AU Sports Having To Cut Budgets 10%

[aujeff11 6,243]

15 minutes ago, Auburn Kev said:

Boston Butt Sale

May need to branch outside of the box and throw out a title little more original:

Event should be called Bruce’s Illegal BBQ and fans should have the opportunity to dunk Gus in the dunking booth. 

[gr82be 14,423]

44 minutes ago, 80Tiger said:

Courtyard motels and 6 hour bus rides will go over well with recruits in all of our sports. Sounds bush league to me.

Yeah but I don't think the Courtyard will make that much of a difference but bus rides vs planes is something else altogether. The point made about the Ruth's Chris vs Outback is excessive spending anyway. I'm probably not typical in these situations but when the company I work for takes us out for dinners I order the same way I would if I was paying myself. Some people order appetizers, multiple drinks and the most expensive entree there is. Half isn't touched and it's thrown out. I'm sitting there with one beer and a modest steak or chicken because that's how I eat. After reading the article I agree with the majority of the cuts being proposed. In my house when you want something you save for it. 

[DAG 33,982]

19 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Yeah but I don't think the Courtyard will make that much of a difference but bus rides vs planes is something else altogether. The point made about the Ruth's Chris vs Outback is excessive spending anyway. I'm probably not typical in these situations but when the company I work for takes us out for dinners I order the same way I would if I was paying myself. Some people order appetizers, multiple drinks and the most expensive entree there is. Half isn't touched and it's thrown out. I'm sitting there with one beer and a modest steak or chicken because that's how I eat. After reading the article I agree with the majority of the cuts being proposed. In my house when you want something you save for it. 

People read what they want to read. I think the whole point is evaluating what is needed and what is not. I doubt AD Green is saying no more plane rides period. Sounds to me like he is promoting self -efficacy . Judge each situation accordingly. 

[Mike4AU 1,739]

I can’t believe JJ got a $2.5 mil buyout.  Complete incompetence to be in that position.  

[gr82be 14,423]

4 minutes ago, DAG said:

People read what they want to read. I think the whole point is evaluating what is needed and what is not. I doubt AD Green is saying no more plane rides period. Sounds to me like he is promoting self -efficacy . Judge each situation accordingly. 

Do they still take the team out of town the night before home games? That could stop immediately IMO.

[keesler 5,924]

6 hours ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Explain this one. This has nothing to do with facilities, coaching contracts, ect. Most of the money, 65 to 75%, has been pledged to the new football complex.  This is the yearly operating cost for each sport. Was time to get a grip on the expenses going on within the AD. Don't get me wrong because this is troubling. But the problem has been going on far to long.

Quoted directly from Greene,  "We are reallocating out budgets and making priority investments to build on our future,"  "By becoming more efficient, it will allow for us to commit to the things that are most impactful to our department:  the student-athlete experience, elite-level coaching staffs, and current and future facility upgrades."

Per Tate:  The BOT asked to fast-track the FOF building, but the AD has struggled to make any firm commitments.  It simply doesn't have enough money to fund a $70MM project.

IF 65-75% of the donations for the FOF is already pledged then why does Tate say "fundraising for the FOF has been stymied (even Greene claimed the same a few months ago) by skepticism - potential donors withholding money either out of frustration with Malzhan or a belief that their donations will be used to fund a Malzhan buyout should one be triggered rather than a new building."?

[keesler 5,924]

6 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Do they still take the team out of town the night before home games? That could stop immediately IMO.

They stay in downtown high-rise hotels in Montgomery the night before games in JHS.  There's quite a crowd lined up to welcome them, the cheering can be heard for blocks all along the Alley & side streets.

[DAG 33,982]

7 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Do they still take the team out of town the night before home games? That could stop immediately IMO.

I can’t see why they would stop doing this , TBH. 

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

I'd love to know who leaked this info and what their end game was.  This is terrible recruiting fodder that was handed to all of our rivals.  I get the need to cut the fat to afford facilities and Gus' buyout but it never should've become public knowledge.

