Ursus A. Horribilis wrote:
It's odd how much the truth bothers some of you people.
Question I asked earlier, but never answered - why during the last UM budget crisis did they play FBS to close the budget gap? That was the official reason given for ditching FCS teams. Why did it work then, but not now?
I don't know the answer to your question, but in addition to the new second level expansion of seats and stadium club (and since the big budget crisis), UM also paid off the debt used to do a large expansion of the north end zone seating; significantly increased the annual cost of the luxury boxes at the stadium; and increased ticket prices. A good number of the boxes had originally been purchased by paying a one-time fee for 20 years, and those boxes now have annual fees ranging from about $33,000 to $25,000. By paying off the debt for the prior expansion, revenue from those seats is now net revenue to the athletic department (although I think the university may have siphoned off some of this revenue for non-athletic purposes). Thus, gameday revenue from the stadium is much higher than it was 5 years ago.
