If only to have some possible concrete numbers to work with.

The Cost of Winning Football Games Is Going Up, Pokes Will Need To Pay​

By Robert Allen
January 3, 2022

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STILLWATER – Lost in the euphoria on Saturday of No. 9 Oklahoma State beating No. 5 Notre Dame 37-35 in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl was the price of being a blue blood in college football. Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy talked about it throughout the bowl season. The head coach who just finished his seventeenth season at his alma mater has taken the program to 16-straight winning seasons and bowl appearances, and capped the 2021 season off with a second all-time school-best 12-win season and a 37-35 win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

Cowboys slot receiver Brennan Presley with a big catch in the win over Notre Dame.
Gundy met with several of the beat media on Sunday morning in the lobby of the Oklahoma State team hotel, The Scottsdale Plaza Resort. The media asked what Gundy meant by Oklahoma State having a chance and what he was asking for to give the Cowboys a seat at college football’s blue blood table. Afterall, his team this season beat Texas in Austin, Oklahoma in Bedlam in Stillwater, and then the Irish in the bowl game. Oklahoma State fans can pinch themselves, with one Poke fan taking an ice bath to pay off bets after the Oklahoma State 21-point comeback in the Fiesta Bowl.
I equate it to taking your chips in the poker game call Power Five college football and instead of matching the bet instead you take your chips and push them into the middle of the table and say you are “all in.”
Oklahoma State has never been “all in”. In 2020 the Oklahoma State football program, according to the University’s financial report, made $53.5-million and the budget for football that year was $24.4 million. By the way, for that same year, Oklahoma State’s vanquished bowl opponent Notre Dame had a budget of $50.2 million. Notre Dame spent about what the Cowboys brought in. The OSU numbers are straight finances and don’t count any major gifts that donors might make. This is ticket, television, radio, bowl, and all conference revenue connected to football. The expenses are salaries, supplies, travel, and all other costs of keeping a football team going.
It is hard to get great accurate numbers on football budgets, football only. I did run into an athletic director’s analysis that had the average football budgets for major schools between 2014-2018. Here is a list of schools that might be interesting.
Now in these days of escalating salaries for both head coaches, assistant coaches, and support staffs, which also continue to increase in size; the continuing facility building; and increased player benefits from stipends to NIL it has become even more imperative to be one of the haves. Players have more choices and faster ability to make those with the transfer portal.
Players want to go to the programs that are big brands and recognized that way. Coaches’ salaries are being pitched out there like medals on a uniform. Nick Saban makes the most at Alabama as close to $12 million, but how about some of these recent raises passed out.
*denotes first-time college head coach

What is even more critical is the pools of money being paid out for the 10-member full-time coaching staffs. Miami, Fla. is said to have given head coach Mario Cristobal a pool of $8 million. That is $8 million for 10 positions. Obviously, you are paying your coordinators more, but the average would be $750,000 per assistant coach. Brent Venables at Oklahoma has been given a pool of $7.5 million for his coaching staff. New Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire is making $3 million, but he has a poll of 4.3 million for his staff. That is over the current Oklahoma State pool.
Now, my understanding is Oklahoma State University President Dr. Kayse Shrum and athletics director Chad Weiberg understand fully. They know the importance of football and how critical it is for the future of the University and all of Oklahoma State University athletics.
As we speak schools are looking at potential hires and just like with Jim Knowles going to Ohio State, schools recognize the success of the Cowboys and how valuable the of the staff Mike Gundy has assembled. To borrow a phrase from the show and apparel company Under Armour, “You must protect this House.”
Mike Gundy has said it. The numbers prove it. The college football world knows it. Oklahoma State has overachieved and pushed their way to the brink of the sports’ penthouse by working hard and climbing the stairs. In order to get in and stay in, Oklahoma State needs to go “all in.”

Not a big poll guy but it can't be good when a solid leftist propaganda outlet is reporting how bad the numbers are.

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I just leave this here while shaking my head.

It doesn't look like very many of our games are on TV. I thought the Big 12 had deal were all of its games would
be on the The ESPN Networks?

Section 215.

Others have trouble getting home? Southwest playing their typical cancel all OKC flights. After midnight and we are driving from Dallas. We flew to Columbus to get to Dallas to rent a car to drive home.

... UP!

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I say Kamala. Who you got?

https://www.foxnews.com/media/candace-owens-blasts-aoc-bratty-immature-response

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Alexandria Occassional-Cortex strikes again. Way to go, Sandy!

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HOW ABOUT THOSE COWBOYS?!!!!!!!

I mean, we all knew it, but dayum…
Big12 should try to be proactive and raid the best 4 programs.

Tonight than James does. God, I hate Ben. And he ****ing sucks ass.

Grade the President's handling of:

Coronavirus - C
Economy - D
Your Wallet - D
Stock Market - C
Jobs - C
Health Care Costs - D
Infrastructure Investment - C
Helping Middle Class - D
Raising Wages - D
Affordable Childcare - D

Percent of voters that believe The American Rescue Plan made no difference or made things worse:

Biden Voters - 58%
Trump Voters - 99%

The midterms could be a bloodbath for the Democrats.

Now has the best recruiting class in rivals history. They’re dishing out money left and right

Had a very good game with some really good catches....he really came on at the end of the season. Will be very good for us the next 3 years

Strange that the .....haha clowns have "end racism" on the back of their helmets,
while the Packers have --- wait for it --- Packers on the back of theirs.

There is not end to woke assininess. Go Aaron!!

