Fun to think about as a hypothetical. I would put some of that to work on facilities while leaving the remainder to endow athletic operating funds. The money allocated might not quite pay for everything under the wish list but enough to definitely confer naming rights.
Convo Upgrades ($10 million):
-Basketball Practice Courts
-20,000 sqft Olympic Weight Room
-Team lockers for select Olympic sports.
-Rehab pools and physical training space.
-Convo museum preserving cultural history (e.g. rock concerts)
Peden Upgrades ($10 million):
-Student side tower with a team banquet hall overlooking Peden.
-Tower chairback seats to match the home side.
-Second floor nutrition center with offices for training staff.
-Ground floor visitors locker room w/rehab and storage space.
-Ground floor upgraded concessions and bathrooms for the student section.
Take the remaining $30 million and endow the budget for a few of the Olympic sports. 3% income a year on $30 million works out to be 900k. That might be enough to pay for the golf teams with extra left over to fill an operating gap.
Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t spend a nickel on any of that stuff. We’re still in the MAC, don’t make any money on athletics and students are staying in their dorm rooms watching OSU on TV instead of walking across Richland Ave to Peden or the Convo.
Giacomo does have a point. One could argue that the basketball team could pull a Gonzaga or Wichita State for the next couple of years. We might even arise the slumbering student sports fan to skip whatever Big Ten and ACC game they usually watch to stroll across Richland Ave and find a comfy seat in the Convo, and perhaps even Stand and Cheer for dear old Ohio.
Yet, even if that did happen would it carry over to Peden? In my undergrad days in the 80s, there weren't as many entertainment choices, so even the casual sports fan and social butterfly would go to games, if nothing else than to hang out with friends and meet new ones.
Even if we did go on an amazing run in basketball and football, does one really think we could keep Coach Boals, and the eventual successor to Coach Solich for an extended time period? It would be miraculous if it did happen, but even if we did that doesn't mean the rest of the MAC would follow suit.