This discussion is like trying to hit a fly with a fly swatter in the middle of a pitch black night. I think this whole issue is about money, who's going to pay for it-whatever it is? Some folks keep talking about branding and so forth to put us in a new place. That's great, but I think the window is closing on our chances of being able to play with the big boys. The problem may be that too many years of opportunity to do just that have slipped by, and it's too late. Lots of good things have happened in the past 4-5 years, but we may have started too far back to catch up in time in this rapidly changing environment. We can't just measure ourselves against the MAC, as there are plenty of others trying to do what we are talking about. Now if we have some really wealthy individuals step forward and commit literally tens or hundreds of millions to upgrade facilities and underwrite the deficits(without student fees), I'm on board . Otherwise, I think it's a pipe dream.

 

All of our potential fans in the 3 C's are already in the fold for Big 10 network....
 

The other conferences? I see 3 big cities that they could potentially grab some viewers in... If Cincinnati joins the ACC, they aren't going to demand TV time in Cleveland. If Ohio is successful in expanding its branding on its OHIO name... Well, why can't we grab some fans in the 3 C's? And why wouldn't that be attractive to other major conferences? The state of Ohio likes football enough for there to be a large college football TV market AFTER you account for the OSU market...
 

Along with getting more fans to games, that's why I see branding Ohio as "Ohio" crucial to our chance to stay with the big boys..
 

And that's a major part of the finance equation.
 

 

Branding?  Ohio?  Tom Boeh is gone - the paw is back in addition to the attack cat.  For that matter have you seen this years OU homecoming theme?

http://www.ohio.edu/homecoming/

It's tough when the majority of your alumni call their school OU or Ohio U and the various university departments both academic and non-academic call it OU.

People may also be interested to know that during those Pre Bob Glidden and Tom Boeh "Glory Days" that Alan longs for that Ohio University sold it's media rights to Dick Schorr for a whopping $1,000. Plus the department picked up all travel expense for the radio network. In other words we gave away the rights. This past year Ohio Athletics generated over $1 million in sponsorships

I want to say that I got to know Dick Schorr and absolutely adored the guy. When we met with him to inform him that Ohio Athletics was going to bring it's rights back in house he said the funniest thing. He told us he tried to tell the powers to be at the University that they were wasting their rights to a valuable property they insisted they did not want to have to deal with it and the only requirement was all games could be heard in Athens.

There are a million more examples of how incompetent the administration was when in came to the athletics department and it's programs.

Looking back at where we were and where we are today I am amazed at how far OHIO has come.

Gallia I said nothing about any glory days I simply stated that it's tough to brand something when the majority of people call that brand or know that brand by something else.  That's all.  And yes our marketing efforts were internal and much less sophisticated back then than they are today.  The same can be said for the whole industry.  Times change and in many cases improve.  As for TB, let's let it go at this - he hired Brian Knorr and Tim O'Shea.

Now see how much more reasonable posts can be in the morning after a good cup of coffee.

Sorry for not posting this sooner, but here goes.  As I stated in a previous post in this thread, Peden is as much a part of University property as any other facility on campus.  Further, if we are going to spend $1,000,000,000 in facility upgrades/renovations, there ought to be something that can go to Peden.  It just takes the Trustees/Board having the nerve to face down those who will complain and do it.

