Silly WIU rumor

[leatherface]

I don't consider pro golfers to be athletes either. The "sport" generates no income for the school, has few participants, ( so it doesn't assist in admissions) and has no following except for family and friends. Providing scholarships, travel and other expenses for golf is a non priority to me. You disagree, that's fine. I would cut here first if cuts to any teams were made. Next, I would consider Tennis. These are athletes, but again, few participants, generate no income and low following. Why spend limited resources on travel etc.

Didn't mean to " fire" you up.

[WIU0812]

Leatherface, guess you weren't aware Golf was being added to the Olympics. Oh, and have you heard about the PGA and LPGA, the Solheim Cup and the Walker Cup, etc. I'd venture there are far more people who play golf than say, play football, after college. No, not many go pro, but then, I don't see that as the purpose of college sport.

Olympics is bad example as they have plenty of "sports" that have no following except once every 4 years. There is definitely events that take a great deal of talent and practice to get good at, but they just do not interest the general public or at least they do not interest them unless it is some big event such as olympics. I would say the Olympics has more hobbies than sports, but they are hobbies that require you to be in fit shape and have plenty of practice not video games or something like that. I guess it just depends on how you look at a sport, I see sports as games that bring in large amounts of revenue, fans and advertisement. Hobbies are those which basically have to be funded by the individual and they do it for the love of the game. Golf in this instance could be considered a sport as some how it produces ridiculous winnings for those who place even 50 places back from first. I do not think it will ever get the TV ratings of more major sports, but it seems to get turned on at my local sports bar every so often even if no one watches. When it comes to college golf though I am sure it generates next to nothing as far as revenue is concerned.

As for the playing golf after college that is more because of the physical nature of each and that golf allows you to drink beer while playing. If you could play football like you do golf and not get beat up or have issues once you got older I am sure you would see tons of park district leagues and what not, but the nature of sport requires you to be in peak physical condition which most of us know after say 30 becomes much more difficult to maintain.

Just my two cents on that. As for the cuts I see Swimming and Diving going first and then perhaps cross country if they travel much. Tennis just got new courts, but they could turn those in to student courts I suppose. I would just be prepared to see some where around 4 to 6 sports cut (Mens Swimming, Womens swimming, Mens Tennis, Womens Tennis, Cross Country, ETC.) They may not cost the school as much as football, basketball and baseball, but they draw far far less interest from students and alumni and it would be silly to cut a sport that people actually follow and leave ones that hardly anyone cares about.

[ST_Lawson]

I don't consider pro golfers to be athletes either. The "sport" generates no income for the school, has few participants, ( so it doesn't assist in admissions) and has no following except for family and friends. Providing scholarships, travel and other expenses for golf is a non priority to me. You disagree, that's fine. I would cut here first if cuts to any teams were made. Next, I would consider Tennis. These are athletes, but again, few participants, generate no income and low following. Why spend limited resources on travel etc.

Didn't mean to " fire" you up.

Another thing to keep in mind though is the cost of maintaining facilities. With golf, I don't know if the facility pays for itself, but I do know that it brings in quite a bit of money. Team or not, you're going to have a golf course there...it's a nice course and used for plenty of other events, fundraisers, etc. With swimming/diving, the pool is also used by a few classes and I think the SCUBA club, but we do have another pool on campus, so they might be able to work out an arrangement and not have to have both pools up and running all the time. Tennis is kinda the same way, although the few other tennis courts we have are kinda out of the way (and if the CPA ever gets built, one set of courts will go away). But as far as I know, nobody pays to use the pool or the tennis courts, so they don't really bring in any other revenue to help pay for their maintenance. Essentially, cutting Tennis or Swimming/Diving, we might be able to somewhat reduce the cost of facility maintenance as well, whereas if we cut golf, that wouldn't happen.

[sealhall74]

Another interesting thing about golf IMO is that, at our level anyway, it probably offers the best chance among all of our sports for a stud athlete (yes, I consider it a sport) to make it big and give back to the university (publicity and/or dollars). D A Weibring, a native of Quincy, pretty much did that for ISU, winning several PGA tour events and their campus course is now named after him.

Small cost to keep it around but could pay off huge in the future.

[wiu712]

President Thomas issued a statement today about current and future cost-saving options.
http://www.wiu.edu/news/newsrelease.php ... e_id=12999

Western is not the only state university involved with rumors.

A family member (Eastern grad) has heard chatter about EIU being incorporated into the University of Illinois system--just like Sangamon State (now UIS) was in 1995.

The longer that this budget stalemate goes on, the more rumors that we will hear.

[sealhall74]

So just how serious are we when it comes to making our point that this budget problem needs to be fixed and fixed now? I see today is Student Advocacy Day and some faculty, staff, students, etc. apparently made their way to Springfield. Are they taking signs to wave to those yoyos as they walk into the capitol building? Do they have demonstration chants to yell in unison? We need to do this right. I will be there on Friday with nothing much else to do. Let me know if I can help.

[Tere North]

OK, so it seems football and basketball are the only sports that count - got it. But, you want to remain D1, so you have a problem as that requires at least 14 sports, either 7 men and 7 women, or 6 men and 8 women. So, what do you add to meet that D1 minimum. Where is there interest and success certainly are questions that come to mind, but also, how about what contributes the most to the community. It is because WIU had men's golf that we got the back 9 added to the golf course, giving us a legitimate 18-hole course, thanks to Eric Gleacher's donation. That would seem to be a vote for golf.

[leatherface]

When I see 10,000 plus people pay to watch one of our golf matches on a routine basis, then I will give it the props it deserves. Right now it is a minor sport that should be looked at if and when any cuts should be made. IMO

Didn't realize Macomb couldn't afford a 18 hole course without WIU providing support.

[ST_Lawson]

Right (as Tere said), we can't just go cutting everything except football and basketball. There's requirements we have to follow to be a part of DI and the Summit League.

Another thing to think about is where does the funding come from for athletics? How much of it is subsidized directly from the university (originating from the state), how much is from student fees, and how much is from donations and sponsorships? I don't honestly know the answer, but if it's only a small percentage of funding coming from the state that goes to the athletics department, then it would likely take longer for the budget issues to affect athletics. If, however, it's a large percentage, then obviously there's going to be serious issues very soon.

It's not all about selling tickets and bringing in money too...a large part of college athletics is to provide a more well-rounded experience for the students who participate, as well as providing opportunities (scholarships) for kids who have talents, but not always the financial ability to handle the costs of going to college.

[leatherface]

A quick follow up to Tere- not wanting to pick a fight. You mentioned if it wasn't for WIU golf, Macomb wouldn't have a 18 hole course. Why is it WIU's or its students responsibility to provide venues/services for the citizens of Macomb?