Answering Your Michigan State Athletics Questions Including: Will MSU Add Lacrosse?
Answering Your Michigan State Athletics Questions Including: Will MSU Add Lacrosse?
Hondo, now that the Big Ten has added lacrosse, will Michigan State be adding it? We have a great history with that sport that most don’t know. Edward
No, they will not. You are correct that MSU has a very illustrious history with lacrosse. You also probably know that MSU is having serious issues funding the non-revenue sports that they have.
#1 MSU has only three sports listed as revenue generators. Football (that is underfunded) makes by far the most in revenue, men’s basketball, and hockey. Hockey is close to breaking even and has been a revenue producer in the past. It will be a revenue producer again within the next couple of years. All of the rest (22 sports) lose at the least $500,000-$750,000 with ladies’ basketball leading the way losing $3.9 million. It would take several million to start the lacrosse program; once that startup money is gone it will lose AT BEST $1 million per year.
#2 If MSU added lacrosse they would have to add another female sport or cut another sport to comply with Title IX.
#3 George Perles recently brought up to the Board of Trustees and Mark Hollis that there are donors willing to give millions to start a lacrosse team again. Several large donors have stepped forward and pledged several million dollars to start a lacrosse program. Hollis explained to Perles and the rest of the Board of Trustees the above reasons. I know some members of the board would prefer to see lacrosse added and eliminate another men’s sport to compensate for that. That is not on the table.
Therefore, to answer your question it is not anything on the radar now or at any time in the foreseeable future. Mark Hollis is a great athletic director and MSU has issues that must be fixed and addressed first. With the rise and popularity of the game I see it as a long term potential, but nothing close now.
Hondo, any chance that baseball is a sport that would get cut? Charles
Baseball was the first varsity sport at MSU and WILL NEVER be on the table as long as Mark Hollis is the AD.
Hondo, I heard that Mark Hollis was recently asked by either the Board of Trustees or a board member specifically about the finances of the athletic department. I was told he either said, holding on or at least made it clear that the finances are stretched and very tight. Can you confirm that is the case? Matt
I can confirm that that conversation did happen and that he did convey those sentiments. Trustee Faylene Owen asked the question of Hollis when he was before the board at one of their regular Thursday meetings. I was told by another Trustee that Trustee Owen asked him directly, “Mark, are you having a hard time?†His answer included we are holding on by our fingernails. The issue is 22 varsity non-revenue sports that Hollis has to balance. Well 21 of them for sure. He has done an amazing job keeping women’s basketball funding up at high competitive levels with the revenue producers and he should.
Hondo, do you see MSU cutting any sports prior to the 2013-2014 school year? Sue
Not before that deadline. I do see cuts coming, but probably the 2014-2015 year at the earliest and I am not predicting then. Just stating that would be the earliest.
Hondo, do you see any plan that would allow MSU to keep sports and not have to cut them? Daniel
Yes, it could happen. MSU has several sports that have zero chance to compete. ZERO! They also have sports whose facilities are atrocious and embarrassing. For example, let’s look at Swimming and Diving.
I love Coach G and he is WIDELY considered one of the best coaches around. He has been on our radio show often. Great person, great coach and could coach just about anywhere he is so respected. The MSU facilities he works with are a nightmare. He not only has the worst in the Big Ten, he also would have the worst in the MAC, and MULTIPLE high schools in Michigan are FAR better. Essentially that place hasn’t been touched (real work) in over 60 years. How he competes is astonishing.
There are several sports that MSU facilities and the chance to compete for titles are not there. Does MSU cut them and make them club sports? Do they cut others and put the money into them? Those are conversations for others to have, but we know this. Football is underfunded and that is the engine that drives the train.
If MSU doesn’t fix the funding so that MSU stays competitive (realistically and not in theory) in football, MSU athletics is in real trouble. Like it or not football is the money maker. We have already talked about how one down year in 2012 has already cost millions. Here are some ways we have already discussed funding.
The MSU administration needs to get their hands off of a huge amount of money that comes in from the Big Ten Network. People are watching that for sports. Let the athletic department have it. The amount of Big Ten Network money that comes in and athletics DOESN’T get is appalling.
I had one Big Ten AD (Not Hollis) tell me that, “It is ludicrous†how much the University administration takes from the parking and concessions money at MSU.†Let athletics pay to run those and to keep the money. The MSU administration already takes a chunk right out of the general fund of athletics; they should get that and nothing else.
Although not the answers to all the funding issues, the fact that MSU athletics gets the percentage cut of the money generated from apparel sales that they do is a farce. Again, keep the percentage that the administration takes from the athletics general fund the same and give them back what is being taken.
These are all common sense ways to fix those problems and collectively would allow MSU to keep all present sports. In sense MSU athletics faces not double, but triple and quadruple jeopardy. They not only pay with the administration grab from the general fund, but also with the money they don’t get in other areas.
I would like to add one more thing. Mark Hollis has done an amazing job at what is a very difficult job. Forget what I think or the President or the Board or you think. The Board of Trustees should give Hollis the mandate to come up with a plan to fix it. He doesn’t need and shouldn’t get University money. Let him come up with a long term financial plan and then execute it. MSU is its own worst enemy. Avoid politics, let Hollis lead and fix it.
Hondo, I was reading on a message board that they should simply charge students a fee to add revenue for athletics. What do you think? Carlos
That is ignorant and suggested by the ill-informed. MSU students already pay far too much for school. Athletics should NEVER cost the student or the University. It should be a stand-alone entity. It is at MSU. They have more than enough money. MSU athletics and the University, for that matter, mirror Washington in that they do not have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem. Hollis can and does balance the budget with the administration all over his back making life difficult, but imagine what he could do without that burden.
I want to make something very clear. I DO NOT think MSU athletics should get one dime of funding from the school. I support the 100% stand-alone model. MSU athletics brings in very good money. MSU athletics giving a reasonable percentage to the administration is fine, but NOTHING else. Nothing.
Do you have questions about MSU athletics? Email me at SpartanNationMail@yahoo.com and put in the subject line MSU Athletics. You MUST include your name.
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