tjtlja wrote: ↑Sat Jul 02, 2022 1:33 pmI think we would avg 50K if we played in the SEC. Our facilities would be terrific and opposing fan bases would flock to New Orleans to spend a weekend. I think the argument should be what KY football would draw if their home schedule was Tulane, Tulsa, Memphis, ECU, Navy, and USF. We have more SEC football titles than KY, Vandy, Miss St, and South Carolina combined.
Maybe, and my nostalgia persuades me that the SEC is where we belong. But the problem is that many other programs could make that argument in good faith, but there is no financial incentive for the SEC to gamble on inviting us or those other programs, either. They are already making money, and the incentive for them is to grab revenue that they can already count in someone else's wallet. It's a lot easier to make a case for adding the television viewers and brand reputation of Texas, OU, North Carolina, Clemson, than to speculate on marginal value in Tulane, ULL, Texas Tech, Ga. Tech, Memphis, Troy, Rice, SMU, etc., some of which have long histories of on-field competition with SEC organizations. So they take the easy money. They aren't missing an obvious bet.
That's what makes me most sad about this; it's reality knocking us on the head. The SEC isn't wrong according to its most important metric: dollars. If you want to look at more reality, consider what fields of study most tuition-paying students take degrees in, and compare that with university degrees awarded 50 or 100 years ago. Schools have offered degrees where they think they can attract students, i.e., revenue. That's the whole story.
There are good arguments for why those things shouldn't be as they are, or not entirely as they are, but those arguments don't get much hearing come budget time.
Apologies if this sounds morose. I'm not enjoying reality much just now.
