Huckleberries Online

Nebraska Provides UI $800K Payday

Posted by DFO

Sept. 7, 2010 1:47 p.m. • 16 comments

Later this week I’ll have a story on the financial ramifications of Idaho football’s scheduling. For now, though, here are a few details: The payout for Saturday’s Nebraska game, $800,000, is the largest the Vandals have ever received, according to athletic director Rob Spear. But the high mark won’t last long. Next year, UI is getting $850,000 to play at Texas A&M. And in 2012, LSU is paying the Vandals $950,000 to come to Baton Rouge. The previous high for a payout was $600,000 for the USC game in 2007 and Arizona in 2008, Spear said/Josh Wright, SR Sportslink.

Question: Is it in Idaho’s best interests to risk injuries to key players in a mismatch game with a powerhouse team like Nebraska, for an $800K payday (see today’s poll in lefthand rail, too)?

16 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

powderfarmer on September 07 at 11:28 a.m.
When you have away games at La Tech and Hawaii in the same season and the football travel costs alone is $250K for those two games…….

The financial gap between the haves and have nots in college football is increasing exponentially. Idaho can’t keep up the financial arms race by any stretch of the imagination. The lack of current and future TV revenue for Idaho also puts them behind the money 8-ball.

Schools like Idaho have no choice but to take these bodybag games and the big paychecks that come with them. They have to in order to pay for the football program and all the other non-revenue programs in the athletic department.
TALKJOC on September 07 at 11:32 a.m.
College football programs are the main money makers for their athletic departments. The large payouts help support mens & womens programs that don’t carry their weight financially. As much as it’s risky (injury wise), it also gives the university a stage…play well, other big paydays follow. Recruiting also benefits. I say play away so that others may too.
jazzyvandal on September 07 at 11:50 a.m.
I think Idaho beats the spread. Everyone thought Utah state would get blown out at Oklahoma and it was a close one. Ole miss got beat by jacksonville state for goodness sakes. Any given Saturday . DFO is truly on the bsu bandwagon and gives Idaho no shot
idawa on September 07 at 11:55 a.m.
there was a good article last week in the NYTimes about big money in college sports despite the economic condition of their host schools -

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/sports/03cup.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sports%20money%20&st=cse

the most telling line from the article,”All but 14 of the 120 athletic programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision — the highest level of college sports — lost money in the 2008-9 academic year, down from 25 profitable programs the year before, according to the N.C.A.A.”
DFO on September 07 at 12:02 p.m.
@ Jazzyvandal re: “DFO is truly on the bsu bandwagon and gives Idaho no shot …”

I’m on both bandwagons … and I’m also a realist. I think Idaho will beat the spread, too. But I’m also worried that a key player is going to get hurt when the depth of Nebraska takes over in the second half. I’m a Vandal fan. Ditto for a Boise State fan. You diehard partisans might not understand that. But it’s easy to root for both teams from Idaho until they play each other. I don’t share the silly antipathy that some of you Vandal fans have for Boise. And vice versa.
moscow_minidoka on September 07 at 1:09 p.m.
“I don’t share the silly antipathy that some of you Vandal fans have for Boise.”

For me, it’s not silly, and it’s not about football. You have the president of a state university publicly bashing the oldest and most respected university in the state at a time that we are all scrambling for our little piece of the higher education funding pie - I find that entirely unacceptable and unforgivable. The presidents of Idaho’s public universities should be rallying around together to convince Idaho’s leaders to support higher ed, not tear down another university.

I could cheer for BSU in the past, because it was neat to see an Idaho team doing so well. Not any longer. Boise State needs to be put in its place. It’s a football program with a mediocre commuter college attached to it.

At least in the WAC you could make the claim that BSU helps the University of Idaho by putting money in the WAC pie - so it made sense to cheer for the Broncos. But next year, they’re taking their show to the Mountain West, and the WAC will be limping along.

Bob Kustra can take a flying leap at a rolling donut. For some reason, he is incapable of building BSU up without tearing Idaho down. “Nasty and inebriated”? Oh brother - I lived in Boise for two years and I’ve still never seen a Vandal fan who could be any more obnoxious than the idiots tailgating at Bronco Stadium on a Saturday morning…

I’m glad the Vandals play for money - it’d be stupid not to. And since it’s nonconference play, what’s the worst that can happen (other than an injury)?
TALKJOC on September 07 at 1:28 p.m.
I second that! Well said MM.
Bubblehead on September 07 at 1:32 p.m.
No real opinion, I just like seeing Nebraska being referred to as a “powerhouse team” again.
Wally on September 07 at 4:30 p.m.
If you watched the BJC-VaTech game and paid any attention to the public service announcements that were broadcast during the contest, you saw VaTech tout its various academic anbd research programs while Bunco State touted its … football program.

