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Mike Bohn's dilemma

sackman

sackman

Hates the Counting Crows.
Club Member
So the Pac 12 announces that we're all about to become filthy stinking rich. Buried in the news about the money is a quote from Larry Scott that he thinks this will allow schools to bring back sports that had been cut. I read that to mean that he expects sports to be brought back. Kind of like an ultimatum of sorts.

Mike Bohn is looking at this going "OK, we're gonna have a bunch more money, but we need to figure out what to do with it".

He would be well served to map out a roadmap of sorts for how the CUAD expects to use some of these newfound riches. He's going to have people asking him. In fact, he probably already has had people asking him. There is still some debts to be repaid from the last stadium expansion, so that's likely first on his list. Then some facility upgrades. Once that's completed, it's on to bringing back sports that were lost in 1980. He'd be wise to set a timeline for that right now so that he's not constantly asked "When are we gonna have a baseball team?"
 
Men's tennis will be the first sport back, that seems pretty obvious, it was the last cut, it needs no new facilities and its cheap to run. All-in-All though i agree with your sentiments about paying off the debt's and doing it fast. Then to be honest there will be real preasure from the Pac-12 itself for baseball and softball to come back since those are the most watched TV sports after football and basketball.
 
Also heard Scott say if this deal allows schools to add sports it´ll make him happier than anything else.
 
agree, look for the low overhead sports to come back first after our debt gets paid down-- I'd be betting on the addition of a women's lacross or field hockey first and men's tennis. I hope but also think Mike will upgrade our rfacilities for existing revenue sports first before we see a lot of new teams being fielded.
 
Jens1893 said:
Also heard Scott say if this deal allows schools to add sports it´ll make him happier than anything else.
Click to expand...

you have to imagine all those sports Cal just cut because they are losing their 14mm subsidy are coming back.
 
absinthe said:
Men's tennis will be the first sport back, that seems pretty obvious, it was the last cut, it needs no new facilities and its cheap to run. All-in-All though i agree with your sentiments about paying off the debt's and doing it fast. Then to be honest there will be real preasure from the Pac-12 itself for baseball and softball to come back since those are the most watched TV sports after football and basketball.
Click to expand...

I think Larry Scott is going to want to know what the plan is. He's done his part, now it's up to us to do ours. Mike Bohn needs to be doing some forecasting. I suspect that the Pac 12 has a certain number of sports it wants it's member schools to participate in at the D-1 level. I also suspect that CU does not currently meet that criteria. The Pac will want to hear from us as to when we feel we will.
 
Bohn strikes me as pretty savvy with these types of decisions. There is going to need to be a balance of bringing back other sports and reinvestment into revenue generating sports to create additional subsequent revenues.
 
I would love to see a men's hockey team added to the mix, though I'm sure that's pretty far down on the list given the conference we will be in. My guess is a relatively cheap women's sport first (Title IX requirements), men's tennis and another relatively cheap women's sport, then baseball and softball.
 
cover.jpgYeah baby! But I would like baseball better I think. Would love to have a CU reason to go to the College World Series.
 
Baseball! Baseball! Baseball! After paying off our debts and building a facility that makes Tennessee's look like ****.
 
M Baseball: Revenue=High. Expenses=High. Olympics=No
W Softball: R=Medium. Expense=High. Olympics=Maybe. Title IX
M Tennis: R=Low, E=Very Low. Olympics = Y
W Gymnastics: R=M. E=M. Olympic = Y
M&W Swimming/Diving. R=L. E=H. Olympics =Y
M&W Hockey: R=M. E=H. Olympics = Y

Other olympic sports to consider.
Shooting (not very Boulder & not very P12. Lots of Olympic medals)
Cycling (Very Boulder. Strong club sport. Boulder needs a velodrome)
Rowing/Crew (Club sport. Boulder Res not ideal)
Wrestling (Not very P12. Not very Boulder)
Speed Skating/Figure Skating. (Anyone remember Debbie Thomas training at the CU rec?)
Would the Pac12 help CU bring snowboarding into NCAA skiing events?
Women's field hockey.

Not major Olympic sports, but popular.
Rugby
Ultimate Frisbee
Lacrosse
 
i'd like to see a hockey/field hockey title IX combo. though men's lax and field hockey are more likely.

baseball would be my #1, but i think that's a ways off.
 
I think Bohn has already gone on record as saying he'll be adding a woman's sport next, but not sure what that might be. After that, Men's tennis would be cheap to add (I thought the rumor was it cost around $1million/year when they cut it?).