Shit like this makes my blood clot!

Call BR-549

Points out the enemy and how they use the two party system to divide.
https://gab.com/jacqueline-64/posts/107507163320477684

Per the left…unless you didn’t get the jab.

I am of the opinion if legislation is not good enough to get 60 votes in the Senate it's not legislation that should be passed. Doesn't matter to me if it's Republicans or Democrats in the majority. Half of the country cannot be allowed to rule over the other half. Yes, it is frustrating at times, but the legislative process should be deliberate and well thought out for the whole of the country not just one party.

A: at midnight Mayor Deblasio and his wife were on a stage dancing as the ball was dropped

B: Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper had spent the previous 4 hours drinking tequila shots

A and B led to this great monent...

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Tramel: Mike Gundy says OSU can become a blueblood football school, but it will cost​

Berry Tramel
Oklahoman

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Mike Gundy stays fairly stoic during football games, even big football games, even historic football games. But Gundy got caught up in the euphoria of OSU’s 37-35 Fiesta Bowl victory over Notre Dame on Saturday.

“My one message to the team was, I understand Notre Dame, I understand their tradition, I understand the helmet and the logo, but we got a logo, too,” Gundy said from the makeshift podium on the field at State Farm Stadium.

“We’ve been working on one for 18 years. And we want everybody in the country to know, with all due respect, we got a logo, too.”

OSU’s logo is not historic. Or tradition-rich. Heck, it’s officially been the university logo only 2½ years. Josh Sills has gone that long without shaving.


But forgive Gundy for being his version of giddy. Beating Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl was a big deal, and Gundy knows it could lead to bigger deals.

And Sunday, far from the Fiesta Bowl stage, in the subdued confines of the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, Gundy talked about the next step for Cowboy football.

And he talked more than logo.

"Our numbers prove we can become a blueblood football school," Gundy said.

Whoa, that's a serious claim. College football's inner circle is more exclusive than a Boston country club. College football offers little movement. Up or down.

Over 50 years, a Florida might move in, a Tennessee might move out. A Clemson moves up, a Minnesota moves down. But it moves at a glacial pace.


"That’s not something that’s accomplished overnight," Gundy said. "I’m not dreaming up some kind of scenario that’s unrealistic. For even me to have said that after the Fiesta Bowl win 10 years ago, people would be like, 'ehhhhh.'

"Notre Dame had the Four Horsemen, and OU had Bud Wilkinson, and Texas had the Darrell Royal days and so on and so forth. USC had all the stuff they had. So it’s not something you build overnight.

"But I think we can legitimately say, we’ve had 17 years now of consistent winning at a high level, against good teams, and achieved to a certain extent more than what some blueblood schools have over the last 10 years."

But Gundy said such a rise will take a financial commitment. OSU's athletic budget is around $90 million. The 10 biggest spenders in college sports, led by Texas' $225 million annually, average somewhere north of $150 million. Perhaps double what OSU spends.

"That’s OK," Gundy said. "We’ve accomplished a lot with it being that way. But at some point, we have to allocate more to football.

"I think it’s a chance for us to move into that category, if we’re willing to do it. Takes a big commitment. Takes a huge financial commitment. Most schools that are in that category can’t win without money. Just can’t do it. It's all sports, right? The Yankees are always going to be in it. They may not make it in the end, but they’re usually in it."

The timing over Gundy's call for action is bittersweet. Beating Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl has everyone excited. But the changing Big 12 means a cloudy budget future.

"After watching our president (Kayse Shrum) and (athletic director) Chad Weiberg over the last six months, I’m 100 percent sure that they can raise money to do it," Gundy said. "They can go out and get the money. I believe that. And I know there’s people out there willing to give it, to make Oklahoma State and change us forever in football.

"They’re out there, and I think those two can go get it. Because I’ve watched ‘em work over the last six months."

Nothing like putting some pressure on your bosses. It's not like OSU athletics didn't fundraise under previous administrators Burns Hargis and Mike Holder. In fact, their solicitations changed the university and the athletic department. Hard to imagine that even superb fundraising could lift OSU's athletic budget anywhere near $150 million.

But Gundy is spot-on about increased donor involvement. In this gone-crazy financial environment, schools all over America are going to have to call on their boosters to help keep up with the bluebloods and the cash-flush Southeastern Conference.

Gundy declined to be specific on how OSU football would use new cash flow. But it's like everything in life. We all find a way to spend our money.

And no doubt, the Fiesta Bowl will invigorate the everything about the program.

“We kind of felt like if we didn't win this game, this would be kind of a season of just forgotten greatness,” said defensive end Brock Martin.

I don’t know if that’s true. No one in the Posse would have soon forgotten this 2021 squad. People outside have short memories, either way. What-have-you-done-for-me-lately? That’s been replaced by what-have-you-done-for-me-in-the-last-15-seconds?

But Gundy is right. OSU’s football brand has been building over a decade and a half. And this Fiesta Bowl could be the biggest jettison of them all.

“We're a well-known logo across the country,” said linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez. “Just one of those things where we bring the best out of people and just go out there and show that we're not no scrub.”

Not no scrub. Danged good description of OSU football. But Gundy wants much more.

He wants the Cowboys to go from not-no-scrub to blueblood. It's unlikely OSU can get there. But Gundy is right; the Cowboys won't get there without trying.

OSU basketball is my first sports love. 1889 to 1993 is when I was at OSU. Seeing the program like this is just soul crushing. I've not watched a game or even cared. Damn it.