Memphis all day. Been waiting for a good excuse to go to Memphis.
Memphis all day. Been waiting for a good excuse to go to Memphis.
If the NOLA Bowl is off the table my 2nd choice would be the Meineke in Houston. If we're paying extra money for hotels and higher priced tickets I want perfect conditions. Now if you force me to go outside ____ S-port, I'm going brave the elements in the old Cotton Bowl Stadium or TCU's Amon G. Carter stadium. Cotton Bowl because it's got a ton of nostalgia and Carter because TCU's campus is absolutely beautiful. If we get Liberty I'd be cool with that as well
Could someone put a white stripe down the center of that helmet?
The University has raised more money from fundraising in the past two years than it ever has before. Farmer also recently hired an assistant AD who is a "fundraising specialist" and whose main purpose for being here is to focus on fundraising.
I's it perfect? Not by a long shot. We've all pointed out some big weaknesses with the RCAF on this board that we would love to see changed. And our fundraising levels arent nearly where most of us feel they should be. But fundraising has improved tremendously under Farmer. Just look at the numbers. Just look at our budget increases.
We may see an athletics master plan or a facilities master plan but for obvious reasons we'll never see a fundraising master plan. But just because UL doesn't announce it's fundraising strategy to the public doesn't mean they aren't working really hard at it.
I was at the I-Bowl yesterday. The threat of rain kept a good bit of locals home. The Monroe sideline from 20 to endzone on both ends was full in the first quarter. Place was a ghost town after halftime. It was COLD!! Made me grateful for the dome last week.
to all you knocking Shreveport, wouldnt you rather see us in the Indy Bowl against an ACC or SEC team than the others vs CUSA or WAC or something like that???
First let me say this: I'm not a CPA. I just have a little knowledge of public financing. By no means am I'm trying to pass myself off as an expert. I'm sure we have some CPAs on this board who are more than qualified to answer the questions.
To answer your second question first, yes, I think there is a legal limit on how much debt a public institution may incur.
Don't know the answer to your second question, that's why I asked it.
And I'm not saying this because I'm "focused" on why it can't be done. On the contrary, I've advocated for another student assessed fee. I've suggested looking in to getting the State Legislature's approval to increase UL administrative contribution to athletics. Again, I plead ignorance on this. I don't know how much comes from General Fund/tuition, how much is allowed by law, if UL meets this limit, and what it would take to raise the limit (the limit in this case is related to how much State Universities can use for athletics as opposed to a limit on bonding capacity).
If UL were to bond the projects out using revenue raised by Football, you'd pay much higher rates than if the bonds were backed by UL's overall budget or the State. Remember what happened a few years ago when LUS bonded out the Fiber Program. LUS wanted to use its entire revenue base to obtain lower rates, but a State Court ruled they could only use revenues from the Fiber Program which in turn resulted in higher rates on the bonds.
Now, if there are local banks out there willing to fund long term capital projects for athletics thru low interest loans, and UL has the ability to pay these loans back without an increase in any tuition or student assessed fees, by all means do so. They'd be crazy to not do it. I'd still want to advocate for another student fee and/or increased University contribution to athletics. But who/where are these banks? Are they gonna offer UL $50 million at 4% over 30 years to improve Cajun Field?
Again, I'm not a CPA. I am a UL fan (I admit it, I loved Marty Fletcher and drove Brian Mitchell to the movies and Todd Hill around town) who wants the athletic program to be more than it can be . I just don't know if "taking out a loan" is as easy running down to the nearest "check-into-cash" place.
Turbine, you are correct, I was doing a background check on Scott Farmer and his relationship with Russel Athletic Sportwear when I came across this interview right after he was hired. The reason I posted this is because of exactly what Just1More stated.
Just1More, your post was spot on and I agree with everything you said. Thank you for taking the time to share your observations.
but usually there is at least a team from one of those conferences as long as they have enough teams bowl eligible
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