Like a lot of others, the sports I really want added are men's baseball and women's softball
 
Baseball and Hockey are going to be super expensive to add due to facility reqs. Those are both probably pretty far down the list.
 
I didn't really want this to become another "we should add sport 'x' because it's cool." thread. I think Bohn has a quandry on his hands. He's just been handed a boatload of money and told he is expected to add some sports with it. He's been operating the department on a shoestring for so long, I'm sure he has a bunch of things he'd like to do with the money that have nothing at all to do with adding new sports. He's going to have to tread very carefully around this subject with both the Pac 12 offices and regular fans like us who want to see a return of college baseball (or hockey, swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, whatever).
 
My guess is we see Women's Lacrosse, Men's Soccer, Men's Tennis in the next few years. Facilities are already in place for each of those.

I think Baseball is high on the priority list but not for 10 years or so. At that time you'll see Softball added too, just makes sense. Although there may be pressure from the PAC 12 to add those two sooner since they are huge in the PAC, especially Softball.
 
First of all, I have no doubt that Bohn and Scott had plenty of discussions about CU's plans for adding sports whhen the conference move was in the works. This should be no surprise to Bohn.

Secondly, we can't just add sports to add sports - before bringing back tennis or baseball or anything else, I think we need to invest this money smartly to support our existing programs. Personally I don't think we should add any sports until men's basketball can be a revenue generator for the AD. When men's and women's basketball can break even on a combined basis, then I would think about adding sports, otherwise we're just spending to spend.
 
I'd say softball could (and should) be added first since the costs of constructing such a facility wouldn't be too bad. Then Men's Tennis but Softball should be priority number one.

The Pac-10 doesn't sponsor field hockey...that is the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The same for Women's Lacrosse as well. Since the Pac-10 doesn't sponsor indoor track, CU's indoor track teams will head to the MPSF I believe unless the Pac-12 sanactions those sports starting next year.

The Pac-10 has women's gymnastics (men's is in the MPSF) and can be used at the Balch Fieldhouse. Wrestling is a sport but with associate members such as Boise State (not joking) in that sport.

Swimming & Diving will have to make a comeback as well since the Pac-10 sanactions those sports.

But I still believe Softball will be the first sport added in addition to men's tennis. I believe the Pac-12 sanactioned sports will come first followed by the MPSF sanactioned sports.
 
And for everyone who talks about upgrading Folsom Field, I don't think that is really necessary because the season ticket base hasn't been more than 30k since the 1970's and we should only entertain upgrading Folsom Field when our season ticket base holds steady at about 30k. That wasn't even the case in 1990 when the Buffs won the NC at that time.

But we will really need that year around indoor practice facility and the question of where it would go needs to be answered. That facility could also be the future home of our indoor track teams so it could be the prelude to a major expansion on the west side of Folsom Field. You should look at what Maryland did to one side of their stadium which isn't unlike the west side as a guide for what CU should do in this case.

The way I look at this is:

1. Add Softball & reinstate Men's Tennis.
2. Build year round indoor practice facility.
3. Bring baseball back.

1 and 2 can be swapped.
 
This is what Byrd Stadium (Maryland) looks like on one side now:

4-1byrd-tyser091909-25.jpg


This is what it used to look like:

800px-Byrd_Stadium_home_side_2005.jpg


Maryland plans to expand their stadium to 62k from 54k and those new suites are paying for the expansion so I believe CU would be wise to follow what the Terps are doing in this case.
 
I believe the sale of the naming rights to Folsom Field should be done pretty soon. Maryland (I went to home games there and there are some valid comparsions between the two stadiums and its fans) got $20 million for their naming rights (don't know the length although).

The naming rights to Folsom Field could help start some of those new sports...just a hunch.
 
Swimming and diving isn't going to happen soon. We need the facilities for these. The rec center would never do.

We are going to need to help bring content to the Pac12 network, otherwise it'll be overrun by the UC schools (and Stanford and UO). This will be good for exposure for CU. I'm sure Scott is pressing hard on all of the schools so that he will be able to fill up timeslots for airing. That is going to be difficult when it first starts.
 
Getting back to the original topic...CU is being handed a lot of money on one hand but there is a responsibility in conjunction with that. Part of the plan is to provide sporting events for TV broadcasts 12 months out of the year.

