How to raise more money for athletics

[evilpoke]

1. Sell beer - $150,000 - Ad's words, not mine

2. Sell naming rights to the arena-auditorium: $100,000 per year (at minimum)
http://www.sportsvenues.com/rsv.php?menu=names

That's $250k right there without going too crazy.

I would not object to advertising on practice an/or warm up gear, although the ncaa may frown on that.

Other (somewhat) reasonable suggestions?

 

[WyoBrandX]

5 minutes before game time, make all unused tickets $5 to purchase.

 

[WyoBrandX]

With the basketball team doing a heck of alot better than it was a few years ago, start playing the MSU border war in Billings / Casper to get the fan base in other parts of the state excited.

Bring back the shootout. If you can't get a high profile basketball team into Laramie, try to get them into Casper (Lower Elevation, direct flights to SLC/DEN).

Take a look at the CJC donations map. You don't see many donations from Hot Springs County - 6 I think. The same is true for many other counties. Get some scrimmages set up in these area's. Play a Montana team in Thermopolis (basketball). Bring in some traveling football practices. Have the CJC going door to door during these events trying to elicit donations from businesses - and give them a sticker to put on their wall/door/window etc.

 

[LanderPoke]

Agree. Marketing sucks state-wide. Lots of untapped donations just because UW is not visible outside of Laramie/Cheyenne.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

Access to product! WYO is unique in that most graduates end up elsewhere. Once out of Laramie, access to UW athletics is minimal especially live events which in turns leads to apathetic alumni base.

Utilize educations grants and such to establish a strong broadcasting/media production major. Develop a stronger infrastructure to stream (good quality) UW live and recorded events like plays, graduations, seminars, sporting events, etc. Utilize the education side to fund the infrastructure. Charge for premium content (i.e. sporting events). I get that the MWC sort of does this, but I think a "UW channel" would be a stronger product for our alumni. For games that aren't broadcast, we could link to Dave for audio.

I'm not fully aware of how much we receive from root and such, but perhaps it would be better to keep our 3rd tier in our own control through our own broadcast. Not everyone has root but how many alumni have access to smartphone or other media device?

The argument that greater access hurts attendance is hogwash. Improve game day experience and winning to make the live venue better than the screen.

Maybe I'm off on this, but, honestly, typically I get busy and find it hard to follow UW without some work.

 

[tbcpoke]

Maybe I'm off on this, but, honestly, typically I get busy and find it hard to follow UW without some work.

I would have to disagree on this one. I don't find it hard to follow basketball or football, at least for any home game that is not televised. I will agree that if your not a smartphone, tablet or computer user, it may be hard but that problem will never be solved as you simply cannot just broadcast on TV anymore. With Satellite ruling the world streaming is future.

 

[McPeachy]

I believe the estimated profit from beer sales at the WAR and AA are quite a bit off (low). That figure ($150,000) is clearly from an athletic department that knows very little about sales & profit when it comes to beer / alcohol.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

Maybe I'm off on this, but, honestly, typically I get busy and find it hard to follow UW without some work.

I would have to disagree on this one. I don't find it hard to follow basketball or football, at least for any home game that is not televised. I will agree that if your not a smartphone, tablet or computer user, it may be hard but that problem will never be solved as you simply cannot just broadcast on TV anymore. With Satellite ruling the world streaming is future.

Are you mainly going through the MWC site?

 

[ragtimejoe1]

I believe the estimated profit from beer sales at the WAR and AA are quite a bit off (low). That figure ($150,000) is clearly from an athletic department that knows very little about sales & profit when it comes to beer / alcohol.

I thought the same thing. Say we start winning and have 25K in attendance at a football game. I have no idea what percentage would buy a beer or multiple beers, but, for the sake of the topic, let's say 18000 beers are sold at a game (9000 people buy at least 2 beers). Even at $5/beer that would be $90,000 gross. I'm not sure what the net would be or if 18000 beers is unreasonable.

Anyone know how many beers are sold at hughes during a game?

 

[SnowyRange]

Perhaps the $150K estimate was just for the WAR. If so, it makes some sense, but maybe it could be as high as $250K net.

Then the AA on top of that, if basketball were included.

 

[WyoBrandX]

Their markup would be quite high. I'm trying to think - the last time I was at hughes, those bears were like $7-$10 if I remember right.

I'm sure where the problem becomes more complicated is enforcement. I have no idea what that would cost - but I'm sure they wouldn't go light on it.

 

[PokeOLoco]

We've repeatedly heard the problem is not the athletics department, but the city of Laramie.. imagine that.

 

[LanderPoke]

Their markup would be quite high. I'm trying to think - the last time I was at hughes, those bears were like $7-$10 if I remember right.

