It is this attitude towards football as stated by JSF and an ever growing multitude of Americans leads me to believe that American football's days as we know it are numbered.  I'm not saying that's bad (selfishly, I love football and regret it's demise but that's me); it's just a societal trend that I see.
 
As to President McDavis, I like him and think he's a great President.  OK, I'll take OUPride's word for it and say that Miami of Ohio's incoming freshmen have marginally higher SAT scores than Ohio's.  OK, so what?  Miami's a snobby school that Ohio should not try to emulate, IMHO.  No I'm not saying Ohio should only strive to attract mediocre students.  I AM saying that Ohio is a school willing to give an otherwise worthwhile student a chance to attend, to learn and to grow as an individual while other snobby, full-of-themselves educational institutions of higher learning might refuse admittance merely because the applicant's ACT score wasn't a 26 or they didn't graduate in the top 10%-15 of their high school class.  That's one of the many, many reasons I love Ohio.

Anyway, I'm sure I've digressed by now.  Very interesting thread!

Edit:  OK, maybe I'm a little harsh.  Miami's a very fine institution and I'd be proud if one of my children went there.  I still like OHIO lot more and think it's a much better place!

The importance of football to alumni is an important point to consider. It's likely a major bridge between the school and its former students. I'd be interested to see what non-football schools such as Xavier do, if anything, for Homecoming-like festivities. Do they move it to basketball season, or is just not sport-related?

Another thing to consider, although not connected academically if there wasn't football that in turn hurts the 110 I feel. No football = no consistent stage for the 110 to perform. Which means no extra exposure for the university when the 110 performs their newest routine online, which trickles down to other variables

This as well. But I half feel you'd get a few thousand to show up for a weekly 110 performance...

Totally unfounded conspiracy theory. The exact opposite seems to be developing actually. BTW,
Who was that guy on.the grassy knoll anyway?

  I'm confused.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nauLgZISozs

Acttally not far fetched at all...if you spend anytime on BCS boards they are all trying to decide whether there should be 4 conferences or 5 and if they should be regionally situated to save on travel expense or morph naturally from what they already are.....

I do not know how you can say that the opposite is happening without takinig into account the thousands of posts daily on those boards speculating how the BCS money is to be divided and how to deal with the low majors being spun to a lower level in all sports.

This is out there and plans are in place with movement. The haves and have nots are going in seperate ways.

http://thepost.ohiou.edu/content/ou-receives-record-number-incoming-class-applications

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."  Spock, from The Wrath of Kahn

• Does anyone here see any data supporting the notion that football is headed for a rapid decline?
• Are the Worldwide Leader/Fox/CBS looking to divest of their NFL properties?
• Did Nike begrudgingly take over the NFL platform from Reebok, who dropped the NFL like a hot rock because interest in the NFL was plummeting?
• Is NFL and FBS viewership down dramatically?
• Are colleges leaving FBS in droves, or are some scrambling to find a home in FBS if they are currently FCS?
• Will there be fewer bowl games in 2014, or more?
• Will the MAC have fewer or more bowl slots from 2014-2019?
• Is the worldwide leader decreasing its investment in FBS football, or looking for more opportunities to increase its investment, say by creating more bowl games for ALL FBS participants?

One piece of scientific data: the number of and attendance at OHIO alumni events held in the last five years have increased dramatically.  The number one event type held, both in number and in attendance: watch parties for OHIO athletics.  And which sport provides the most national broadcast exposure at which alumni chapters and societies nationwide can host such events: FOOTBALL.

During this timing, charitable giving to OHIO has spiked dramatically.  Is there direct causation from alumni event type to event attendance to charitable giving: no.  But it certainly is a leading indicator of alumni engagement in alma mater, and such events provide a tangible connection back to place.

OHIO football is staying right where it is, so everyone just calm down.  These threads come up twice a year: the end of every FB season, and the end of every basketball season (more typically after highly successful seasons) in which some here feel we can/should "make the jump" to a higher profile conference, because in their view hoops creates a higher profile for Ohio University over a calendar year, and hence in their view is the correct investment to make.  Fair opinion that I respect, and for which I have not seen data to support.  Obviously it is one with which I respectfully disagree.

The view of course is held regardless of what that does to the months of August/September/October, when students have returned to campus and many alumni are accustomed to returning to campus for the most spectacular weekends of the year in southeastern Ohio.  I am certain I would rarely return to OHIO in the fall if there were not a football game tied to the trip.

I never return to OHIO solely to attend a basketball game, but I do a couple of weekends a year for football.  My anecdotal data supports more alumni holding my view than for those flying in to Ohio during the bleakness of November 'til March for solely a hoops game.  Average attendance for OHIO football games versus hoops games may lead some to reach a similar conclusion.

Now would I return occasionally if you removed all sports?  Not nearly as much as I do now, that is for certain.  I suspect that also holds for many alumnus, and perhaps some alumnae.

So what is the resultant impact to the people who change the beds in the hotel room that I am not renting.  The waiter/bartender that is not receiving my tips?  The students working in CBS/Follets/etc?  The business owners of these "enterprises".  The planned gift I have established that is prescribed to ICA?  All relevant pieces of data that need to be considered in making such a decision as dropping to FCS, if not dropping football altogether.  

By the way, does everyone know that old guys shouldn't wear jerseys because they look like douche bags?

I wouldn't mind seeing some anecdotal evidence that watch parties are higher for football than basketball. My gut tells me this is the opposite, but you know a lot more about this than me. I do agree that more alumni are more likely to come back to Athens for football and probably do.

Comparing attendance between the two is hard, simply because the size of the Convo and Peden aren't the same and the basketball team plays more games. If you want use percentages on things like that, I guess it would be somewhat significant in a statistical sense, but I think that's comparing apples to oranges.

I know I try to make it back for both, not just one or the other.

And yes, old guys who wear jerseys are douche bags. Unless their son/daughter is playing in the game. Then it's acceptable.

borna, you usually are much smarter than this.  Chatter on boards means virtually nothing.  Take a look, instead, at what is actually happening with the proposed distribution of the money from the new playoff system.  OHIO and the MAC will be getting a good deal more than they ever have.  I've mentioned in other posts the complicated reasons for this.  As is the case with in our national capital the "chatting class" often has no idea what they are talking about.  This is even more true when it's sports board chatterers.