Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Media & Entertainment Law Blogs -> Sports Biz

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Media & Entertainment Law

: Sports Biz

WKU and the Costs of Big Time Football

ADVERTISEMENTS

You almost had to feel sorry for Western Kentucky University. There they were, one of the most successful programs in all of Division I-AA (as it was called then and as I will always continue to refer to it), having won the national championship in 2002, yet they still had trouble drawing more than 12,000 fans a game and received little media coverage outside of Bowling Green. Worse, the football program was a money losing black hole, that sucked up funds endlessly.

WKU president Gary Ransdell and athletic director Wood Selig decided on radical action to fix the problem, while at the same time attacking the image problem Ransdell felt plagued the university as it sought to move from a regional university to more of a national one. They decided to upgrade the football program from Division I-AA to D-IA. WKU is in the second of two transition years this season and next season will mark its first full year as a D-IA program, eligible for consideration for bowl games. The Hilltoppers will compete in the Sun Belt Conference, a league in which they were already members in other sports. USA Today recently wrote about the costs associated with upgrading the program, as well as the reasons behind the move.

The costs are substantial, making the move fraught with risk. While having a ready made conference affiliation is of some benefit, the fact that it is the Sun Belt, may actually make that more of a detriment than a benefit. Sure, scheduling problems are taken care of, but the quality of the opponents is low and the travel costs are not, while the league only has one bowl bid. All in all, I think Western should probably have explored its other options in greater detail than it appears that they did. There were many rumors of interest from the MAC, which would have given the Toppers a conference with more bowl bids, better football and significantly cheaper travel costs, not to mention games to which it would have been much easier for their fans to travel to see. I'm surprised that Selig didn't explore this option further.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on October 13, 2008 (boomark / email).