The Flutie Factor (as promised Bonwich et al)

[Marlow]

While it's fun to theorize just how much effect an athletic program has on the school spirit and enrollment of a college or university, in reality it's all about the BOTTOM LINE. And the bottom line at all colleges and universities is the market value of endowment assets. It is THE sign of stability and educational prominence that colleges and universities tout to students, alums, and donors. And SLU is the number 3 Catholic university (behind only Notre Dame and Boston College) in the country. SLU is even ahead of Georgetown. In endowment, they are leagues ahead of most other Catholic universities. Santa Clara is one the closest to them--any wonder why Biondi hired the AD from Santa Clara. What is remarkable is that SLU is not too far removed from those days of being in danger of closing its doors, until Father Reinert was able to enlist Augie Busch and Bob Hope to save it financially.

The message behind this is that a university president is usually wise enough to know that he/she has a far better chance of growing the endowment and increasing stability through a student who becomes head of a law firm than through one who becomes an NBA player. Is it possible to use the financial assets to build recognition and excitement through athletics? Absolutely. Do athletics keep a university afloat? No way. SLU was in danger of closing its doors at a time when they were able to recruit just about every high school star who played in the St. Louis metro area. They were in contention for Missouri Valley championships--one of the toughest conferences in the country at the time--just about every year, and they built plenty of excitement at Kiel.

[courtside]

>While it's fun to theorize just how much effect an athletic

>program has on the school spirit and enrollment of a college

>or university, in reality it's all about the BOTTOM LINE.

>And the bottom line at all colleges and universities is the

>market value of endowment assets. It is THE sign of

>stability and educational prominence that colleges and

>universities tout to students, alums, and donors. And SLU

>is the number 3 Catholic university (behind only Notre Dame

>and Boston College) in the country. SLU is even ahead of

>Georgetown. In endowment, they are leagues ahead of most

>other Catholic universities. Santa Clara is one the closest

>to them--any wonder why Biondi hired the AD from Santa

>Clara. What is remarkable is that SLU is not too far

>removed from those days of being in danger of closing its

>doors, until Father Reinert was able to enlist Augie Busch

>and Bob Hope to save it financially.

>

>The message behind this is that a university president is

>usually wise enough to know that he/she has a far better

>chance of growing the endowment and increasing stability

>through a student who becomes head of a law firm than

>through one who becomes an NBA player. Is it possible to

>use the financial assets to build recognition and excitement

>through athletics? Absolutely. Do athletics keep a

>university afloat? No way. SLU was in danger of closing

>its doors at a time when they were able to recruit just

>about every high school star who played in the St. Louis

>metro area. They were in contention for Missouri Valley

>championships--one of the toughest conferences in the

>country at the time--just about every year, and they built

>plenty of excitement at Kiel.

It isn't much of a theory. When does it become fact? How many examples do you need?

As you talk about your lawyers, remember that studies also have shown that athletic alumni give back at far greater percentages of people than the rest of the general student body.(hope that lawyer played a sport)

The excitement and profile on campus and in the communit is undervalued, as is the profile raised regionally and nationally for potenetial students and alums.

The original topic was more in line with can athletic success help a University in Academics and in other areas, and the answer is a resounding yes. I don't think one person in any thread suggested athletics keep a University afloat, far from it.

[huzzah]

I believe the greatest impact of success in athletics is monetary. Florida will rake in 130 million this year, after their success in fb and bb. Ohio State will earn 103 million. This revenue comes from sale of gear, tournament money, TV money, ticket sales, etc. In addition contributions to the schools from alumni will increase. In regard to applications for admission, the Ivy League leads followed by schools in the elite academic catagory. The schools do not possess academic prowness. For St. Louis U success in athletics will help fund the sports activities, but will have a much smaller effect on admissions, including quality thereof. The scholastic elite, not athletic dominant schools, are turning down people with perfect SAT scores and 4.0 HS GPA's. As a consequence prospective students are, by necessity, applying to as many as 6 schools. The attraction for these students is academic standing of the school, not athletic success. If SLU began making NCAA appearances on a regular basis, such as we did under early Spoon, I can imagine ticket sales increasing back to 18,000. But wait, our facility only holds 10,000 and 1,000 goes to students, band, etc. Ticket prices go up because of demand. Can you imagine the gear sales? The Billiken mascot is unique. Father Biondi has done a tremendous job improving the campus and raising funds, but fund raising is a never ending job. The new medical research facility will help gain government grants for research and success on the bb court will help raise revenue for the school. What these two things have in common is production of revenue.

[kevinfootes]

.

[davidnark]

Everything you said is very true, but very good but not elite Midwestern colleges such as SLU, Marquette, and Dayton (see http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/r...udoc_brief.php) need every ounce of national publicity that is availability to drive admissions and diversity. There is perhaps no greater bang-for-the-buck in this regard than a big NCAA tournament appearance and run.