Props to the Green & White club (including a bunch of people on this board who I know have been members or even served on the board) for the 54 years of supporting Ohio Athletics.

It's sad when a group with such a long legacy disbands, but I certainly understand the business decision that Jim Schaus made when he came on board 4 years ago. A fundraising arm is an asset for an athletic department and I'm glad the department has something like the Ohio Bobcat Club that they have autonomy over and can market with the rest of the department, even if that ultimately came at the expense of the G&W club.  

Sad day.  Even after the OBC was established, I thought that the G&W club served a valuable and noble purpose for many fans.  The fact that membership dropped from 1,000 to 160 tells me that 840 people who dropped out (over the OBC connection?) may not now be contributors at all.  That doesn't seem like progress.  Am I missing something?

On a selfish note, who is going to get my split the pot money now and am I ever going to be able to win any of it back?

Well I understand all the reasons how/why this came to be, but it still bums me out.  The club had long history and rich tradition.

Have been a member of both the G&W and OBC for a number of years now and offer a grateful farewell to the G&W Club. Always enjoyed the G&W tailgate spread as I am an alum that lives a good distance from Athens and liked the "no hassle" aspect of having to haul food and beverages a considerable distance to tailgate that the G&W provided.  

Also saw that the G&W attendance had dwindled over the last few years and therefore was not totally surprised that the G&W is disbanding. Again, a heartfelt thanks to all those involved with the G&W over the years for their tireless efforts in supporting and promoting OHIO athletics.

I think when you compare the 2012-2013 Bobcat Club roster with the Green and White Club rosters of the past that you will see that a significant number of people just disappeared and are not now contributors as Bobcatbob says.  Some are doing their own thing in  tailgate park and some just quit coming.  Yes, the Bobcat Club ranks have grown by leaps and bounds but that happens when you are forced to give to an organization to get the benefits that you want or are used to (seats in this case and /or membership in the Green and White Club ).  As long as we keep winning, you can get away with this.  But should we experience a few down seasons, there will be lots of empty seats and the contributions that bought those seats will be gone too.  That's the unfortunate reality of a small fan base in a rural area.  When demand exceeds supply, that's not an issue but our demand doesn't come close to the current supply.

On an unrelated note, thanks to all who have called or emailed their thanks to the volunteer board of the club.  It was a nice ride and we enjoyed doing what we did.  I just hope that something as affordable and fun is available in the fall for those who care to partake.  The legacy scholarships that we have established will be a lasting testatment to a 54 year organzation that was accessable to all.

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Is there an organization that could continue it - maybe for raising funds for that hanging scoreboard?

A major issue in all this is out of towners who don't regularly show up at football tailgates.  Before the advent of the OBC, those people viewed the Green and White Club as their only athletics philanthropic opportunity...so a lot of people from out of the Athens area joined for that reason despite the fact that they couldn't attend very many tailgates.  However, when the OBC was formed, many of these out of towners saw no reason to continue their Green and White Club membership since they could give to OBC and accumulate priority points. 

If I'm wrong on this I'm open to correction. 

I know we're just one couple,but my wife and I kept OUr membership in the Green and White Club after joining the OBC and we were only able to attend 1 tailgate every couple of years.

Our peak year in membership was 1999 - 2000.  Our budget for that year is outlined below:

Revenue

Membership     $22,500
Split the Pot        37,000
Interest                      150
Banquet                6,200
Golf outing            1,700
Miscellaneous         250

Total                  $67,500

Expenses

Split the Pot    $26,500
Banquet               8,500
AD donation     10,000
Tailgates             5,000
Non-football 
     tailgates         6,500
Tues luncheons    250
Mailings
Printings             3,000
Golf outing         1500
CPA                       250
Misc                    4000
Membership      2000

Total                 67,500

The projects that we donated $10,000 a year to were requests from the AD.  They asked for money for the fence, training facilities and the lights.  We didn't pick those projects.

The thing that seems to get lost here is that we were primarily a social booster club that also donated some money to athletics.  A former assistant AD described us this way, "you're not here to directly raise money, you're here to put butts in the seats."

Should anyone ever want to review our records, I have them all the way back to 1997.  For what it's worth, we submitted everything every year for NCAA review and not once was anything found out of line or even questioned for that matter.

Welcome to the real world and the internet. This board basically operates in a fantasy world compared to most regarding criticism.

And it's not exactly a new revelation that (especially after the creation of the OBC) many people outside of the GWC just viewed it as a good ol' boys club with marginal purpose, whether that view was right or not.