RE: When is Denver Leaving?
Denver had D-I football from 1886 to 1961, and had a 30,000-seat stadium on campus until 1971, when it was torn down. There were even three bowl appreances (Sun Bowl, Alamo Bowl and Pineapple Bowl) in the late 40s. The program was discontinued because it was losing $100,000 a year in 1961 dollars, which would be millions in today's money. At the same time, a new AFL football team in the early 60s named the Denver Broncos siphoned off most of the local football fan base.
At the same time, DU's hockey team became National Champs in 1958, 60 and 61 which made it easier for the administration to drop football at the time. Hockey is now the flagship sport at Denver, and the school is a seven time NCAA champion.
Today, there is no administrative push for football, as most people around DU think it would be almost impossible for DU to be truly competitive for several reasons.
1) CASH: While DU is well endowed, The money that it takes to be truly competitive at a D-I level in football is pretty staggering, and BCS level is simply never going to happen. DU tends to do those sports that it has a chance to be successful doing.
2) No Stadium: No room for an on-campus facility. The current campus is maxed out and is in a neighborhood of the city that would likely fight against a stadium being constructed.
3) Little Local Love for the school:DU would like not draw more than 10,000 fans. There is little local affinity for the school, as it is small (5,000 undergrads) private, and draws much of its student body from out of state. Colorado is also full of transplant fans who tend to follow the teams they left behind.
4) Oversaturated: The market is so oversaturated here - there are about 8 proteams (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, MLL, CHL, etc) plus four other larger D-I public universities within an hour - CU, CSU, Northern Colorado and Air Force all struggle to fill their own stadiums, and these are all public schools. Two hours away is Wyoming, which also struggles to fill seats.
5) Recruiting: DU is not in a great football recruiting area. Few Colorado kids make it to D-I, and to be successful in football, you need to be able to get good in state kids, plus reach out elsewhere. DU would be picking third at best in for Colorado kids, and this area is not Florida or Texas in producing top talent.
(This post was last modified: 08-20-2009 04:24 PM by puck swami.)
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