[wde21 344]

This sounds a little embarrassing. I hope we are not going to have the players eating fast food and riding the bus everywhere we go! I can imagine how our rivals could use this in recruiting against us.👀

[keesler 5,924]

1 minute ago, dyehardfanAU said:

I'd love to know who leaked this info and what their end game was.  This is terrible recruiting fodder that was handed to all of our rivals.  I get the need to cut the fat to afford facilities and Gus' buyout but it never should've become public knowledge.

It's no difference than the non-stop leaks and rumors that spread like wild fire after the IB.  Freaking Josh Moon for crying out loud!

We didn't a peep from that cone head before last Dec and we haven't heard a peep since.  

[DAG 33,982]

1 minute ago, dyehardfanAU said:

I'd love to know who leaked this info and what their end game was.  This is terrible recruiting fodder that was handed to all of our rivals.  I get the need to cut the fat to afford facilities and Gus' buyout but it never should've become public knowledge.

The #1 thing that will halt recruiting is inconsistency on the field. Everything comes in second. If we were consistently winning , most of this stuff wouldn’t be an issue. Fans would be placated, funding wouldn’t be an issue, etc.

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

8 minutes ago, keesler said:

Quoted directly from Greene,  "We are reallocating out budgets and making priority investments to build on our future,"  "By becoming more efficient, it will allow for us to commit to the things that are most impactful to our department:  the student-athlete experience, elite-level coaching staffs, and current and future facility upgrades."

Per Tate:  The BOT asked to fast-track the FOF building, but the AD has struggled to make any firm commitments.  It simply doesn't have enough money to fund a $70MM project.

IF 65-75% of the donations for the FOF is already pledged then why does Tate say "fundraising for the FOF has been stymied (even Greene claimed the same a few months ago) by skepticism - potential donors withholding money either out of frustration with Malzhan or a belief that their donations will be used to fund a Malzhan buyout should one be triggered rather than a new building."?

I'm not going to pretend I know what's happening in the inner workings of the AD but that sounds like politician talk from Allen Greene. Many other schools in the conference are wheeling and dealing and building new stuff everywhere. Taking on debt is not a bad thing if you can pay it off. What are we spending all the athletic income on to where nobody wants to entertain the idea of issuing bonds to cover some (not all) of the costs for much needed facilities? Only thing I can think of is we want to hold off on making huge financial commitments for the next 6 months in case we need to buy out two coaching staffs. 

[DAG 33,982]

1 minute ago, WalkingCarpet said:

I'm not going to pretend I know what's happening in the inner workings of the AD but that sounds like politician talk from Allen Greene. Many other schools in the conference are wheeling and dealing and building new stuff everywhere. Taking on debt is not a bad thing if you can pay it off. What are we spending all the athletic income on to where nobody wants to entertain the idea of issuing bonds to cover some (not all) of the costs for much needed facilities? Only thing I can think of is we want to hold off on making huge financial commitments for the next 6 months in case we need to buy out two coaching staffs. 

You get it. People want it all. Money doesn’t grow on trees and know we don’t have deep pockets like the aggies nor the support Saban has. Everyone wants an up to date facility , the highest paid coach , the most luxurious amenities but think we have an unlock-able piggy bank. It is not realistic.  

[AlaskanFAN 1,666]

3 hours ago, keesler said:

Revenue generated from AU athletics, right?

Ticket sells, concessions, SEC revenue, apparel/shoe contracts, concession vendors, sponsorship's relative to Auburn athletics,  sports communication contracts for radio broadcasting, etc.

 

 

so we both are correct in our thought process. But it would be a look at the actual AU athletic budget to see how much was/is allocated or direct revenue.

 

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

28 minutes ago, DAG said:

You get it. People want it all. Money doesn’t grow on trees and know we don’t have deep pockets like the aggies nor the support Saban has. Everyone wants an up to date facility , the highest paid coach , the most luxurious amenities but think we have an unlock-able piggy bank. It is not realistic.  

We don't have "F you" money like aTm but we're not New Mexico State either. Somebody said Plainsman Park hasn't been worked on since the 90s, JHS needed a reno 10 years ago when I started school, BEMC is still BEMC. I know it's not realistic to get this all done in the next 18 months but damn dude. Has nobody sat down and thought out a road map for all these projects we need done? I know we've planned and executed some small to medium sized projects in the last 10 years like the dorms, wellness kitchen, 'crootin lounge/press box, and BIG SCREEN but it seems like these big tentpole projects that have been talked about for years are just never going to happen. Aren't we getting like $40 million every year from the SEC Network? Where's that going? If we were broke board insiders on our forums would have said something by now. 

