[Vision2020] 17,000 average!

[Nicholas Gier]

Greetings from Blue State Capital,

All the publicity about UI going to IA explicitly stated that we needed to average 17,000 per game, and the 9,000 last Saturday at a homecmoing game simply shows that we do not have the fan or population base to be a IA team.

In response to an earlier post about the AFT call for a return to the Big Sky, I did indeed send our piece to Steve Peterson, who said that it did not contain any errors.  Steve is a former A+ student of mine and also has done economic analyses for the union, but I'm a little concerned about a social scientist now apparently going partisan about IA affiliation.

If the UI thinks that it can make money with a IA football team, it is an absurd proposition.  As we stated in our position paper, the average deficit in IA programs after appropriated funds are substracted is $237,000, and only about six programs actually make money.  And at the UI there are all sorts of hidden costs: maintaining the Kibbie Dome, etc.  Even if they raise private money for a new stadium, the UI will still be stuck with maintenance costs, etc.

If we have to stop this madness now.

Go Big Sky Vandals!

Nick Gier