I don't intend this post to start a flame war as to whether Burman sucks or doesn't suck, or if Bohl is the right guy or the wrong guy, or any of that. I have come to believe that most of that is almost completely irrelevant. If you're looking for more of that go see some of my other posts.
The information below also isn't intended to show that winning is impossible. Far from it. We could still occasionally catch lightning in a bottle. What I am trying to show below is what I think it would take to create a sustained championship caliber football and basketball program. Not a program that competes for a title every five years, but a program that competes for a conference title every year and is relevant on the national stage.
I posted this stuff on the other board in response to a question. I usually try not to cross-pollinate, but I figured what the hell. It's almost Friday.
Wyoming currently spends about $7.5 million/year on football. We spend about $4.5 million/year on basketball. How does that compare?
Gonzaga's annual basketball budget is about $9.4 million/year. They spend zero on football. San Diego State spends about $8.5 million on basketball and about $12 million on football. Colorado State spends about $6.5 million on basketball along with the $12 million on football.
What's this have to do with the price of tea in China? Here's what: Wyoming spends on football and basketball combined about what CSU and SDSU each spend just for football.
So let's say Burman, the president and the trustees all got drunk one night and committed to going all-in to win championships in BOTH football and basketball. And let's also say that they're going to do it by achieving parity of resources and not by relying on some tired shit about being "Cowboy Tough" or working "harder and smarter." What would the budget look like to get there?
I would say Wyoming needs to spend at least $12 million/year (same as CSU, SDSU and in Boise's neighborhood) to win championships in football. And if we want to build a real, perennial Sweet 16 or deeper threat in basketball we probably need to plus up the basketball budget to about $8 million (in SDSU and Gonzaga's neighborhood). That's a total of $20 million/year, or about $8 million MORE per year than we currently spend. How do we get a new $8 million in operating funds?
People will say all the fans need to increase their contributions to the Cowboy Joe Club. Ok, great. The CJC has about 4,500 members and generates about $3.25 million in cash donations throughout the year. This obviously does not count the huge facility gifts from the McMurry's, Rochelle's, etc. This isn't perfect math, and I've worked it backward from publicly available information (no inside sources here) but I believe each CJC member currently donates, on average, about $722 a year.
So let's say EVERYONE in the CJC doubled their contribution overnight. This is meant to sound impossible to illustrate the problem because going this route is, actually, impossible. If every single member doubled overnight, CJC would generate an additional $3.25 million every year to throw at this effort. Or, basically, it would get us not even halfway to our goal.
What about season tickets? UW football sells about 7500 season tickets every year at about $200/seat (about $1.5 million/yr). Basketball sells about 4000 season tickets at about $230/seat (about $920,000/yr). I know these costs aren't exact. There are variables involved so don't kill me. But they're close enough to make the point. So if, overnight, UW doubled the cost of season tickets (or sold twice as many) we would raise revenues by about $1.4 million/year.
So if we all of a sudden doubled CJC donations AND doubled season ticket sales AND didn't lose a single season ticket holder or CJC member, we could raise revenue by about $4.6 million. Awesome! We're halfway there!
I'm going to stop now because I think the point has been made. You can see the real revenue picture below in the screen grab from the USA Today website. If you believe, like I do, that winning costs money and that competitive parity probably requires spending parity, then there are very few paths to find an additional $8 million/year. To piece it together UW would have to double CJC donations AND double season ticket sales AND double student fees AND find another $2 million/year from some other magical pot of gold.
OR...
The numbers are right there. The only real, conceivable path is to significantly increase the amount of state support to operational funds for athletics. This shouldn't be that hard of a lift. Once the HAPC is complete, I believe the total amount of state funds directed to athletics facilities improvements in the past 15 years will be about $45 million. That's just facilities. If we can spend $45 million on bricks and mortar, couldn't we also spend that on, you know, actual winning?
The question is likely moot for the next few years due to the state's revenue picture, but the opportunity has been there. This state floats on an ocean of cash. Wyoming has the 33rd largest sovereign wealth fund IN THE WORLD.
Doubling season tickets and CJC donations and all that is a functional impossibility. The numbers just don't exist to support it. It is complete fantasy. But finding another $8 million in the state budget takes 16 votes in the Senate, 31 votes in the State House and 1 signature in the governor's office.
