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By Stuart
–
[h=2]Time for CU to Be CU Again[/h]—
It started quietly enough, a minor notation in an otherwise hectic week for Colorado football.
Playing on the timing of the publicity surrounding Signing Day and the announcement of the hiring of former South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt as CU’s new defensive coordinator, the CU athletic department sent out its season ticket renewal forms.
Nothing unusual there … it was certainly a wise strategy to ask Buff fans to send in their season ticket renewals with the CU football team in the news.
But with the renewal packages came a small change in format for ticket purchases … And it was that small change which set off a firestorm of controversy and name-calling.
The ticket renewal email contained the following language concerning the Rocky Mountain Showdown:
This year, we have added some options for you for the CSU game:
If you prefer not to attend the CSU game in Denver, you are able to opt-out of that game and use the value of your tickets for that game to buy additional single game tickets for a game in Folsom Field in 2015 at Season Ticket Holder prices.
If you would like to go to the CSU game, but would prefer to pay a lower price, you will also have the option to downgrade your seats to our lowest price point, and use the difference in value towards the purchase of additional single game tickets for a game in Folsom Field in 2015 at Season Ticket Holder prices.
The new policy represented a shift for CU, and a recognition that many Buff fans have little love for playing the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Kyle Ringo of the Daily Camera followed up on the new policy with an article*interviewing CU athletic director Rick George about the future of the RMS, which has a contract between Colorado and Colorado State running through to the 2020 season.
“We have a contract and we have to honor it and we’ll do that, and we hope to continue to have a dialogue about bringing it back to campus,” George said, noting that in the 18 months he has been CU’s athletic director, moving the series back to campus has been the topic most often brought*up by*Buff supporters.
The article concluded with this quote from George: “My job is to do what’s best for CU, our athletic department, our teams, our student-athletes and the president and chancellor are very aware of how I feel about this,” George said. “My job is to do what’s in our best interests and I think what’s in our best interests right now is trying to move this game back on campus if we can. We haven’t been able to do that.
“To have a game beyond 2020 at this point, I’m not sure that is in our best interest.”
These comments were jumped on by the Denver media, which, for whatever reason, has never been friendly to CU athletics. Terry Frei of the Denver Post (who prefaces every damnation of CU athletics with “I am a proud CU alum”) went on the radio to state that CU wanting to discontinue the series was “a petulant way to take your ball and go home”.
Rick George then called into the “Sandy and Scott” show on 104.3 the Fan (which can be listened to here) to clarify what he had stated about the contract:*“… we are looking at our schedules, past 2020, and that may or may not involve CSU”, said George. “But right now, post-20, we don’t have any interest in extending (the RMS contract)”.
The battle with the media also went to Twitter. Matt Stephens, who writes for the Coloradoan in Fort Collins, tweeted: “Best part pf Rick George’s comments yesterday: A 54-year-old man decided he needed to be the headline on National Signing Day, not the kids”.* This prompted CU SID Dave Plati to tweet, asking rhetorically what PR people should do: “Cut off interviews to any media who use twitter to take cheap shots at our people. Those who engage are not professionals, they’re immature”.
Want more? Woody Paige even went so far as to suggest that he would go to the state legislature and demand CU be forced to play CSU (for those to young to remember, that was how the Rams forced the Buffs back onto the playing field in 1983, after a 25-year hiatus. Of course, with the state legislature’s support of higher education amounting to less than ten percent of CU’s budget, such threats don’t carry as much weight as they did in 1983).
And don’t even get me started on Mark Kizla at the Denver Post, who seemingly has nothing better to do than tear down the University of Colorado at every opportunity. An example of Kizla’s latest ranting:
“CU football stinks. The attendance at Folsom Field stinks. The latest recruiting class of coach Mike MacIntyre stinks. So, looking for a distraction, athletic director Rick George went off on a rant, yelling at the Rams to get off his lawn and threatening to cancel the Rocky Mountain Showdown when the contract expires in 2020 because CU wants the game back on campus sites, not in Denver. Pardon me while I laugh at George. You mad, bro? Settle down”.
