Sadly the college athletics we all became fans of probably will next exist again.
I think some sort of collective bargaining with contracts is the only way things MIGHT get under control. Thereโs issues with that as well. Last year was great and we still ended up not playing in any post-season. Unless we hit the jack pot in the portal or get a massive influx of money to keep players, itโs going to be difficult to ever have any real success. Good luck to Fearne! Itโs not an easy task for him.
I still fail to see all the pessimism. We are in the same situation as everyone else in our conference. You associate with institutions that are similar to yours.
if the deficiency is money, then we need more money. If the deficiency is hiring coaching talent - which has 100% been the case - then you address that issue.
At the end of the day, all of our problems go back to our leadership. There is no reason we are prohibited from competing with the schools in the American, winning football championships, and basketball championships and going dancing. To think otherwise is ignoring that Charlotte as a city has tremendous resources, we just have yet to find a leader that knows how to tap into that properly and we havenโt had someone who could hire a decent head coach in a revenue sport in over 20 years.
Those problems are fixable. Itโs not hopeless. We arenโt doomed. We just have the wrong people in charge, and, unfortunately, the head honcho is now here - mind bogglingly - with an unwarranted contract extension for the foreseeable future.
Things arenโt hopeless. This changing landscape should be an opportunity for schools like ours, in economic rich major metro areas. But to leverage that, we have to do more than weโre doing and have the right people in place.
I think this would be a prime time to try to get people back in the building. I know we need money, but very few schools are selling a really cool atmosphere anymore. We had a good home environment for the first time in ages last year.
This is pretty standard with schools trying to sell suites and boxes unless you are SEC or Big 10. I know we have had great attendance this year, but a suite will probably go for $25-40K per year for 10-12 people per suite. That would be $400 per person for a box at 25k. I think we are going to have 8 or 10 suites plus boxes that make more money than normal seats.
Really donโt put a lot of stock into preseason exhibitions and closed scrimmages - especially the latter, which may be using modified rules etc - but as an FYI, scores of interest from this weekend (most courtesy of hoops โmystery posterโ Trilly Donavon):
I wanted to make a rough prediction for our schedule just for a baseline outlook. I donโt know much about the new players nor many of our opponents. I came up with this.