College Sports Stadiums

Unlike the recent spate of construction of new stadiums in the professional National Football League (NFL), college football stadiums are more often improved and expanded than replaced by brand new stadiums. Yet, the financing of college football stadiums is somewhat different compared to the NFL, where new stadiums are often built via a combination of corporate sponsorship and taxpayer dollars. In college football, funding is closely aligned with a host of team performance standards, including: win/loss record; number of bowl appearances; Heisman Trophy candidates/winners; legendary coaches. Additional sources of funding are sought by schools in the form of private donations from alumni and other athletic department fund-raising efforts.

All four of the performance oriented factors mentioned above affect football stadium construction and expansion either directly or indirectly. There are two main links between these factors and stadium financing. First, when teams have a higher percentage of wins, appear in bowls regularly, are helmed by legendary coaches, and produce potential Heisman candidate players, attendance levels increase thereby generating more revenue. Second, when teams regularly accomplish or encompass these four aspects of performance they receive more national media coverage, more corporate sponsorship, and additional income for their athletic department and conference when they app

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nning coaches. Legendary coaches repeatedly appear in and win bowl games. Legendary coaches generate much more media publicity than non-legendary coaches. They also help their teams achieve a greater percentage of wins because there are few talented football players who would pass up a chance to be under the auspices of a legendary coach. Thus, legendary coaches have an added ability to attract the most talented players, not only because of their own talent and stature but also because their teams win more often and appear in bowls more often. To make a case in point, Penn State was favored to take the National Championship last year and appeared poised to do so until an unlikely unranked Minnesota Gopher's team upset for residents of Happy Valley dreams of being number one. Bobby Bowden, on the other hand, took his team through an undefeated season, then defeated a strong Virginia Tech with superstar quarterback Michael Vick in his first season as starting QB in the national championship game. As such, Florida State, not Penn State, will be the most televised prime-time team in college football this year, inking a pact with ABC TV that includes eight games broadcast at 8:00pm. The additional revenues from such coverag

Category: Misc - C