Significantly increased state support is the only way to make this happen. It's just a matter of whether the university's leaders have the backbone to pursue it, and if the elected leaders in the state have the will to support it.
The information below also isn't intended to show that winning is impossible. Far from it. We could still occasionally catch lightning in a bottle. What I am trying to show below is what I think it would take to create a sustained championship caliber football and basketball program. Not a program that competes for a title every five years, but a program that competes for a conference title every year and is relevant on the national stage.
I posted this stuff on the other board in response to a question. I usually try not to cross-pollinate, but I figured what the hell. It's almost Friday.
Wyoming currently spends about $7.5 million/year on football. We spend about $4.5 million/year on basketball. How does that compare?
Gonzaga's annual basketball budget is about $9.4 million/year. They spend zero on football. San Diego State spends about $8.5 million on basketball and about $12 million on football. Colorado State spends about $6.5 million on basketball along with the $12 million on football.
What's this have to do with the price of tea in China? Here's what: Wyoming spends on football and basketball combined about what CSU and SDSU each spend just for football.
So let's say Burman, the president and the trustees all got drunk one night and committed to going all-in to win championships in BOTH football and basketball. And let's also say that they're going to do it by achieving parity of resources and not by relying on some tired shit about being "Cowboy Tough" or working "harder and smarter." What would the budget look like to get there?
I would say Wyoming needs to spend at least $12 million/year (same as CSU, SDSU and in Boise's neighborhood) to win championships in football. And if we want to build a real, perennial Sweet 16 or deeper threat in basketball we probably need to plus up the basketball budget to about $8 million (in SDSU and Gonzaga's neighborhood). That's a total of $20 million/year, or about $8 million MORE per year than we currently spend. How do we get a new $8 million in operating funds?
People will say all the fans need to increase their contributions to the Cowboy Joe Club. Ok, great. The CJC has about 4,500 members and generates about $3.25 million in cash donations throughout the year. This obviously does not count the huge facility gifts from the McMurry's, Rochelle's, etc. This isn't perfect math, and I've worked it backward from publicly available information (no inside sources here) but I believe each CJC member currently donates, on average, about $722 a year.
So let's say EVERYONE in the CJC doubled their contribution overnight. This is meant to sound impossible to illustrate the problem because going this route is, actually, impossible. If every single member doubled overnight, CJC would generate an additional $3.25 million every year to throw at this effort. Or, basically, it would get us not even halfway to our goal.
What about season tickets? UW football sells about 7500 season tickets every year at about $200/seat (about $1.5 million/yr). Basketball sells about 4000 season tickets at about $230/seat (about $920,000/yr). I know these costs aren't exact. There are variables involved so don't kill me. But they're close enough to make the point. So if, overnight, UW doubled the cost of season tickets (or sold twice as many) we would raise revenues by about $1.4 million/year.
So if we all of a sudden doubled CJC donations AND doubled season ticket sales AND didn't lose a single season ticket holder or CJC member, we could raise revenue by about $4.6 million. Awesome! We're halfway there!
I'm going to stop now because I think the point has been made. You can see the real revenue picture below in the screen grab from the USA Today website. If you believe, like I do, that winning costs money and that competitive parity probably requires spending parity, then there are very few paths to find an additional $8 million/year. To piece it together UW would have to double CJC donations AND double season ticket sales AND double student fees AND find another $2 million/year from some other magical pot of gold.
OR...
The numbers are right there. The only real, conceivable path is to significantly increase the amount of state support to operational funds for athletics. This shouldn't be that hard of a lift. Once the HAPC is complete, I believe the total amount of state funds directed to athletics facilities improvements in the past 15 years will be about $45 million. That's just facilities. If we can spend $45 million on bricks and mortar, couldn't we also spend that on, you know, actual winning?
The question is likely moot for the next few years due to the state's revenue picture, but the opportunity has been there. This state floats on an ocean of cash. Wyoming has the 33rd largest sovereign wealth fund IN THE WORLD.
Doubling season tickets and CJC donations and all that is a functional impossibility. The numbers just don't exist to support it. It is complete fantasy. But finding another $8 million in the state budget takes 16 votes in the Senate, 31 votes in the State House and 1 signature in the governor's office.
Significantly increased state support is the only way to make this happen. It's just a matter of whether the university's leaders have the backbone to pursue it, and if the elected leaders in the state have the will to support it.
