On my way home from work on friday, i turned my dial to 610 AM and heard the packman and others talk about how much we whine and bitch that we dont get the coverage that we are entitled to… even in our own Charlotte Observer. But u really cant defend against that… we cant even sell out our 9000 seat arena for an alabama game… they talked about us and only us for about an hour and a half about the recent conference change and agreed that it was for the best of us. but then they brought up the football issue again… another point they made is why would we want a division 2 football team when we cant even sell out halton once… this just makes a whole lot of sense and is said to say it is true… i am said to say it but i think student pride will deplete because of the conference change… but it wont stop me from going
you’ll see it won’t be that bad we are bringing stronger OOC teams so you can’t really complain about that you know so that alone will get the fans back into it
[i]Originally posted by GoNinersGo[/i]@Jul 3 2005, 10:36 PM [b] On my way home from work on friday, i turned my dial to 610 AM and heard the packman and others talk about how much we whine and bitch that we dont get the coverage that we are entitled to... even in our own Charlotte Observer. But u really cant defend against that... we cant even sell out our 9000 seat arena for an alabama game... they talked about us and only us for about an hour and a half about the recent conference change and agreed that it was for the best of us. but then they brought up the football issue again... another point they made is why would we want a division 2 football team when we cant even sell out halton once... this just makes a whole lot of sense and is said to say it is true... i am said to say it but i think student pride will deplete because of the conference change... but it wont stop me from going [/b]Hello and welcome to the last several years
People will come see football even if its D2 or D1AA. Hes an as##$%, and I will probably make it to a couple basketball games anyway this year to see the witheres guy.
What about the guy that called in and said they just needed a a place to practice and not a place to play games for a club team. They had a thousand signatures, wouldn’t need any money, and Judy shut them down and said if it were up to her there would never be football here.
I heard that. The move to the A10 and football was talked about pretty much the whole show. The show is in about 5 cities now and I’m sure they were stunned to hear it. The host sitting in for Packer runs a site for Clemson sports…Bret Janson?. He was pretty cluless on the whole debate…but good to hear.
i believe more coverage, will bring more fans…but then again thats nothing that hasnt been said before
i get happy when i listen to 106.5 and hear that chris tone guy or whatever his name is, the sport update guy…say things like “its official, the niners are now in the a10”…or when he talked about iti leaving and where he was going…little stuff like that, on a radio station that people other then the 5 that tune into packer hear…i bet you there are more people in the charlotte that could name the starting lineup for the tarheels, but wouldn’t have a clue the niners were ranked 18th this past year
if people dont hear about it…they wont come…which is why i wish 106.5 could work something out to semi sponser us, and hype up some games
[i]Originally posted by NinerNut[/i]@Jul 4 2005, 12:51 PM [b] What about the guy that called in and said they just needed a a place to practice and not a place to play games for a club team. They had a thousand signatures, wouldn't need any money, and Judy shut them down and said if it were up to her there would never be football here. [/b]This is a GREAT example of rumors that have no factual basis. To my knowledge, there has never been a thousand signature effort to start football. From my conversations with Judy, she has NEVER been against football, but rather supportive of the idea IF it can be paid for and supported. The school (underfunded by state and STILL owed many millions by the state for the move to research status) can't put out a blank check for it, so it has to fund itself....
Don’t businesses operate this way??? Isn’t our whole economy based on supply and demand??? Where are all of these mega corporations that are just willing to write us a check??? Is Judy keeping them from doing so??? Why aren’t these companies and the Charlotte community and students DEMANDING football???
Maybe its because about 75% of the students wouldn’t pay another dollar in student fees for it. Or maybe the ACC/SEC CEO’s of all of these mega corporations get in their cars to go watch their alma maters each Saturday in the fall, and while not opposed to Charlotte football, aren’t going to dig into their corportate or personal pockets to support it (just like they have shown in basketball).
Build it and they will come?? Sure, we can be the next UAB who fired up a program in a rent free stadium in the middle of the biggest college football market in America, and hemorage cash (reportedly over $6.0 million a year). And then have the board of trustees threaten to shut down the WHOLE athletic dept, and not have a sports program at all. After over 10 years of football, they still have less than 3000 season ticket holders and spent (public record) over $250,000 on glitzy TV ads, billboards and radio spots…all because a hand full of alumni, students and interested parties decided they HAD to have football. And they have been successful on the field (bowl game last year), beat LSU a couple years ago…
But guess what, turns out Alabama didn’t need ANOTHER football program. Student attendance is minimal and in a UAB campus newspaper poll, UAB students were asked, if they had tickets to an Alabama, Auburn and UAB football game the following Saturday, which would they attend??? UAB finished third.
If you still got a have a program, shoot a letter to the athletic dept and tell them how its going to work.
Welcome to the Board Judy.
The guy on the radio said that judy told that to his face, in a one on one appointment. I guess it wouldn’t so much be a rumor as he is either telling a straight up lie or the truth.
Provider,
Thanks for spelling it out for everybody here. The most factual post about why football is a waste of time for our interests.
It comes down to simple supply and demand and guess what? There’s no real demand for Charlotte football…
[i]Originally posted by TheProvider[/i]@Jul 4 2005, 03:58 PM [b]If you still got a have a program, shoot a letter to the athletic dept and tell them how its going to work.[/b]As soon as I see a viable plan to start football, not only will be the first workable plan I'll have ever seen........I'll be a bigger football proponent than anyone on this board.
