what ever happened to NU's plans for stadium, arena? renovation?

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Drover

Even at the FCS level, ISU and SIU aren't particularly dominant in any given year. In the 35+ years since Division I-AA/FCS was created, SIU has made it to the playoffs only 8 times and ISU only 5 times. Compare that to, say, 15 appearances by EIU or 16 by Furman or 17 by Northern Iowa but nobody is suggesting they move up to FBS. If SIU or ISU want to run with the big boys, they need to run with the little boys first.

i agree. i was addressing the size and scope of the universities themselves…..they very similar to your typical MAC university….something that wouldn't be true for, say, EIU.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Northwestern's lukewarm embrace of the college sports culture is exactly as it should be. There are only two reasons I can think of for a college to have a sports program:

1. To provide an opportunity for students to play sports, as a part of their education, and
2. To generate profits to be used for educating students and supporting the research efforts of the faculty.

One can also make a (weak) case that the awareness of a school provided by its competitive sports helps it to recruit good students.

But running an entertainment business on the side does not seem to me to be a legitimate function of a tax-exempt college or university.

So Northwestern has it exactly right. Run a sports program but don't allow it to take over. Welsh-Ryan is fine. If I want to see a game, I can walk there and get in without reserving my place three years in advance and without contributing hundreds of dollars to the school. The next big donation should go to refurbishing the Tech Center, not to building a snazzy replacement for the football stadium.

Northwestern might not have the sheer number of fans of the other Big Ten schools (which is to be expected when it has 1/4th or 1/5th of the number of undergrads compared to the average Big Ten public university), but don't mistake that for thinking that there's a "lukewarm embrace of college sports" amongst the school administration itself.

When the Big Ten signs its new TV deals within the next couple of years, every Big Ten school (from Ohio State down to Northwestern, who all split such TV money equally) will be making more TV money than most Major League Baseball and NBA teams (and virtually all NHL teams outside of Canada). College sports are BIG business because of the power of television if you're in one of the 5 power conferences (which includes Northwestern) - you can see by the TV ratings that college football is very clearly the #2 sport in America behind the NFL.

Also, on a related note on this thread, I've always thought that Chicago's college sports fandom is severely underrated. Sure, pro sports are dominant here as they are in most major cities. All of the 5 major pro teams (particularly the Bears) will drive the sports conversation here. However, comparing Chicago's sports fandom to college towns in the South or even Tucson (who I saw someone in this thread mentioning as an example) is quite ludicrous because they aren't peer markets at all. When you compare Chicago's base of college sports fans to its legit pro sports market counterparts like New York, Philadelphia and Boston, we here in Chicago have a MUCH larger college sports fan presence and a lot more media coverage because of the proximity of the Big Ten schools and Notre Dame. Just look at the hordes of people out of college that move into Lincoln Park and Lakeview every year - they are disproportionately from the Big Ten where college sports are huge (whereas their comparable counterparts in NYC and Boston are typically from schools like NYU or BU with little school spirit). Chicago might not have the large base of college sports fans that are unaffiliated with the school that they're cheering for (like you'll see in much of SEC country), but we do have a very large critical mass of actual alums of big-time college sports schools and conferences (especially compared to the East Coast).

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

Northwestern might not have the sheer number of fans of the other Big Ten schools (which is to be expected when it has 1/4th or 1/5th of the number of undergrads compared to the average Big Ten public university), but don't mistake that for thinking that there's a "lukewarm embrace of college sports" amongst the school administration itself.

When the Big Ten signs its new TV deals within the next couple of years, every Big Ten school (from Ohio State down to Northwestern, who all split such TV money equally) will be making more TV money than most Major League Baseball and NBA teams (and virtually all NHL teams outside of Canada). College sports are BIG business because of the power of television if you're in one of the 5 power conferences (which includes Northwestern) - you can see by the TV ratings that college football is very clearly the #2 sport in America behind the NFL.

Also, on a related note on this thread, I've always thought that Chicago's college sports fandom is severely underrated. Sure, pro sports are dominant here as they are in most major cities. All of the 5 major pro teams (particularly the Bears) will drive the sports conversation here. However, comparing Chicago's sports fandom to college towns in the South or even Tucson (who I saw someone in this thread mentioning as an example) is quite ludicrous because they aren't peer markets at all. When you compare Chicago's base of college sports fans to its legit pro sports market counterparts like New York, Philadelphia and Boston, we here in Chicago have a MUCH larger college sports fan presence and a lot more media coverage because of the proximity of the Big Ten schools and Notre Dame. Just look at the hordes of people out of college that move into Lincoln Park and Lakeview every year - they are disproportionately from the Big Ten where college sports are huge (whereas their comparable counterparts in NYC and Boston are typically from schools like NYU or BU with little school spirit). Chicago might not have the large base of college sports fans that are unaffiliated with the school that they're cheering for (like you'll see in much of SEC country), but we do have a very large critical mass of actual alums of big-time college sports schools and conferences (especially compared to the East Coast).

THANK YOU!