Finally, however, the voice of reason, Neill Woelk, came once again to the rescue. The former columnist for the Daily Camera posted a piece entitled, “Buffs Can Dictate Terms of CU-CSU series“. It should be read in its entirety by every Buff fans, and can be found here.
Some excerpts:
First and foremost, Rick George is a businessman who happens to be involved in college athletics. His job is to create a successful department, both in terms of wins and losses and the bottom line — and the two are inextricably linked.
A game at Folsom Field is much more valuable to George and his customer base than a game in Denver. It’s why George has been trying to change the terms of the current contract and move some of the upcoming games back to Boulder.
….*But the big sticking point is this: they also want a two-for-one deal, meaning two games in Boulder for every game played in Fort Collins or Denver.
That, of course, isn’t playing well in Fort Collins. Interim athletic director John Morris told the Loveland Reporter-Herald last week, “We cannot agree to two games in Boulder and one in Fort Collins. It would have to be a fair agreement.”
But “fair” has never been a cornerstone of business negotiations. George and the Buffs are not interested in “fair.”
… The best solution might be one that has the two schools playing two or three times every five or six years. It would keep interest at a peak and would give both schools a chance to bring other quality opponents into their stadiums when their schedules allow it.
But unless an outside force steps in to change the dynamic, one thing has become quite clear:
The terms will be dictated by CU. If the Rams want the pay day, they’ll agree to those terms.
Otherwise, both programs will go their separate ways.
That’s just the way business works.
My take?
I agree with CU athletic director Rick George as well as Neill Woelk.
CU needs to make a business decision which is in the best interests of the University of Colorado. And continuing to play in Denver does not meet that criterion.
The Buffs are already locked into a nine game Pac-12 schedule, leaving CU with three non-conference games to schedule each season – two each year in which CSU is already on the schedule. Every other year, the Buffs will have five road games to play in conference. Adding in the neutral site game in Denver, CU is already away from campus for six games in those years, with only the four home conference games and two non-conference games left to schedule.
Translation: With the CSU game in Denver, every two year cycle CU has four non-conference games with which to work, and to have a minimum of six home games each year (when some schools have the luxury of playing seven or eight lucrative home games), CU must have three of those four non-conference games be home games.
Try and schedule*attractive home-and-home series against worthy opponents with those restrictions.
Want to know why CU has to schedule one-and-done road games against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan?
The Rocky Mountain Showdown.
Want to know why CU has to schedule one-and-done home games against the likes of Nicholls State and Idaho State?
The Rocky Mountain Showdown.
What I appreciate*about*Rick George is his being honest about CU’s future, even though it might “look bad” to the Denver media. True enough, right now Colorado State is on a high, and Colorado is at an all-time low, but history suggests that will not remain the case.
CSU has won two of the last three games? Yippee. Try an all-time series record of 62-22-2.
CU has suffered through the worst decade-plus in school history. The Buffs’ record in the series the past 12 years? 8-4.
CSU had to force big brother back on to the playing field in 1983 to show it was CU’s equal. The series record since the “rivalry” was resumed in 1983? CU 19 wins; CSU 8.
Yes, CU will take a hit in the media for demanding the series go back to campus, and insisting on a two-for-one deal if the teams do continue to play past 2020.
But it’s time Colorado stop asking for permission from the outside world every time it wants to make a bold move. CU athletics has been*cowered for the past dozen*or more years, first by sex scandals which didn’t exist, then by sexual assault charges which were never filed. Lately, mired in a series of losing seasons unprecedented in school history, Colorado sat back mildly and took its beatings as if they were deserved.
Well, no longer.
The CU athletic department has finally decided that enough is enough.*Facility upgrades are no longer part of a*“ten-year plan” (which never seemed to*get any closer than*ten*years out). CU now has a head coach who understands what it takes to be competitive*in the Pac-12*conference, and is building a nucleus of personnel – both on and off the field – which can make that a reality.
And CU has an athletic director who will do what’s right for the University of Colorado when it comes to the Rocky*Mountain Showdown,*refusing to be bullied by*media outcry or little brother pouting.
That’s the way it should be.
It’s time for CU to*once again be CU.
