Bitter blog - How does Virginia Tech's athletic department stack up in revenues?

[Andy Bitter]

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/how-...letics-revenue

[Fore Hokie's]

Note what has happened at A&M since joining SEC...new donors,an excitement from the fans, sellouts for tickets, stadium expansion discussions...I think it would happen here too when Bama and UT roll into town

[hokiebob01]

Note what has happened at A&M since joining SEC...new donors,an excitement from the fans, sellouts for tickets, stadium expansion discussions...I think it would happen here too when Bama and UT roll into town

If we increased our revenue and our spending by 50% we'd still only be in the middle of the SEC.

For the Hokies-should-go-to-the-SEC crowd, keep in mind that Virginia Tech would have ranked 10th in total revenue of the SEC teams last year and would drop to 11th once Texas A&M joins the league. That's in a virtual tie with Missouri ($64.1 million in revenues) and only higher than Mississippi State ($58.9 million) and Ole Miss ($49.2 million), two schools that struggle to compete on and off the field with the SEC's big boys on a regular basis.

Yes, additional TV money would make up some of the difference, but certainly not anywhere close to the $57.6 million gap between the Hokies and SEC-revenue leader Alabama. It wouldn't even approach a pair of the league's middle-tier revenue producers like Georgia ($92.3 million) and Arkansas ($91.8 million).

It's one thing to add to your revenue pot, but you also want to be a place where you can compete with teams that are in the same ballpark financially. I'd say the ACC suits Virginia Tech quite well in that regard, despite the desire of some fans to look elsewhere. Over the long haul, that's an important thing to keep in mind.

[Techsupport]

Let's think about this though....

You have a group of people who say that expectations are too great, and we couldn't compete in the SEC, we should be happy with our lot in life.

Ok, lets capitulate on that point for the moment. If its true that we shouldn't be expecting national titles, then why do we play football....for the enjoyment of it as fans?? Sure!! Well, I'd sure as heck enjoy an SEC schedule and never win a national title, than play an ACC schedule and never win a national title. Hello?

[Fore Hokie's]

me too

[amptech]

Let's think about this though....

You have a group of people who say that expectations are too great, and we couldn't compete in the SEC, we should be happy with our lot in life.

Ok, lets capitulate on that point for the moment. If its true that we shouldn't be expecting national titles, then why do we play football....for the enjoyment of it as fans?? Sure!! Well, I'd sure as heck enjoy an SEC schedule and never win a national title, than play an ACC schedule and never win a national title. Hello?

There are people, myself included who say persons with your viewpoint have too high of expectations in the present that seems based on the idea we have a higher percentage of the total inputs needed to be at that level than we do have. In fact the only thing we have (right now) that is of NC caliber is our coaching staff.

Again that "can't compete" covers right now. None of us could tell what may happen in the future but views expressed by you, Nole, Nokie and some others is that we can compete nationally right now if we just want to bad enough. That view is wrong and attempting to implement it would be as destructive as flooring the VT bus on the narrow, steep and dangerous mountain road to the top. Yours is a view that if we just floor it, we are so close to the top, we can make that turn, break through and level out at the peak.

We are way up that road, further than any non traditional school has ever been but we still have a long, slow climb and Beamer has us at just the right combination of speed and caution,

So are expectations too high? If you want to push the speed and direction of the VT bus way too high for the current driving conditions then yes they are. Anyone who think we have underachieved have too high of expectations.

Can VT compete in the SEC and Win a NC? expectations shouldn't say "yes" to that until we are recruiting at a top 10 level, earning in the light revenue like top 10 schools and earning/distributing "in the dark" money like them too.

Improvement really can't happen until you know where you really are improving from.

There is not surety or even "greater odds of making it up the rest of the mountain in the SEC as it is in the ACC.

[Techsupport]

..and Auburn,LSU,Georgia,Florida, Mizzou, aTm....

I let go of season tix a while back living in Atlanta, just weren't enough home games that would compel me to make the drive, spend the time and the money....

I have to say, if we joined the SEC, I would have to rethink all of that...and I know what decision I would come to..

[UTPr0sim]

Our genius AD has left us a Lane Stadium that can't be expanded much past 75,000 so revenues aren't going up on ticket sales much. Hard to compete with those big houses in the SEC.

Note what has happened at A&M since joining SEC...new donors,an excitement from the fans, sellouts for tickets, stadium expansion discussions...I think it would happen here too when Bama and UT roll into town

[GFallsFan]

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/how-...letics-revenue

Interesting. I would like to see the breakout of where the revenue is generated at a school like Alabama, or Penn State so we can see where the difference is. A big part is probably donations, but I know that a PSU student season football ticket is much more than ours. I think they charge something like $275/season. I don't want VT to raise the price for students, but that's at least where some of the money is coming from.

[Andy Bitter]

Interesting. I would like to see the breakout of where the revenue is generated at a school like Alabama, or Penn State so we can see where the difference is. A big part is probably donations, but I know that a PSU student season football ticket is much more than ours. I think they charge something like $275/season. I don't want VT to raise the price for students, but that's at least where some of the money is coming from.

If you go to the USA Today site, you can click on each individual team and it shows where the money comes from.

Big differences between schools like Alabama and Tech are in contributions, marketing/licensing fees and, of course, TV revenue.