, then please put me on your ignore list. If anything they will see that the fans are telling them they need to make a change. Several years of losing that many renewals and yeah, then we may be in danger. I just want a change up there from the top down, if it takes them losing a bunch of funding to figure it out then that seems to be what needs to happen. Point is, the sooner it happens the better off the school will be because if they dont make a change they will lose even more money over the long term.
 
I just did my part for the cause.

Renewed, put in for a seating upgrade, bought upgraded seats for the Showdown, and increased my donation.

And we can blame you for Hawkins being here this year and probably another season after that. Go Buffs!
 
And we can blame you for Hawkins being here this year and probably another season after that. Go Buffs!

Yep. Because when you stop going to games and supporting the athletic department, it allows you to get a good coach. That's how Nebraska got rid of Callahan, right?
 
Yep. Because when you stop going to games and supporting the athletic department, it allows you to get a good coach. That's how Nebraska got rid of Callahan, right?

Actually, yes. They had a full scale revolt on their hands. They did lose donation money and that did force them to make a change. They didn't lose any ticket sales, because they had a waiting list that was a mile long. But that waiting list got a lot shorter.
 
Actually, yes. They had a full scale revolt on their hands. They did lose donation money and that did force them to make a change. They didn't lose any ticket sales, because they had a waiting list that was a mile long. But that waiting list got a lot shorter.

I'm not going to argue that money doesn't talk. It does. But the other side of that coin is that there needs to be enough money in the coffers for our AD to actually do something. Until basketball is built to where it should be, football is paying for everything. If the AD has to make cuts to its 2010-2011 budget, that's going to make it damn difficult to hire good coordinators and assistants next year even if we do get a new head coach. And it's going to force Bohn to go cheap on our women's basketball coach. It also delays facility upgrades. And, worst case, it could make it impossible to pay the Big 12 tab if we want to leave for the Pac 10.

I prefer to have a well-funded AD with a strong donor pool so that we can thrive in athletics no matter who the CU president is and how much/little support we get from the administration and politicians.
 
I'm not going to argue that money doesn't talk. It does. But the other side of that coin is that there needs to be enough money in the coffers for our AD to actually do something. Until basketball is built to where it should be, football is paying for everything. If the AD has to make cuts to its 2010-2011 budget, that's going to make it damn difficult to hire good coordinators and assistants next year even if we do get a new head coach. And it's going to force Bohn to go cheap on our women's basketball coach. It also delays facility upgrades. And, worst case, it could make it impossible to pay the Big 12 tab if we want to leave for the Pac 10.

I prefer to have a well-funded AD with a strong donor pool so that we can thrive in athletics no matter who the CU president is and how much/little support we get from the administration and politicians.


That's all well and good, but here's the rub: I don't think that Bohn, DiStephano and Benson thought there would be any fallout from keeping Hawkins. They were told to fire him or there would be consequences. They didn't believe it. They kept him. Now they are facing the consequences and they're acting like it's all OUR fault that they're in the mess they're in. I'm not buying it.
 
That's all well and good, but here's the rub: I don't think that Bohn, DiStephano and Benson thought there would be any fallout from keeping Hawkins. They were told to fire him or there would be consequences. They didn't believe it. They kept him. Now they are facing the consequences and they're acting like it's all OUR fault that they're in the mess they're in. I'm not buying it.

^^^This^^^
 
I still see season tickets and donations as supporting the program, not the coach. Coach clinics, radio/TV shows, press lunches, etc are all directly "coach-related" to me, not season tickets or donations that support the entire athletic department and all of the student-athletes at the school.

In either case, it doesn't matter personally as I can't afford season tickets anyway so I won't preach at people what to do with their own money, especially during these times.
 
I'm not going to argue that money doesn't talk. It does.

With the group running CU right now, I'm afraid money is the only thing that talks. If they actually listened to the fans and donors they would have canned Hawk last year and we'd be looking forward to a season with a new coach right now.

Look at the reactions by the AD to things like the powder blue-out. Instead of just remaining quiet about it and letting it go away, they went on the offensive against the fans who are not happy, and Plati lied through his teeth about the numbers (I was there, he lied. End of story). And now they're doing it again with the tickets.

I'm afraid withholding $$ is the only thing that will get their attention.
 
And we can blame you for Hawkins being here this year and probably another season after that. Go Buffs!

Another TIMper tantrum.

I just don't see the need to punish Mark Wetmore and all the runners, who are doing a great job.
I also don't see the need to punish 400 student athletes.

There are more options than the nuclear option.
 