I'm sure where the problem becomes more complicated is enforcement. I have no idea what that would cost - but I'm sure they wouldn't go light on it.

How many more cops could they put at the games? They just stand there and do nothing anyway

 

[Wyovanian]

I believe the estimated profit from beer sales at the WAR and AA are quite a bit off (low). That figure ($150,000) is clearly from an athletic department that knows very little about sales & profit when it comes to beer / alcohol.

I think, when projecting stuff like this, it's wise to somewhat lowball the low end of the range. That being said, I'd project revenue on about 5K units sold per game on the low end, about 15K on the upper end. With six home games, that puts the projection range at 30K-90K units. Market price should be around $6, so that's $180K-$540K in revenue. Figuring a 25% COG (including waste and packaging) that nets $135K-$405K before labor (which needs to be audited prior to implementation), but I'd figure about a 5-10% upward impact there due to service demands. Net-net, I'd guess they're somewhat managing expectations with the $150K figure. All things considered, I'd bet on $200K-$300K to the bottom line being more likely. But that's just football only. Add basketball to the equation, and I'd spitball it around $400K-$600K.

 

[McPeachy]

I believe the estimated profit from beer sales at the WAR and AA are quite a bit off (low). That figure ($150,000) is clearly from an athletic department that knows very little about sales & profit when it comes to beer / alcohol.

I think, when projecting stuff like this, it's wise to somewhat lowball the low end of the range. That being said, I'd project revenue on about 5K units sold per game on the low end, about 15K on the upper end. With six home games, that puts the projection range at 30K-90K units. Market price should be around $6, so that's $180K-$540K in revenue. Figuring a 25% COG (including waste and packaging) that nets $135K-$405K before labor (which needs to be audited prior to implementation), but I'd figure about a 5-10% upward impact there due to service demands. Net-net, I'd guess they're somewhat managing expectations with the $150K figure. All things considered, I'd bet on $200K-$300K to the bottom line being more likely. But that's just football only. Add basketball to the equation, and I'd spitball it around $400K-$600K.

Although I agree with some of your calculations and estimate hypothesis, your low end figures are way off IMO. 5k units at a Wyoming game (football)? No way - not even our last tilt against UNLV would have yielded such low numbers. I would say market price would be closer to $7 on average - a $6.00 16 ounce, and an $8.00 22 ounce.

In addition, COGS would be naturally lower - if put together property (this isn't a privately owned program). Meaning, a lot of overhead would be covered by the vendors or parent companies. Cups / ID-ing and bracelets / help with security costs / training - and follow up training / official vendors in place to monitor pouring (CO2 levels, temperature, etc.), restocking, cash & change process to move the lines efficiently, ergo - essentially supervising at the highest level.

Last - UW would need to implement some vital components: First - start selling when the gates open, and have the gates open 1 1/2 to 2 hours prior to kickoff. Second, have a no re-entry rule at half - the just kills the crowd anymore. And lastly, stop selling at the start of the 4th quarter - period.

 

[djm19]

I believe the estimated profit from beer sales at the WAR and AA are quite a bit off (low). That figure ($150,000) is clearly from an athletic department that knows very little about sales & profit when it comes to beer / alcohol.

I thought the same thing. Say we start winning and have 25K in attendance at a football game. I have no idea what percentage would buy a beer or multiple beers, but, for the sake of the topic, let's say 18000 beers are sold at a game (9000 people buy at least 2 beers). Even at $5/beer that would be $90,000 gross. I'm not sure what the net would be or if 18000 beers is unreasonable.

Anyone know how many beers are sold at hughes during a game?

If we could figure this out, the rest would take care of itself. Gah, I am ready to win some damn games already besides teams from Nevada.

 

[WyoExpat]

I believe the estimated profit from beer sales at the WAR and AA are quite a bit off (low). That figure ($150,000) is clearly from an athletic department that knows very little about sales & profit when it comes to beer / alcohol.

I thought the same thing. Say we start winning and have 25K in attendance at a football game. I have no idea what percentage would buy a beer or multiple beers, but, for the sake of the topic, let's say 18000 beers are sold at a game (9000 people buy at least 2 beers). Even at $5/beer that would be $90,000 gross. I'm not sure what the net would be or if 18000 beers is unreasonable.

Anyone know how many beers are sold at Hughes during a game?

This is where the basic problem comes from. Even if we start winning, will 25,000 attendance at football games be profitable enough for the athletic department to self-fund without asking for more money from a cash-strapped legislature and without forcing students to pay higher athletic fees--even if they do not attend a single game?

I don't know whether the athletic department could self-fund if it were to completely sell out every home basketball and football game every season.