——
Originally posted by CU At the Game
Click here to vie
–
[h=2]Time for CU to Be CU Again[/h]—
It started quietly enough, a minor notation in an otherwise hectic week for Colorado football.
Playing on the timing of the publicity surrounding Signing Day and the announcement of the hiring of former South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt as CU’s new defensive coordinator, the CU athletic department sent out its season ticket renewal forms.
Nothing unusual there … it was certainly a wise strategy to ask Buff fans to send in their season ticket renewals with the CU football team in the news.
But with the renewal packages came a small change in format for ticket purchases … And it was that small change which set off a firestorm of controversy and name-calling.
The ticket renewal email contained the following language concerning the Rocky Mountain Showdown:
This year, we have added some options for you for the CSU game:
If you prefer not to attend the CSU game in Denver, you are able to opt-out of that game and use the value of your tickets for that game to buy additional single game tickets for a game in Folsom Field in 2015 at Season Ticket Holder prices.
If you would like to go to the CSU game, but would prefer to pay a lower price, you will also have the option to downgrade your seats to our lowest price point, and use the difference in value towards the purchase of additional single game tickets for a game in Folsom Field in 2015 at Season Ticket Holder prices.
The new policy represented a shift for CU, and a recognition that many Buff fans have little love for playing the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Kyle Ringo of the Daily Camera followed up on the new policy with an article*interviewing CU athletic director Rick George about the future of the RMS, which has a contract between Colorado and Colorado State running through to the 2020 season.
“We have a contract and we have to honor it and we’ll do that, and we hope to continue to have a dialogue about bringing it back to campus,” George said, noting that in the 18 months he has been CU’s athletic director, moving the series back to campus has been the topic most often brought*up by*Buff supporters.
The article concluded with this quote from George: “My job is to do what’s best for CU, our athletic department, our teams, our student-athletes and the president and chancellor are very aware of how I feel about this,” George said. “My job is to do what’s in our best interests and I think what’s in our best interests right now is trying to move this game back on campus if we can. We haven’t been able to do that.
“To have a game beyond 2020 at this point, I’m not sure that is in our best interest.”
These comments were jumped on by the Denver media, which, for whatever reason, has never been friendly to CU athletics. Terry Frei of the Denver Post (who prefaces every damnation of CU athletics with “I am a proud CU alum”) went on the radio to state that CU wanting to discontinue the series was “a petulant way to take your ball and go home”.
Rick George then called into the “Sandy and Scott” show on 104.3 the Fan (which can be listened to here) to clarify what he had stated about the contract:*“… we are looking at our schedules, past 2020, and that may or may not involve CSU”, said George. “But right now, post-20, we don’t have any interest in extending (the RMS contract)”.
The battle with the media also went to Twitter. Matt Stephens, who writes for the Coloradoan in Fort Collins, tweeted: “Best part pf Rick George’s comments yesterday: A 54-year-old man decided he needed to be the headline on National Signing Day, not the kids”.* This prompted CU SID Dave Plati to tweet, asking rhetorically what PR people should do: “Cut off interviews to any media who use twitter to take cheap shots at our people. Those who engage are not professionals, they’re immature”.
Want more? Woody Paige even went so far as to suggest that he would go to the state legislature and demand CU be forced to play CSU (for those to young to remember, that was how the Rams forced the Buffs back onto the playing field in 1983, after a 25-year hiatus. Of course, with the state legislature’s support of higher education amounting to less than ten percent of CU’s budget, such threats don’t carry as much weight as they did in 1983).
And don’t even get me started on Mark Kizla at the Denver Post, who seemingly has nothing better to do than tear down the University of Colorado at every opportunity. An example of Kizla’s latest ranting:
“CU football stinks. The attendance at Folsom Field stinks. The latest recruiting class of coach Mike MacIntyre stinks. So, looking for a distraction, athletic director Rick George went off on a rant, yelling at the Rams to get off his lawn and threatening to cancel the Rocky Mountain Showdown when the contract expires in 2020 because CU wants the game back on campus sites, not in Denver. Pardon me while I laugh at George. You mad, bro? Settle down”.