Well **** YOU too then. And no that amount will not put us in DivII and if you really think that, then please put me on your ignore list. If anything they will see that the fans are telling them they need to make a change. Several years of losing that many renewals and yeah, then we may be in danger. I just want a change up there from the top down, if it takes them losing a bunch of funding to figure it out then that seems to be what needs to happen. Point is, the sooner it happens the better off the school will be because if they dont make a change they will lose even more money over the long term.

We are at the bare minimum now for NCAA sports and run a very close to break even program even in good years we could not sustain the revenue hit from a 20-30% cut in revenue to our only revenue positive sport. We also have very few options on the table for reducing costs because of the size of CU's athletic programs, and at this point have basically no ability to borrow from the school becuase of state funding issues.

Add that up and see where it gets you.
 
4% is a BS figure right now and it will balloon to 16% to 20% I bet


The 4% figure is only based on the 56% of the people they have heard from.

i.e. out of all the people who they sent out season ticket renewal forms to, they have only heard from about HALF.

Last year at this time, 72% of the people had sent back in their renewal forms.

Seems to me like people who have decided not to renew might just not send back their forms.

I would anticipate that the number of season ticket holders will be reduced by at least 10% in 2010.
 
I am with you Slade i think 10-12% is where this ends. That will be a tough pill for the AD to swallow.
 
I am with you Slade i think 10-12% is where this ends. That will be a tough pill for the AD to swallow.

Then you figure out that the only national games we might get on the ABC package (and therefore an increase in the appearance pool for Big 12 TV money) will be @Oklahoma and @Nebraska. This means that we will probably lose another $200 to $500,000 from what we had traditionally been earning in Big 12 distributions.

Increase scholarship costs due to tuition increase by 9% ($500,000), and other operating expenses by at least 5% ($1,000,000) and then we are in REAL tough financial shape.
 
Conversely, the AD could have ****canned Hawkins in December, hired a new coach to get excited about immediately thereafter - interest in the program would be on the rise, season ticket sales would probably increase, donations likely increase, etc.
 
Conversely, the AD could have ****canned Hawkins in December, hired a new coach to get excited about immediately thereafter - interest in the program would be on the rise, season ticket sales would probably increase, donations likely increase, etc.

The coaching move wouldnt have saved us any TV money is my bet, and the other costs were going up anyway. So it is the 10-12% drop versus the 1.5mill or so we saved by not canning hawk, unless there is some deal we dont know about that includes additional cost savings then I think the AD bet wrong.
 
Conversely, the AD could have ****canned Hawkins in December, hired a new coach to get excited about immediately thereafter - interest in the program would be on the rise, season ticket sales would probably increase, donations likely increase, etc.

But then Bruce Benson would have had the Herculean, impossible task of explaining the $$$ to buyout Hawk came from private sources...which of course, was such a monumental challenge, not even Cicero could have triumphed before the legislature on such an issue....:rolling_eyes:
 
This means cutting costs. Here's a hodge-podge of targets that might be considered:
- Quality & support of academic programs
- # of scholarships available across all sports
- Travel budgets (smaller traveling squads, fewer recruiting visits)
- Deferred or cancelled upgrades to facilities (weight room, film rooms, astroturf in Folsom?, HD scoreboard, fieldhouse renovations...)
- Keep uniforms and equipment around for longer periods of time
- Back office support like NCAA compliance, ticket office, planning
- Public relations (media, web pages, freebies & promotions)
- Ability to host invitational tournaments

The list goes on and on.
 
I'll say it again - If Bohn comes out and says that Hawk will be fired if he doesn't win 9 games in 2010, he'd get all that season ticket revenue back and then some. He can't do anything about the television revenue, but he can salvage the season ticket situation. A big reason people aren't buying the tickets is because there is a perception that the CU administration is not committed to winning. Show that commitment, and the fans will come pouring back. This isn't brain surgery, here.
 
Sacky, I don't think it would even have to be 9 to get people more interested. Even 7 or 8 would bring a lot of folks back, IMO. Just show us you freaking care about winning! And cut out the "We were 10 plays from going to a bowl" crap. You were 2 plays from 1-11, Hawk.
 
Sacky, I don't think it would even have to be 9 to get people more interested. Even 7 or 8 would bring a lot of folks back, IMO. Just show us you freaking care about winning! And cut out the "We were 10 plays from going to a bowl" crap. You were 2 plays from 1-11, Hawk.

Fine. Whatever number he needs, go with it. I'd prefer 9, but I'd settle for 8. 7 wins is basically going undefeated at home, which admitedly for Hawk is a tall order, but considering he can't win for sh!t on the road, isn't good enough for me. He has to win at least one road game. That's not too much to ask. In the end, it doesn't really matter what the number is so long as the expectation is put out there and can be quantified.
 
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