[keesler 5,924]

1 minute ago, AlaskanFAN said:

 

so we both are correct in our thought process. But it would be a look at the actual AU athletic budget to see how much was/is allocated or direct revenue.

 

We are both correct, but we all know Auburn chooses to charge their students out the ass for fees to support athletics and I don't know of another program in out conference that does that to their students.  Also, several SEC athletic programs actually GIVE BACK to the academic side rather than take $$ from the academic their coffers.  

The State of Alabama is dead ass broke relative to academic funding, so I'd MUCH rather they allocate 100% of their contribution strictly to academics.  The State has no business appropriating funds to any of the state schools athletics programs.  

 

[Mike4AU 1,739]

41 minutes ago, WalkingCarpet said:

 Only thing I can think of is we want to hold off on making huge financial commitments for the next 6 months in case we need to buy out two coaching staffs. 

Which two staffs?

[keesler 5,924]

2 minutes ago, WalkingCarpet said:

We don't have "F you" money like aTm but we're not New Mexico State either. Somebody said Plainsman Park hasn't been worked on since the 90s, JHS needed a reno 10 years ago when I started school, BEMC is still BEMC. I know it's not realistic to get this all done in the next 18 months but damn dude. Has nobody sat down and thought out a road map for all these projects we need done? I know we've planned and executed some small to medium sized projects in the last 10 years like the dorms, wellness kitchen, 'crootin lounge/press box, and BIG SCREEN but it seems like these big tentpole projects that have been talked about for years are just never going to happen. Aren't we getting like $40 million every year from the SEC Network? Where's that going? If we were broke board insiders on our forums would have said something by now. 

YEP!  And when schools like MSU/Arkansas/Kentucky/OleMiss/Tennessee/LSU/UF have funded their facilities AND completed improvement inititative in the multi-millions that are already underway tells me there is no way Auburn can't do the same. 

To see Bruce Pearl be told to cut his budget, just a couple of months after taking AU to their first final four is in poor taste.  Butch Thompson made the CWS and now he comes back home and has to shave off 10% of his budgeted expenses?  SMH

 

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

56 minutes ago, DAG said:

I can’t see why they would stop doing this , TBH. 

What is the point of it?  There might be a good one but I've never really understood it.

 

49 minutes ago, DAG said:

The #1 thing that will halt recruiting is inconsistency on the field. Everything comes in second. If we were consistently winning , most of this stuff wouldn’t be an issue. Fans would be placated, funding wouldn’t be an issue, etc.

Of course that's number 1 but why give our opponents additional fodder?

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

3 minutes ago, Mike4AU said:

Which two staffs?

The current staff and whichever coach we want to bring in. 

[keesler 5,924]

9 minutes ago, Mike4AU said:

Which two staffs?

The current staff buyout will be at least $30million + the cost of buying out a replacement staff.

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 hour ago, dyehardfanAU said:

I'd love to know who leaked this info and what their end game was.  This is terrible recruiting fodder that was handed to all of our rivals.  I get the need to cut the fat to afford facilities and Gus' buyout but it never should've become public knowledge.

You are kidding? The one thing we want is transparency. And this is a public university so I am glad they have said this.

Plus, it doesn't mean they have money problems within the AD. They had a surplus for the last 2 years. I think he just wants to reallocate the funds to those areas that are critical to staying competitive.

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

2 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

You are kidding? The one thing we want is transparency. And this is a public university so I am glad they have said this.

Plus, it doesn't mean they have money problems within the AD. They had a surplus for the last 2 years. I think he just to reallocate the funds to those areas that are critical to staying competitive.

Not saying I disagree with you because I am all for transparency but this didn't need to come out immediately after our baseball and basketball teams had historically successful seasons. Kind of reeks of a slash and burn CEO trying to cut down on extraneous costs and pissing everyone off instead. 

[Win4AU 4,052]

Pizza night at Gus’s downgraded from Dominos to Hungry Howies.