For as long as there has been college football there probably have been debates as to whether or not in brings in more money than it spends. I have very serious doubts that it does, but I am willing to be proven wrong and here is an experiment that should answer this question once and for all.
Let’s give “Umass Football” 12 months to raise the $30 million it wants to save its failing “enterprise.” Raised from private sources that is, not from the university, not from the state, not from any conference or NCAA pot, not from foundations, not from advertising or merchandizing, not from the federal government (haha, good luck with that anyway).
Private donations from those “supporters” of UMass football only. After all, Daniel Richio recently gave UMass Amherst $50 million in one shot so I would think that the many, many supporters of UMass football could all together raise $30 million pretty easily. This would go a long way to ending the long-standing debate of college football bringing in more dollars than it spends.
Actually, we could make it a bet to make it even more interesting. Supporters of UMass football raise $30 million in 12 months or the entire football program gets shut down for good and the current $12 million budget gets used on club sports and concussion research.
Geoff Branch, Class of ‘73 ½
Montague