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AU didn't take too much flack over Chizik's firing nationally. Sure, there were the usual suspects ripping AU fans for being out there on the fringe and expecting too much, but for the most part, I think most looked at 3-9 and the woodshed ass whippings that went along with it and had to realize a change had to be made. But, if anybody questions the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude in big money sports, this should answer why you can't put up with fail for very long. When fannies aren't in the stands and the mega-donations aren't coming in....you get in a world of hurt quick. Anywho....
While the common perception is that most SEC athletic departments are making money hand over fist, the Sports Business Journal reported this week that Tennessee is more than $200 million in debt. Part of the reason is the decline of the Volunteers' football program, which has suffered losing seasons in four of the last five years. Tennessee's average football attendance has fallen from over 107,000 in 2005 to less than 90,000 this year.
"We've got to get football healthy," UT athletic director Dave Hart told SBJ's Michael Smith. "That's our economic engine. When that program is successful, everybody wins." According to SBJ, Tennessee spends $21 million a year on debt payments. It has a reserve of just $1.95 million -- smallest in the conference -- and has shelled out $11.4 million in buyout payments to former coaches and administrators. That figure does not including the $5 million now owed to fired head coach Derek Dooley and $2 million owed to his staff.
Much of the debt came from a series of expansions and renovations at Neyland Stadium that cost a reported $130 million. Hart and the Vols are hoping the re-negotiation of the SEC's TV deals with ESPN and CBS, which could add an estimated $5 million to $10 million in revenue per year to each school, will help their bottom line.
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