You and Sportsfanatic are hitting it on the screws. However, it isn't the "vast majority". It is EVERY dime and another 10 fold. Anyone (we pick on the academically blinded) that doesn't see the investment in Mark Hudspeth as perhaps the greatest institutional investment this university has made in a half century... well, they are incurably blind.
I propose that 90% of the businesses in our community, and 75% of the entire alumni base are connected to the university, strictly through athletics (predominantly football). There are literally 20 less obvious reasons that business/community/alumni connections are financially vital to the university... not to mention the obvious transactions we all know about.
Ironically, Hudspeth's compensation is not only not directly available to academics (Thank God)... it is the generator of resources, power and money that is available to academics (Thank God).
Many of their threads evolve into jealous rants about UL. The "ESPN" thread is one example. And when one of our regulars here tried very polity to correct some of their false statements about what is happening here (one of their clowns claims to drive through campus regularly and there is no effort being put into academic facilities according to said clown) he is basically told no one wants to hear it.
12,000 new fans per game x $110.00 (lowest price season ticket)=$1,320,000.00. That's just from increased attendance.
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