(07-03-2013 11:52 PM)nzmorange Wrote:  

(07-03-2013 10:20 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Why KSU over UC in the SEC? They're both Northern schools with 2 BCS losses, except one has twice the alumni base, endowment, and market size as the other (hint: it's not KSU), and one has won multiple national championships in team sports and the other has zero (hint: it's not KSU).

KSU has more tradition and a more profitable athletic department. They also have the potential to quickly grow their athletic department faster than any other school. I think that this is often overlooked, but I read that KSU is more in the back than anyone else. Or, at the very least, they rank amongst the most profitable teams.

Tradition:
All that KSU has over UC in tradition is a good run in the 1990s in football. UC was better both before and after that. Before 1990, UC went to more official bowl games (2) than KSU (1). UC has a higher all-time winning percentage (51%) than KSU (44%). In the last 10 years, UC has a better bowl record (5-2 compared to 0-5) and UC has finished the season ranked more times (5) than KSU (4).

UC has more people enshrined in Canton (1), Cooperstown (2), and Springfield (2) than KSU (2 in Springfield, 0 in the others). In basketball, UC has won 2 national titles, while KSU has never won a national title in anything. UC has been to the Sweet 16 more times in the last 20 years (5) than KSU (1).

On top of that, some historians say that UC started the tradition of bowl games when we were invited to play against LSU after our 9-1 1896 season. UC also plays on the oldest playing field in FBS.


Profitability:
The difference between KSU and UC in revenue is $15 million. The difference between our conference revenue disbersements was somewhere between $14-16 million. If we had gotten the golden ticket to the Big 12 instead of WVU, we'd have the same revenue as KSU.

Potential:
KSU is the 2nd largest school in the smallest state in the Union with 2 BCS schools. UC is the 2nd largest school in the state that produces the 5th highest number of NFL draft picks. UC has almost double the alumni base of KSU, and more than triple the endowment.

UC just announced a stadium upgrade that is projected to increase profits by $3-5 million/year. It will increase revenue by much more than that, although for the first 10 years much of it will go to pay off the bonds that are financing part of the construction. This brings our total investment in athletic facilities to $220 million over the last 10 years.


Top-to-bottom, KSU isn't a bad athletic department by any means. But it does not have more profitability, potential, or tradition than UC.