Name another booster club which builds/owns stadiums... and has absolute & total control over construction projects at a state school and is not subject to any state audit of any kind. TAF is somewhat unique in its' status and was set up to circumvent state laws, state bid procedures, state payroll restrictions on coaches, and somewhat Title IX requirements. That being said, even if every school in the country has a booster club such as TAF, you still don't know what funds are in them so any comparison is skewed beyond credibility. That's the point.
Re: This topic continues to pop up but in LSU's case.... You're right. I think Florida was one of the first schools to go this route on a large-scale, back during Spurrier's heyday. Gator Boosters, I believe. It's freaking huge.
Re: Name another booster club which builds/owns stadiums... TAF is not as unique as some think. I saw a report several years ago listing the SEC schools that have a 501 (C)(3) organization like TAF. I know Georgia was one of them. There were a few others that I don't recall ... something like 4 or 5 schools. TAF is required to have audits to maintain their non-profit status. They've even posted these audits on their website. Granted, their private status allows them to be more secretive than a public entity, but there is some financial accountability and reporting.
Re: Name another booster club which builds/owns stadiums... Well, my point isn't that LSU is the only school in the country with a booster club. The point is that revenues which are reported in newspapers and magazines are generally skewed by the fact that booster club funds are seperate from Athletic Department funds. This seperation of funds is exactly the purpose of booster clubs such as TAF. By your own statement, you admit that not all schools have TAF type set ups for their booster clubs. Considering these facts, when a comparison of funds is published, what value is it as the information is incomplete at best. That was my point.
Here is just the first five I checked: Tiger Athletic Foundation -- $193 million in total assets. Tide Pride -- In its 14-year history, TIDE PRIDE has raised more than $130 million. Gator Boosters, Inc. -- 24,755,000 in contributions for 2004. Tigers Unlimited -- no financial info. Maroon Club -- no financial info.
Re: Name another booster club which builds/owns stadiums... It's not difficult to look at these booster financial reports to see how money much they are raising and giving to the athletic departments. You'll have a fairly accurate comparison when you consolidate the booster group numbers with the athletic department.
Since this has digressed into an area (booster donations, etc.) I don't have info on, I will just answer the questions I posed at the beginning of the thread based on publicly available info.The answers to the four questions are: 1. Most total revenue---Florida 2. Most expenditures---Tennessee 3. Most revenue from FB only--Tennessee 4. Most expenditures on FB--LSU If anyone cares to see more data, I will post the data for all SEC schools in these categories. I don't have a link or would post it and make it easy.
Note that Tennessee also has the highest per-seat surcharge of anyone in the SEC...and possibly the country. They also have the largest stadium in the conference. I'm not surprised.
I would say LSU has high costs for football due to a couple of things. The new east addition, the new west addtion and the fact that we have been in a Jan 1 bowl for the last several years.
Those are certainly factors but a few other schools are in the same boat with going to bowls and having construction going on. And remember we are talking about 2004 only. The top six in the FB expenditure category are (in millions of dollars): 1. LSU 15.34 2. Tenn. 12.82 3. Auburn 12.63 4. Arkansas 12.62 5. Florida 12.57 6. Vandy 12.29 And note, Vandy hasn't been to a bowl and to my knowledge has no construction going on.