Brew_Poke
Well-known member
Oh, come on! What's wrong with Building-Building?
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Plans to sell naming rights of the AA and War? Thoughts?
- Thread starter McPeachy
- Start date
That is right...
In this case though, I would change "maybe" fail to "probably".
McPeachy
Well-known member
Missing what you are saying here...do you think that buy selling the naming rights, it is a probably fail?
I disagree. I think the fail is not doing this 10+ years ago. Or at the very least, after 2017 when the iron was hot as it has ever been (Josh Allen).
What is at risk, pissing off some 80 year old "good 'ol boys" that don't attend games anyway? Fuck 'em.
Yes, I do think that.... Not because it's a bad idea.. But because it's not what it's holding us back. I suppose there is an outside chance that we are right beneath a financial threshold and the naming rights cash will put us over it and into the promised land of conference championships.... There is always a chance
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
What an odd way to look it. There are probably several things winning programs do that we don't. Looking at each individually and assuming only 1 changes, then, yeah, probably no major effect. Throw your hands up and call it good? No hope. Craziness.
Address things as you can and hope you get enough done to make an impact. Check this off and move to the next logical improvement. Add up enough improvements and maybe performance ticks up. Or just not try and bemoan unrealistic expectations for little 'ole WYO.
Now you are sounding like me.... I've said over and over that the outcome of Wyoming athletics being bad is very over-determined. There isn't a single thing that will really move the needle. Not only that, even in the case that the leadership begin to make every decision well, the headwinds that are completely out of their control have already relegated us to a level far below what anybody wants. I've become very cynical and jaded oh this topic.
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
You do the things you can and hope you can do enough. This is a very logical step.
I'd argue it can even potentially immediately improve football. It could realistically generate enough to fund the PBJ buyout.
agreed on the first part...not sure how it immediately helps the second part. Maybe try to get On3 to buy the naming rights and funnel the money completely to the players? Now I could see that making an immediate difference.
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
Revenue from naming rights could definitely be shared with athletes to boost performance. 1 to 2 mill/year is nothing to sneeze at.
For 3 years, it could also provide enough to move on from PBJ should this season warrant it. Will better replace him? TBD but that isn't automatically no either.
Throw it all in coaches' salaries and theorically put yourself in better position to get better people when the time comes or reward those doing well.
You can argue that each single thing has no value or little value for improving and that may be true. However, doing all the little things is how you maximize your potential. Doing none or few of the little things is how how you minimize potential.
The flaw I see in all of this is that whatever novel thing we try to do that works, with regards to $$ will be immediately copied by competition that, through no fault of UW, have far bigger pools of cash nearby to draw upon. This will result, in the best case, in small and short-lived advantages. In the absence of something like revenue sharing and salary caps, Wyoming is, has, and will be relegated.
Wins come from players (mostly). Wyoming used to be a place that may not have been their first choice but was respected athletically and academically. Now recruits make a raw dollar comparison and teams (Utah, BYU, for example) that we used to be on even footing with have left us completely behind and upstarts like Boise St have surpassed us. The pool of teams that I used to look forward to competing with are largely not playing the same game as us. This is the where I get nihilistic and jaded a bit. I'm fine with beating up on UNC Greeley or New Mexico State...but watching historical rivals just move into an echelon that we aren't really competitive with is maddening.
I don't go as far back as the fans that watched the powerhouse teams in the '60s but this still sticks in my craw as I remember the late '80s and '90s teams.
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
Who, that is not already doing it, is going to copy our novel idea of selling naming rights and funneling that money into athletics?
rocket city poke
Well-known member
UW is late to the game on this, just like UW was late to the game on the NIL, UW is always behind everybody else. I am not sure there is any revenue source that UW has had a "novel approach" on -- unless you count being first in the budget bill at the legislature. Other than that UW is not much on innovation with regards to revenue streams.
The naming rights is novel to us...it's already been done by others so no real advantage there for UW. Again...if the goal is parity with NMSU and the like...then mission accomplished. I foresee us being able to compete nicely with the watered down conference. What about ever beating BYU or Boise State? That is just not going to happen. I'm pissed about that. No amount of savvy moves by UW is bringing that about.
