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Posts tagged as “athletics subsidy”

Athletic Dept to give the academic side $5.8M from new TV contract!

Great news – just as President Gottfredson promised the Senate he’d try and do! This will certainly help reduce the expected tuition increases! Just kidding, this news is from the University of Wisconsin athletic department. And of course there’s some funny accounting anyway – story here. But still, it’s progress. How did it…

AD Mullens buys out Duck basketball coach Don Altman for 12 Gottfredsons

11/29/2016 update: The RG’s Ryan Thornburn has the shocking details here.

Or at least I think it was the basketball coach – he’s about to drop out of the rankings too. But maybe his buyout is next year.

Meanwhile, Mullens, Altman, Helfrich and the other well-paid Athletic Department employees haven’t been giving much to the University’s Charitable Fund Drive for state and community charities:

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11/28/2016 update: Matt Helfrich wins excellent $9.4M buyout with lousy 34-44 Civil War loss

UO students would rather do homework than watch Duck football

10/30/2016: First it was the survey revealing that students cared more about UO’s Urban Farm Program than big-time college sports. Now, according to sports reporter Kenny Jacoby in the Daily Emerald and his report on the brief student turnout for the Arizona State game, the list of things our students prefer to watching the Ducks has grown to include a nap, Halloween, and yes, homework:

Oregon was winning 30-22 when masses of students started heading for the exits. I was curious why they chose this point in the game to leave, with the Ducks on the verge of their first win since Sept. 10. So I went down to the concourse level, stood at the top of the stairs above the South Gate and asked departing students why they were leaving. Here are some of their responses:

“I’m really, really high, and I want to lie down,” the first student said.

“It’s Halloween weekend,” said another.

“We’re tired from last night. We’re trying to nap and recover before going out to tonight. I just turned 21.”

“We’re tired. I have homework to do.”

Which does raise the question of why the ASUO is paying Rob Mullens, Eric Roedl and the Duck sports enterprise $1.7M for “free” tickets. More on that here.

9/15/2015: UO’s urban farm brings in more students than Duck athletics

And, according to the NYT, it’s part of a movement. UO’s Landscape Architecture department is now running two sections, just a few slots left:

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Not bad compared to student attendance at Dana Altman’s basketball games.

2/27/14: UO students say “sorry Ducks, we’re just not that into you.”

Price elasticity remains top threat to Duck Athletics, followed by the NCAA and professors

Here’s a bit from Athletic Department Director Rob Mullen’s July 2012 planning document, full pdf here. Price elasticity is the top threat to Duck Athletics, followed by the NCAA, and Professors Harbaugh and Tublitz: RG sports reporter Steve Mims reported on the elasticity threat w.r.s.t. Dana Altman’s basketball team back in March, here:…

Washington Post calls for controls on big-time athletic pork

Columnist Sally Jenkins, here: … For years, athletic directors have styled themselves as CEO-types and moaned about the difficulties of managing costs. But a Washington Post project published earlier this week shows that these so-called executives are about as fiscally responsible as Gabor sisters serving sevruga in chinchilla capes. The truth…

Ducks to let regular UO students go upstairs at Jock Box

but just this Thursday at 1:00, for a meeting of the Senate’s Intercollegiate Athletics Committee: Word is that SSA Director Steve Stolp and his boss Lorraine Davis will address questions about the effectiveness of the Services for Student Athletes operation, which segregates Duck athletes from regular UO students while making the regular…

Judge Aiken issues order in Duck / Chip Kelly bonus insurance dispute

11/16/2015: Full docket here, full opinion here. I have no idea what it means, except that UO’s lawyers at Harrang, Long, Gary and Rudnick are going to get many more billable hours out of us before this ends: 2/17/2015: UO sues over Chip Kelly’s bonus insurance policy The bonuses Rob Mullens and Dana Altman…