The P5 Conundrum 4 da' Univ of Tulsa
I just wanted 2 post this 2 all the AAC fans & supporters
regardin the Plight & Struggles that Univ of Tulsa
has to endure to compete in the AAC
Univ of Tulsa is located in a regional “Hot” bed of college F-ball Addicts
But being a private school,
it struggles @ reaching & competing @
$$$$, publicity/support, & attendance levels
as compared to 3 P’s schools (Blow U, Okie Dokie St, & Hawgwarts)
which are all located less than 3 hrs away from the Tulsa area.
The Tulsa TV/Media market is the main television market
for all 4 school’s in the NE/OK, NW/ARK. SW/MO, SE/KS Area
& so, the media/PR/attention is primarily given to those three P5 schools
because of their large fan base, alumni, & conference supporters.
So the reality is that in the city of Tulsa itself
TU is a distant 4th in terms of fan base, alumni influence, & interest
as compared to those other 3 P5 school’s
So...., sadly Univ of Tulsa has to look @ creative ways
to continue keeping the revenue stream flowing
Hence this article...........
This TW World Article 5/19/17
by Kelly Hines
TU gets big bucks for Power 5 games,
struggles to get teams to Chapman Stadium
Looking at the schedules for upcoming seasons of University of Tulsa football, some heavyhitters are on the horizon.
The next six years feature nonconference games against Oklahoma State, Texas, Arkansas, Michigan State, Ohio State and Ole Miss — opponents from the premier Southeastern, Big Ten and Big 12 conferences.
Although the Hurricane already was working to play a Power 5 team on an annual basis, the American Athletic Conference recently encouraged its members to upgrade their schedules in an attempt to bolster its Power 6 argument.
“Our schedules need to match that,” TU athletic director Derrick Gragg said. “We wanted to upgrade on our end. Obviously there’s an economic component to it as well. Playing those teams and being very competitive and winning some of those games is very important.”
Coming off a successful 10-win season in Philip Montgomery’s second year, TU continues to face difficulty in persuading teams to visit H.A. Chapman Stadium, where the Hurricane went undefeated in 2016.
“It’s not a secret that we have a very good football program,” Gragg said. “Ten wins and everybody saw what we did in the bowl game (a 55-10 win against Central Michigan). It’s hard to get on the phone with opposing programs now and get them to agree to come here.”
In-state opponents are seemingly the only teams willing to play at TU as part of a two-for-one deal. While OSU athletic director Mike Holder has proposed annual series in football and men’s basketball, Gragg does not appear ready to sign up for that.
“I don’t think you ever want to lock yourself into anything indefinitely because it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen down the road,” he said. “Obviously OSU and OU are very attractive opponents for us especially if we can get them to come here, but you also want to be responsive to the fans and what they want, too. Sometimes they want to see different opponents.”
For the 2017 opener in Stillwater, the Hurricane concludes a three-game contract with the Cowboys. An additional three-year contract accounts for games at TU in 2019 and at OSU in 2020 and 2021, and the schools also will renew a home-and-home basketball series that begins at Gallagher-Iba on Dec. 19 and returns to the Reynolds Center the following year.
Arkansas, where Gragg spent six years as an athletic-department administrator, would be an obvious choice for a two-for-one arrangement if not for the Razorbacks’ unwillingness to seal the deal. The Hurricane will play in 2018 at Arkansas, which hasn’t visited Tulsa since 1952 and has been the home team for the past 42 meetings.
“We were really close to doing a two-for-one deal with them, but the person who was very integral with helping me with that on their end left the (Arkansas) department right at the end of negotiations,” Gragg said. “ … It went back to them just wanting to do a guarantee game.”
The going rate for guarantee games is more than $1 million. The Hurricane received $1.03 million for last year’s game at Ohio State, won 48-3 by the Buckeyes, and will get a reported $1.1 million from Texas in 2018, $1.2 million from Michigan State in 2019 and $1.45 million from Ole Miss in 2022.
That kind of money significantly helps the athletic department during a university-wide financial time of need. TU still relies on private funding for its facility projects, including a renovation of the football locker room after the 2017 season in the existing space in the Case Athletic Complex.
On the flip side, the Hurricane’s home schedule suffers when big-name teams don’t come to town. Last year’s lackluster nonconference lineup played a role in TU finishing last in the American in attendance, averaging 18,901 fans at the 30,000-seat Chapman Stadium.
Gragg said the revamped ticket office plans to become increasingly aggressive in the coming months to fill more seats in the fall, when the Hurricane can cash in on the resurgence of the program along with an appealing league schedule that brings contenders Navy, Houston, Memphis and Temple to TU.
“Your best marketing piece is the production of the program,” Gragg said. “Obviously coming off a 10-win season helps a lot. And our coach, everyone really likes coach Montgomery — the way he’s done things, the way he’s turned the program around. His personality fits very well here in the community. We need to capitalize on those things.”
|