Stay classy, all you BJC Donkey fans.
keithincda on September 07 at 4:59 p.m.
I just returned to my driveway a few hours ago from a 4 day 2100+ mile round trip Harley ride through Montana and Wyoming to Steamboat Springs before turning back yesterday to return home.

On Saturday when I left Cda I passed (twice, the 1st time after stopping for gas in St Regis, the 2nd after gas and a Starbucks coffee in Missoula) an older motorhome on I-90 that had a Vandal pennant and a Nebraska pennant in the windows. Based on the age and condition of the motorhome it’s a good thing they left Saturday, they just might be in Eastern Montana by now as they trek to Nebraska for the game!
lovetohateme on September 07 at 5:51 p.m.
My thoughts exactly, MM. (Is that twice in one week I’ve agreed with you? The world must be due to implode.) Every word you just said was spot on.

Additionally, I took exception to Kustra’s comments about those who criticize the academics at his school. They ARE abysmal. A 6% 4-year graduation rate and 26% overall graduation rate is not something in which to take pride. It’s a community college masquerading as a university. And it’s a football factory.

Keep in mind, I didn’t attend Idaho or Boise, I’m just passionate about quality higher education which is Idaho’s pride and Boise’s mudflaps, or as they say in the commercials: Come see our football team! Oh, and there’s a school attached to the stadium.

It’s annoying.
jazzyvandal on September 07 at 7:39 p.m.
DFO, I understand where you are coming from, but as MM said, it’s not all about football. I cannot appreciate Boise State anymore, especially after what President Kustra said. Many BSU fans agree with what he said and want to do whatever it takes to take the University of Idaho down. There’s even a state legislature candidate that wants move academic programs to Boise State and make them the “flagship university”. idaho schools need to be working together and improving educational opportunities for Idahoans.

Bob Kustra is bad for education in this state. It is utterly embarrassing that a university president is so up front and center about a football program. He is unapologetic about his comments. It angers me that a highly paid state employee can get away with it. He’s feeding into a football frenzy fan base that thinks BSU can do no wrong. The Boise media is largely to blame for this. BSU football is the only good thing going on in Idaho, which is a very sad state of affairs.

How is BSU winning so great for the state of Idaho? What has it done for education? How many businesses are moving to Idaho? How is it building infrastructure? Why are so many businesses going to other states, such as Utah (where I live now). You tell me.
jreighley on September 07 at 9:35 p.m.
Yes, Idaho should play powerhouses when they have the chance. You never know when you will have a good day at the same time they have a bad day.

Once that happens momentum builds— Opponents fear you. Kids want to play for you. etc..

Besides Enderle gets to play at home.
powderfarmer on September 07 at 9:58 p.m.
fyi on the academics and football factory comments as they pertain to BSU and Idaho.

BSU’s most recent academic progress rating for football is 966 which puts them in the 80th-90th percentile for football.

Basketball over the same time period is 962.

UofI’s academic progress rating for football over the same time period is 905 which puts them in the 10th-20th percentile for football.

Basketball over the same period for UofI is 899.

A score below 900 could cause a program to lose scholarships for that sport.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/ncaa/ncaa/academics+and+athletes/education+and+research/academic+reform/apr/2009/2007-08_school_apr_data.html
regularjoe on September 08 at 5:24 a.m.
Mr Bloggy…you are an idiot. Your vulgar ignorance has no place here. Show some class and go somewhere else.

Concerning the original question…Idaho players aren’t at any greater risk of injury than Nebraska players are. It’s a great opportunity to put Idaho in the national spotlight, which can only help athletic recruiting and admissions numbers. Let’s take the $800k and use it to improve our University &/or offset existing costs.
lovetohateme on September 08 at 1:49 p.m.
Do the words “Majoring in Eligibility” mean anything to you, pf? ‘Cause BSU is the poster child of that concept.

« Back to Huckleberries Online

You must be logged in to post comments.
Please create a profile or log in here.

About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.