As long as people keep saying “We have to have football”, I’ll keep saying “I’d love to have football, but we can’t sell basketball in the center of a college basketball “hotbed”…who (besides a few alums) is going to support Charlotte 49ers football?”
[i]Originally posted by SilvioDante+Jul 5 2005, 10:51 AM-->
[b]QUOTE[/b] (SilvioDante @ Jul 5 2005, 10:51 AM)
[i]Originally posted by Normmm[/i]@Jul 5 2005, 01:48 PM [b] OK, here goes, the never ending debate. You want to see a plan? See App. State, see Furman, Western Carolina, Temple, James Madison, Georgia Southern. [/b]Actually, the plans we have to look at are UAB, Central Florida, Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, South Florida, Florida Atlantic, etc.
I guess we’d look at the Temple plan to see how you get yourself kicked out of a BCS conference! 
[i]Originally posted by Normmm[/i]@Jul 5 2005, 01:48 PM [b]OK, here goes, the never ending debate. You want to see a plan? See App. State, see Furman, Western Carolina, Temple, James Madison, Georgia Southern.[/b]You clearly missed my point. Don't tell me other places that have started football.....I want to see a plan to develop football at UNC Charlotte.
Do you really think all we have to do is copy what App St., Ga Southern, WCU, Temple or JMU did and we’ll have a team. In case you forgot, Temple has some history…Bill Cosby played for them…in the 60’s.
For the record, the teams in the Southern Conference have some history…
Appalachian State (Div I 1971-1977, Div I-AA since 1978)
Citadel (1910-1977, Div-IAA since 1978)
Davidson (1900-1977) (Div-IAA since 1978)
East Tennessee State (Div II to 1977, Div-IAA since 1978)
Furman (1910-1977, Div-IAA since 1978))
Georgia Southern (Div-1AA since 1992)
George Washington (1932-1966)
Tennessee at Chattanooga (Div II to 1975, Div I 1976-77, Div-IAA since 1978)
Virginia Military Institute (1900-1977, Div-IAA since 1978)
Washington & Lee (1900-1953)
Western Carolina (Div II to 1975, Div I 1976-77, Div-IAA since 1978)
Wofford (1914-1926, 1933, 1936)
Even WCU has (at least) at 30 year headstart on us…Ga Southern has 13 years on us. The question remains …I’d like to see a viable plan to start a college football (in any division) team in Charlotte in 2005.
And finally, since I just found it, here is some James Madison history:
Football Classifications :
1972-1973 No Classification
1974-1976 NCAA Division II
1977-1979 NCAA Division III
1980-20XX NCAA Division I-AA
Conference Affiliations:
1972-1973 Independent
1974-1976 Division II Independent
1977-1979 Division III Independent
1980-1992 Division I-AA Independent
1993-20XX Atlantic 10 Conference
THE BOTTOM LINE is not “copying” any other school. It is money, do we have it? No. Can we find it? I led to believe we are looking, but I’m still on the fence as to whether or not this metro person is accurate in his portrayal of the athletic dept at Charlotte.
If he’s accurate then the future of 49ers sports is doomed.
[i]Originally posted by SilvioDante+Jul 5 2005, 03:30 PM-->
[b]QUOTE[/b] (SilvioDante @ Jul 5 2005, 03:30 PM)
Davidson plays Southern Conference in all sports except football, where they play in the Pioneer League. Seems to me a key for Charlotte starting football would be to get a football-only spot in the Southern Conference. That would guarantee regional rivalries and opposing fans in the stands, and increase the likelihood that the guy sitting in the cubicle next to you has at least SOME interest, and possibly a rivalry interest, in the Niners. Appalachian has a high number of grads in Charlotte, higher than I would have thought.
That means Division I-AA, which is a high level of commitment with something like 60 full scholarships. That’s expensive. But that’s the only kind of investment that makes sense to me.
Home games against App, Western Carolina, even L-R (they’d love to beat up on some city boys) would sell a reasonable number of tickets.
I don’t know if it’s feasible to have football at Charlotte, but that seems to me like a spot in the Southern Conference for football would be a good place to start.
[i]Originally posted by Normmm[/i]@Jul 6 2005, 12:36 AM [b] Name one graduate of Wofford that you know. [/b]Jerry Richardson.
Actually, Mike P you are pretty close with regards to conference affiliation with the Wildcats. Davidson also competes in the CAA in swimming, the Nor-Pac in field hockey (makes no sense - Stanford and Cal-Berkeley are in this league), and the ALC in lacrosse (along with Vandy, Ohio St, Penn St, and others).
Although Davidson is non-scholarship D1-AA in football, it is still quite expensive. Our recurring costs average $600k a year or so, and we just spent another couple of million on football on capital expenses. It is worth every penny. However, we have the cash and are completely Title IX compliant. Other schools don’t have that luxury.
Charlotte in the Southern Conf for football would be about as ideal as we could hope. I bet quite a few Charlotte area players end up going to these schools to play football. Second choice would be the A10 soon to be CAA since they seem to have good teams but not quite as local to Charlotte. I dont even think we can think about div1A until we can establish ourselves in 1AA.