[Vision2020] VSF Response to VRTF Report

[A Vandal at Heart]

The following is from Duane Rimel (President, Vandal Scholarship Fund).

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Below is the formal response from the Vandal Scholarship Fund Board of
Directors to President Tim White concerning the conclusions reached by the
Vision and Resources Task Force Report.

I encourage you to provide your own personal response.  The comment period
runs from 10-12-04 to 11-15-04.  The more responses we get the better.  I am
confident the anti-athletic factions at UI will respond in favor of going
back to 1-AA football.  We need to outnumber their responses and show
President Tim White our support of 1-A athletics!  The response site is
President at uidaho.edu

This is our rare chance to make our voices heard about the future of Vandal
Athletics - TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!  Feel free to forward this message to
anyone else who will write in support of 1-A athletics at the University of
Idaho.

Duane Rimel, President VSF

RESPONSE TO VISION AND RESOURCES TASK FORCE REPORT  -- ATHLETICS
>From the Vandal Scholarship Fund Board of Directors, October 18, 2004

INCORRECT CONCLUSION DUE TO INCORRECT FACTS
The report recommends abandonment of 1-A football because projected revenue
gains have not materialized.  The financial facts show just the opposite.
Since switching to 1-A in football the following revenue increases have been
obtained:

Vandal Scholarship Fund annual donations  - $604,000 to $1,070,000     (77%
increase)
Football game guarantees ( 5 yr average)     - $125,000 to $1,091,000
(773% increase)
Advertising Revenue                                    - $114,000 to $
475,000    (317% increase)

In addition, $13,000,000 in private money was raised by the Vandal Victory
Campaign to build the Vandal Athletic Center.  This is the most successful
athletic capital campaign in UI history!  It would not have happened if UI
remained at 1-AA.

IGNORED PREVIOUS UI STUDY
A recent study conducted during the Hoover presidency concluded that 1-A
football makes money while the averge 1-AA football program loses $3 million
per year.  NCAA audited financials show that the UI made a $615,000 profit
on football in the last fiscal year.  It would be foolish to switch our only
profitable sport into money losing 1-AA status.

WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEMBERSHIP WILL ENHANCE REVENUE
Becacuse the WAC has been successful, its members enjoy revenue from
national TV contracts, NCAA basketball tournaments, and bowl games that
simply do not exist in 1-AA conferences such as the Big Sky.  The upside
revenue potential of the WAC dwarfs the possibilities of any 1-AA
conference.

ACADEMIC PEERS PARTICIPATE IN 1-A FOOTBALL
The University of Idaho's academic peer group is composed of 15 land grant
institutions in the western United States.  Fourteen of those 15 schools
compete in 1-A football, including WAC members, Utah State, New Mexico
State, and Nevada.  It makes sense for the UI to compete athletically with
the same instituions it competes with academically.

1-A MEMBERSHIP ENHANCES UI STATUS AND MARKETING
Competing at the top level of NCAA athletics serves as a rallying point for
UI alumni and donors.  Football games are used as fund raising attractions
for academics as well as athletics.  UI benefits from regional and national
exposure through the media.

FACULTY, STAFF AND EMPLOYEES SHOULD GET ON BOARD
The UI is committed to 1-A athletics and it is time for the employees to
step forward and support the program.  We would welcome their membership in
the Vandal Scholarship Fund and as season ticket holders for Vandal
Athletics!

GO VANDALS!!


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