I agree with this...the why is interesting though. I think when there are troughs of money sloshing around, you get people looking hard at how to capture some of that. Those troughs don't exist in Wyoming. It has to come from outside the state borders and Wyoming struggles politically with that. In fact, there was great pride in doing things the "Wyoming Way" back when some success was being realized. Now the "Wyoming Way" is synonymous with whatever the opposite of excellence is.
The model in college athletics (and indeed any kind of entertainment product) is audience size equals $$. Wyoming dropped the ball by not creating that audience when there was an opportunity to do so. Now the barn doors are off and programs that have ruthlessly pursued championships and built national followings during an era when there were guardrails on transfers and $$ are reaping the rewards.
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
What happened to your "just wen the games on your schedule" drum you were banging for years? I thought strength of schedule didn't matter?
Let's see how cfb shakes out before claiming WYO will never be able to do anything meaningful. There is little doubt that major changes are coming. Competing with Ohio State? Obviously no. byu? If you're being honest, we haven't competed for decades. csu and bsu? TBD. A lot can change in the next 10 years.
At this point I'm not sure you will ever understand the difference between rating coaching performance and having a discussion about what level of college football I enjoy seeing Wyoming compete at. If you want to re-open coaching ranking discussions then have at it but this isn't about that.
In the past, I did not foresee a future wherein Wyoming competed in FCS level irrelevance. That is staring us in the face. Your admonitions to "wait and see" could be true and completely un-comforting to Wyoming fans that want to beat schools like BYU, Utah, and Boise State....And that is not even addressing the fans that go back to the '60s. I beat my chest with the rest of you all when BYU, Utah and TCU left the MWC. I predicted their avarice and "holier-than-thou" attitudes would ultimately have them regretting their decisions....boy I was wrong. Now history is repeating. A new group of schools are leaving. You and others are telling me how it's going to be ok and when the dust settles we'll be just fine...pardon me for being skeptical about an influx of $$ from naming rights or whatever else can be cobbled together making any kind of difference today. The time for this talk was 20+ years ago. The seeds of this go back before Burman every had any responsibility. Certain mistakes are bad enough that they foreclose the possibility of the future you want. I want a future at UW that looks to me to be foreclosed upon. I want to compete with BSU, BYU, Utah.... From where we stand today that looks laughable.
bladerunnr
Well-known member
One of the strangest lines of reasoning I've ever read. So if everyone is making millions off naming rights, then we can't do it because.....Why? That's like saying I'm going to keep using my old wood driver because everyone else is already using a titanium one. And you can't switch because it won't turn you into Scottie Scheffler - therefore it's a no go. Absolutely bizarre.
It's hard to have certain conversations through message boards.
1. I'm not for/against selling naming rights.
2. I don't think it will matter if we do or don't.
I'm making the point that as long as we are competing in areas that are sensitive to market size considerations, we will be at a disadvantage. As you point out....that is not a reason to not do some of those things since every little bit helps. To which I say..great, do it, just don't hold your breath expecting a difference in outcomes from an increase in budget due to selling of naming rights or a bucket of moves like that. The caveat here is if we are able to funnel this money to players in a way that other schools can't/won't. In that case, yes, that will immediately make a difference. Wyoming has been successful at increasing athletic department budget and nothing really changes. If you want to win, get the money to the athletes and watch the championships roll in. I don't like it but to win, Wyoming should sell everything that isn't bolted down, give to to players/coaches. Cut the athletic department by half but don't reduce the budget....divert to players/coaches....anything else is window dressing. Make sure our players/coaches have more money available to them than CSU or BSU or whoever we want to beat.
I don't like any of this, to be clear. I think if it actually happened at UW it would probably be coming mostly from state money and I'm not sure that's a good idea.
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
I don't know many that thought TCU or Utah would have been worse off for joining a power conference. Definitely byu and independence but church money kept them relevant until the big 12 invite.
It's been 3 decades or so since we were competitive against that trio. Soon, incoming Freshman have no concept of ever really playing them much. To be bogged down in worrying about the level these play it is, well, up to personal opinion I guess. Foolish to me, but that's just me. I want UW to maximize our potential and be competitive with what's available to us. We haven't done that in 30+ years.
Bsu? Let's see how all this shakes out in fbs. I think it's clear there will be at least 2 levels or maybe 3. We'll be in the bottom level of whatever transpires in that split. Who will be with us? Anyone's guess. Do we fold the football program because the opponents aren't enticing or do we try like hell to win the hand we're dealt?
