It’s Saturday morning, you wake up early and you’re not even upset. Why? It is a necessity, and not even a sacrifice, to get up early to enjoy hours of tailgating before Marquette’s football game against top rival Notre Dame. Campus is buzzing; the stadium is going to be overflowing. College Gameday is televising their pre-game show live in front of the multimillion-dollar stadium. Alumni have flown in from across the country to witness this ultimate event for Catholic school bragging rights. A sea of blue and gold has just erupted in the loudest chants of “Ring Out Ahoya” and “We Are Marquette” you’ve ever heard because Lee Corso has just donned the Golden Eagle mascot head. Let’s not forget we are No. 1 and they are No. 2. Obviously this dream is unrealistic right now with no varsity football team at Marquette, but could it ever become realistic?This past May, Old Dominion University, a commuter school in eastern Virginia, announced it will field a football team in 2009 for the first time since 1940. It’s only been 46 years since Marquette gave up football. Could we resurrect our program? Marquette officials have said the answer is “no” since the day the sport was dropped. Would anything change their minds? “It would take a minimum of a $100 million gift to Marquette’s endowment fund to even consider reinstating intercollegiate football,” the Rev. Robert A. Wild said. Let’s start fundraising!
Why the high price? For starters, we would be adding more than a football program. Due to Title IX, a statute that requires women be given the same participation opportunities as men, Associate Athletic Director Mike Broeker said, “We’d also have to add large squad-sized women’s teams such as crew and swimming, creating even more expense, not to mention the increased pressure the addition of 100-plus student-athletes would put on critical areas such as academic support, athletic training and strength and conditioning.” In truth, the women’s sports expenses would be negligible compared to the costs of a Division 1-A football squad.
The first obvious expense would be a football stadium. These are so pricy that teams easily spend $200 million on them. (Ohio State spent a similar amount just for renovations.) Old Dominion was lucky to already have one it can use for comparatively minimal renovation costs. It is possible to have the stadium built without a dime from the university. Oklahoma State has been able to get the majority of their facilities donated from one man, T. Boone Pickens, who according to Sports Illustrated, recently donated $165 million to allow OSU to touch up their stadium and practice field while still having $50 million leftover to use toward building a new indoor practice facility. Pickens is a bit of an exception. There are other ways to raise the money.
Minnesota recently broke ground on a 50,000-seat, $248 million football stadium. They were able to sell the naming rights for the stadium to TCF Bank for $35 million, which will mean the Golden Gophers will play at TCF Bank Stadium for 25 years. The name will be renegotiated after those 25 years, most likely at a much higher price.
To achieve Division 1-A status Marquette would need to average 17,000 fans per year. (This seems like an easily attainable goal; the university averages almost 14,000 for basketball.) This would require building a 20,000- to 30,000-seat stadium. Such a stadium would likely cost anywhere between $50 million and $70 million. Marquette is able to offset much of the cost of their academic buildings by selling naming rights, so there is no reason they shouldn’t be able to raise $15 million or more by selling naming rights for a stadium.
According to the Milwaukee Business Journal there is discussion of building a 20,000-seat soccer stadium in downtown Milwaukee in hopes of attracting an MLS team. It is possible for soccer and football to share a stadium, and with MU alum Martin Greenberg spearheading the effort, this is a partnership Marquette could utilize to save money on the stadium. This would also mean that the city and taxpayers could cover some of the cost. Loans are another option, and often people are willing to donate them without interest. Stadium revenues from ticket sales and memorabilia can help pay for the loans.
Once the stadium problem is solved, there is still the need for other facilities, such as a practice field. Valley Fields would work for a short time, but even that would need a suitable locker room built nearby. The university either would need to completely overhaul the three-year-old academic support, strength and conditioning and training rooms – because the ones recently built in the Al McGuire center were not made to accommodate a football team – or build a whole new facility for football. A new building makes the most sense as the football staff would also need their own offices, including a large film room with all the standard tape-editing equipment and another room for watching film. The University of Kansas recently announced plans to build a facility very similar to what Marquette would require, and it will cost the Jayhawks $31 million. A few wealthy alumni could pull a T. Boone Pickens and cover much of this cost.
This would basically set up the program as far as facilities are concerned. There are still the annual costs of fielding and staffing a team. Scholarships for the players, of which the NCAA allows no more than 85, would cost Marquette roughly $3.5 million per season, and doesn’t even account for the additional 85 female scholarships. At San Diego State University, which boasts one of the smallest football budgets in the country, the football coaches make $1.1 million per year. The table below shows a few miscellaneous costs accrued during the season.
San Diego State, again one of the smaller budgets in the country, spends on average $5 million to $6 million per season. Washington University, one of the higher budgets, spends $15 million a season on football. All of the Big 12 schools spend somewhere between $6.8 million and $15.3 million a year. The Rev. Wild’s requested endowment of $100 million is wise, because at a 5 percent pay-out every year (which is typical for a university) it would supply $5 million for the football team’s annual budget. This endowment alone will not be enough, but with ticket sales and Big East profit sharing revenue (about $2.5 million) the university could be almost assured that there would be enough money to cover the gridiron expenses every year. For alumni and students who want football, the ball has been placed in our court. It’s easy to complain about how Marquette doesn’t have a football team. If we’re serious about getting one, we need to step up, become agents of change and like another football agent, Jerry McGuire, show them the money.
Sources: Marquette University Athletic Department, Sports Illustrated magazine, Milwaukee Business Journal, interview with university President Rev. Robert Wild
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