Secondly we should be pursuing major corporate sponsors to help facilitate Peden's upgrades.  I am sure that the A.D.'s office has already considered this and I hope they are going after the same.  Other universities are doing this such as WVU, OSU, Akron and others.  One possible source with a somewhat S.E. Ohio/Ohio Valley connection would be the oil/gas industry.  As many of you may or may not realize, there is a vast pool of natural gas, natural gas liquids and oil underlying the 12 or 13 eastern counties of Ohio and apparently centered in Belmont, Harrison, Carrol, Monroe, Noble, Columbiana and Guernsey Counties.  I know that Washington County and I believe Athens and Morgan Counties also share in this pool.  By vast I mean that locally they are telling the people in Belmont County that it sits on the largest natural gas field in the world, the same being the Utica Shale.  The Marcellus Shale formation is also here as well as the deeper Trenton/Black River Falls formation.  We are also being told that between the Utica and the Bakken formations in the Dakotas, this nation will become the largest exporter of oil/gas in the world by 2020, far exceeding even the Saudis.  Currently in Belmont County farmers are receiving bonus checks of $6,200 per acre for just signing  a lease for 5 years along with a royalty payment of 20-22% for all of the product coming out of any well  that may be drilled on the farmer's land.  There are 3 wells which have been drilled in west/central Belmont County with one being the largest producer in the world and the other 2 each producing over $100,000 per day in product.  One oil/gas company just handed out over a three day period in 2 townships in Belmont County approximately $240,000,000 in bonus checks to the local farmers who leased with them.  Total investment in leases, infrstructure and misc. in Belmont and Harrison Counties in the last year is somewhere north of $5,000,000,000 and climbing, and the drilling has not really started.  So, you begin to get the picture that the oil/gas industry is going to be a major player in OUr region for years to come. 

I point all of this out because one of the oil/gas companies doing a lot of business in the area is Chesapeake Energy out of Oklahoma City.  If you will recall or if you have ever been to an Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) basketball game, you had the pleasure of going to Chesapeake Energy Arena.  It is called that for a reason.

Just some food for thought!

Head. Sand.

Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame, I realize that Athens is a "small market".  Why I went into detail in my post on the O&G industry is that this is certainly going to effect the area where Ohio has a major footprint and not just Athens.  Ohio University's Eastern Campus sits just west of St. Clairsville in Belmont County and the number of local kids attending that institution is going up each year, especially when you throw in the early enrollment/high school students.  The point being if one or more of these companies would contribute or give substantially that would help. I am not saying this will happen, but it is worth a try.

You are right Alan, I do not live in Athens.  I actually live in Belmont County and have businesses in the Upper Ohio Valley.  That being said, people must get over the notion that Ohio University is just Athens.  Clearly, with regional campuses spread out across eastern, southeastern and southern Ohio, the footprint of Ohio University goes way beyond Athens.  That is also what I ment when I stated earlier that the Trustees/Board must have the nerve to act, even in the face of whatever opposition arises in Athens.  For once, think beyond either Athens or Athens County.  Finally, the oil and gas industry is here to stay and its presence will be felt in the Ohio Valley for many years to come.  Therefore, why not try to harvest whatever the University can from the industry?  It makes good business sense.

Agreed. We are talking about a major university with state branding here not a D3 college. Between all campuses and programs there is close to 40,000 in enrollment. Corporate partners have to be thought of regionally not locally. What you've put forward is one example but it could company the other direction along the Ohio River that would be interested in naming rights. Ohio University has a center of excellence on energy research and would not be opposed to a sponsorship from an energy company. All they would need to do is kick in 20-25 million on an expansion to 50,000 and the stadium's name would be for the taking.

 http://www.ohio.edu/research/communications/coe_energy.cfm

I guess you haven't heard?

Our freshman classes the last couple years have been growing by leaps and bounds....
More kids are applying (DOUBLE the applications this year compared to 4 years ago)
Smarter kids are applying (much higher ACT's, better GPA's)
And MORE of these kids are choosing OHIO as the school they attend. (largest and smartest freshman class for a couple years running now)

Ohio has made the jump.

And yes, it has resulted in a MAC Championship in basketball, the schools first 2 EVER bowl wins and a Sweet 16 showing. McDavis bet big on athletics and won. The board, the president, everyone who made this happen deserves credit. They weren't just talk. They took action.

Pushing the branding is the next phase.

...

With regards to an energy company naming Peden...
With the Nelsonville bypass done, I think we can now start to consider more Columbus corporations who may be interested in naming rights to Peden. I support selling those rights to finance adding another 20,000 seats and help make Peden nicer.

Gallia, you made some interesting points. You mentioned not bowling in Peden....  Under that plan, if they added a 2nd deck or more seats on the sideline, would they get rid of the corner sections? 
From a viewing standpoint, I understand no bowl, but I also don't like the look of stadiums with no endzone seating, and I also don't like those stupid corner sections that don't fit now...