  • [FONT=Cambria, serif]The Pac-12 Network will exclusively feature approximately another 200 live Olympic sports telecasts across 30 men's and women's sports annually.[/FONT]
  • [FONT=Cambria, serif]The Pac-12 Digital Networks will feature several hundred other live Pac-12 athletic events on an annual basis, not covered by ESPN, FOX Sports or the Pac-12 Network.[/FONT][FONT=Cambria, serif]
    [/FONT]
Click to expand...

For the PAC 12 to get the revenue they have to have content to distribute. Right now CU is low on the giving the network events because we have so few sports. The reality is that things will come along that will gobble up all the money. Notre Dames NBC deal was earth-shattering at the time it was given to them, today it is a small deal. All of these other sports will lose money at CU...baseball is not a high revenue sport. The hope is that the content will have enough value when consolidated that the Pac 12 Network can spin off enough money to cover the cost of a lot of these other sports.

CU is going to have to add at least 3 sports (two women and one mens) in the next 4 years.
 
absinthe said:
you have to imagine all those sports Cal just cut because they are losing their 14mm subsidy are coming back.
Click to expand...
All 5 sports that were announced as cuts back in September at Cal were already re-instated, backed by major fund raising efforts.
 
I think CU should add a couple simple sports to start off, but not get carried away. The big thing with Larry Scott is a vision for the future, so I hope that Bohn can get creative and do something more than, "add ________ sport." Of course that is a part of it, but not necessarily an immediate need unless it is cheap and easy like Tennis. I do, however, like adding snowboarding (I didn't know it wasn't there already.) The 'X games" sports are good for revenue and attract a non-football/basketball crowd which would help viewership of the PAC12 network.

They absolutely need to upgrade some facilities as a first priority (and do it right.) But otherwise, I hope he surprises us with something new and different that will set CU apart. Hearing the end of LS's interview with Ted Miller (like him as a blogger, not a great interviewer,) I think there will be some shows on the new network related to academics and non-sports related material. Not sure what they are thinking, but it sounds intriguing. Perhaps a robot-wars thing for the engineering department? Reality show created by the film school about trials and tribulations of an open degree freshman? HAHA the opportunities are endless!!
 
http://www.uscupstate.edu/about_upstate/master_plan/default.aspx?id=8564

The cost of a new softball field was $400k for a small college out of South Carolina which includes a press box but not many stands so I'd put the total cost of a new softball stadium at about $1-3 million. We might have to install the same below ground heating system so $5 million max IMO.

www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/images/.../SBJ2007122400TopRight-14.pdf

A list of different facilities that were just built. A baseball stadium cost $17.5 million to build. That wouldn't be a huge jump in costs compared to the soon to be completed basketball/volleyball practice center. Given how often we fund and build such facilities, it could be 10 years if not more before baseball comes back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_Aquaplex

SDSU's swimming facility cost $12 million to build so I believe that would be about right for the construction of a swimming pool facility for athletic competition.

Given those costs, I believe softball will be the first sport to be added.
 
I would like to see Lacrosse (Women's and Men's) added. CU has been competitive in the MCLA division and with the emergence of DU in the national Division I ranks, it would make for a great rivalry for some teams west of the Mississippi. If we were able to get a quality coach out here, I have no doubt that the Buffs would be competitive in lacrosse. Games could be played at Folsom and there wouldn't really be any infrastructure needed to institute these changes.

Men's tennis needs to be on the list as well.


My first sports would be:

Women's Lacrosse.
Women's Softball.
Men's Lacrosse.
 
NashBuff said:
http://www.uscupstate.edu/about_upstate/master_plan/default.aspx?id=8564

The cost of a new softball field was $400k for a small college out of South Carolina which includes a press box but not many stands so I'd put the total cost of a new softball stadium at about $1-3 million. We might have to install the same below ground heating system so $5 million max IMO.

www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/images/.../SBJ2007122400TopRight-14.pdf

A list of different facilities that were just built. A baseball stadium cost $17.5 million to build. That wouldn't be a huge jump in costs compared to the soon to be completed basketball/volleyball practice center. Given how often we fund and build such facilities, it could be 10 years if not more before baseball comes back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_Aquaplex

SDSU's swimming facility cost $12 million to build so I believe that would be about right for the construction of a swimming pool facility for athletic competition.

Given those costs, I believe softball will be the first sport to be added.
Click to expand...


You're really pushing softball. The first sport to be added back will be Tennis. This is a no-brainer. We were nationally ranked when they cut the program a few years back.
 
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