Finally, however, the voice of reason, Neill Woelk, came once again to the rescue. The former columnist for the Daily Camera posted a piece entitled, “Buffs Can Dictate Terms of CU-CSU series“. It should be read in its entirety by every Buff fans, and can be found here.
Some excerpts:
First and foremost, Rick George is a businessman who happens to be involved in college athletics. His job is to create a successful department, both in terms of wins and losses and the bottom line — and the two are inextricably linked.
A game at Folsom Field is much more valuable to George and his customer base than a game in Denver. It’s why George has been trying to change the terms of the current contract and move some of the upcoming games back to Boulder.
….*But the big sticking point is this: they also want a two-for-one deal, meaning two games in Boulder for every game played in Fort Collins or Denver.
That, of course, isn’t playing well in Fort Collins. Interim athletic director John Morris told the Loveland Reporter-Herald last week, “We cannot agree to two games in Boulder and one in Fort Collins. It would have to be a fair agreement.”
But “fair” has never been a cornerstone of business negotiations. George and the Buffs are not interested in “fair.”
… The best solution might be one that has the two schools playing two or three times every five or six years. It would keep interest at a peak and would give both schools a chance to bring other quality opponents into their stadiums when their schedules allow it.
But unless an outside force steps in to change the dynamic, one thing has become quite clear:
The terms will be dictated by CU. If the Rams want the pay day, they’ll agree to those terms.
Otherwise, both programs will go their separate ways.
That’s just the way business works.
My take?
I agree with CU athletic director Rick George as well as Neill Woelk.
CU needs to make a business decision which is in the best interests of the University of Colorado. And continuing to play in Denver does not meet that criterion.
The Buffs are already locked into a nine game Pac-12 schedule, leaving CU with three non-conference games to schedule each season – two each year in which CSU is already on the schedule. Every other year, the Buffs will have five road games to play in conference. Adding in the neutral site game in Denver, CU is already away from campus for six games in those years, with only the four home conference games and two non-conference games left to schedule.
Translation: With the CSU game in Denver, every two year cycle CU has four non-conference games with which to work, and to have a minimum of six home games each year (when some schools have the luxury of playing seven or eight lucrative home games), CU must have three of those four non-conference games be home games.
Try and schedule*attractive home-and-home series against worthy opponents with those restrictions.
Want to know why CU has to schedule one-and-done road games against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan?
The Rocky Mountain Showdown.
Want to know why CU has to schedule one-and-done home games against the likes of Nicholls State and Idaho State?
The Rocky Mountain Showdown.
What I appreciate*about*Rick George is his being honest about CU’s future, even though it might “look bad” to the Denver media. True enough, right now Colorado State is on a high, and Colorado is at an all-time low, but history suggests that will not remain the case.
CSU has won two of the last three games? Yippee. Try an all-time series record of 62-22-2.
CU has suffered through the worst decade-plus in school history. The Buffs’ record in the series the past 12 years? 8-4.
CSU had to force big brother back on to the playing field in 1983 to show it was CU’s equal. The series record since the “rivalry” was resumed in 1983? CU 19 wins; CSU 8.
Yes, CU will take a hit in the media for demanding the series go back to campus, and insisting on a two-for-one deal if the teams do continue to play past 2020.
But it’s time Colorado stop asking for permission from the outside world every time it wants to make a bold move. CU athletics has been*cowered for the past dozen*or more years, first by sex scandals which didn’t exist, then by sexual assault charges which were never filed. Lately, mired in a series of losing seasons unprecedented in school history, Colorado sat back mildly and took its beatings as if they were deserved.
Well, no longer.
The CU athletic department has finally decided that enough is enough.*Facility upgrades are no longer part of a*“ten-year plan” (which never seemed to*get any closer than*ten*years out). CU now has a head coach who understands what it takes to be competitive*in the Pac-12*conference, and is building a nucleus of personnel – both on and off the field – which can make that a reality.
And CU has an athletic director who will do what’s right for the University of Colorado when it comes to the Rocky*Mountain Showdown,*refusing to be bullied by*media outcry or little brother pouting.
That’s the way it should be.
It’s time for CU to*once again be CU.
——
Originally posted by CU At the Game
Click here to vie
