Bobby Morris

[IAA Fan]

YSU football is a product YSU is selling to its market.  The consumers need to be convinced that the value of YSU FB is > than the cost, time, and effort of going to the game. If all hopes rest on brand loyalty, well, you wont have any trouble finding a good parking spot or an even better seat.

Playing 2 NEC games insults our D1 athletes.  It tells them this is the best their leadership thinks they can handle.  The OOC schedule is an absurdity that will continue for as long as  moRon remains AD (another absurdity).

You are dreaming. DO you actually think there is an educated market out there? Our community would rather sit the stands of some HS and remember when they were cool, or can better understand the play-calling. Strollo schedules fine for what we are. Why don't you blame your man Tressel? Funny, people on this board think that anything good with the program is Tressel and anything else is Strollo ...LOL. You are all a bunch of cowards looking to justify lack of support. Read what guinpen posted just two comments back about fans. Then when someone calls you out:

[Wick250]

We have gone over this scheduling business too many times.  Always remember that it is the loge rental revenue that drives everything.  It generates more money than gate receipts from common folk.  It is paid up front, it is immune to bad weather, and, very, very unfortunately, it does not differentiate Robert Morris from Northern Iowa.  We must play six home games because we cannot afford to forfeit 1/6th of that loge revenue.  And there is another important factor.  The folks that buy those loges, and there is a waiting list, are also the biggest university donors.  You cannot alienate those guys.  And many of them (not all) know so little about sports that they can not distinguish between a Robert Morris and somebody good.  Say what you want about Ron Strollo (and my record proves that I am not his fan,) the man sucks up to our fat cats about as well as any mid-major athletic director in the country.

[FOOTBALLFEVER]

Wick, I do understand the importance of the 6th home game. Still other M.V.C. Schools only play 5 home games because the other conferences they play want the home and away. A large part of this has to do with logistics. I would rather trade a home game for a home playoff game any day of the week. Is there any other F.C.S. conference out there better then the N.E.C. that would come to us each year?

[IAA Fan]

Wick, I do understand the importance of the 6th home game. Still other M.V.C. Schools only play 5 home games because the other conferences they play want the home and away. A large part of this has to do with logistics. I would rather trade a home game for a home playoff game any day of the week. Is there any other F.C.S. conference out there better then the N.E.C. that would come to us each year?

No and one of the two that exist is soon going to require a return. Probably already is.

[FOOTBALLFEVER]

Thank you Fan and Wick for all the info. I just want the playoffs desperately and don't want the lack of non-conference strength to come back and bite us is all. Hopefully Duquesne can win their conference and RMU can get things turned around and we can get off to a good start in conference play

[ytownchief22]

And when they build the east side multimedia center next year and put all the radio and television guys over there, it frees up even more loge space for more money to flow in.

[Penguin Nation]

We have gone over this scheduling business too many times.  Always remember that it is the loge rental revenue that drives everything.  It generates more money than gate receipts from common folk.  It is paid up front, it is immune to bad weather, and, very, very unfortunately, it does not differentiate Robert Morris from Northern Iowa.  We must play six home games because we cannot afford to forfeit 1/6th of that loge revenue.  And there is another important factor.  The folks that buy those loges, and there is a waiting list, are also the biggest university donors.  You cannot alienate those guys.  And many of them (not all) know so little about sports that they can not distinguish between a Robert Morris and somebody good.  Say what you want about Ron Strollo (and my record proves that I am not his fan,) the man sucks up to our fat cats about as well as any mid-major athletic director in the country.

There was a horribly painful pregame radio interview with moRon who claimed a necessity for six home games.  However, in 2013 and 2014, both of which were 12 game seasons, we played 7 home games.  If six is a "magic number", why not be innovative with the extra game?  Am I supposed to believe that if we played five home games, loge patrons would walk away, but are content and have a waiting list with six?  It makes no sense...because it has no sense.

The answer is that all OOC, non-solitary $$ games are 1AAA opponents under moRon.  Kent was just beat by a MEAC school that they paid >$300K to.  My understanding is home games generate ~$200k.  So we forego $100K of revenue because of a false fear of POing loge renters? 

The truth is with an OOC schedule that preps our team for conference play (rather than softening them), there would more likely be at least two additional home games/season...playoff home games...in which you'd have higher occupancy in the stands (and obviously the loge folk)..and would be much further ahead financially (I realize playoff games have a buy in, but its a fraction of MAC game revenue).

There are intangibles with enhanced hype created by a better OOC schedule, such as apparel sales, interest in the University as a whole, etc.

My preference would be to replace one NEC game with a MAC away game.  My plan B would be a home/home with a CAA team, giving us 6 regular home game every other year.  Some may still consider Delaware a rival, and IMO is our second best all time rivalry.  JMU would be also exciting.

Only the hamster-wheel brain of moRon could conclude that we are trapped with a NEC junior membership.  There are much better options.

....and oh yeah....Jerry Slocum is still the MBB HC.

[ysuguins4]

My preference would be to replace one NEC game with a MAC away game.

I'm with you.  I would much rather drive to Kent or Akron for a game than play a second NEC or Pioneer Conference team.  Based on the money Kent and Akron have payed FCS schools recently, it would offset the loss of a 6th home game.

[IAA Fan]

Nation you have said this same thing 1,001 times. So here is response 1,001:

The MAC can kiss-off. No return ...no game. Any game scheduled with a MAC school must be home and home, with the MAC school traveling to Stambaugh FIRST.

I want as many home games as possible EVERY year ..not every other. The game itself is only one part of a Penguin game day experience. I guess you have to be a fan to know that.

Until YSU has regular postseason experience, I want the two easiest DI games we can get. On 12-game seasons, we need to be scheduling the MVFC team that would would be that season's normal Bye-game. I do not care about playing other conferences, as YSU is not in those conferences. My hope would be to defeat them in the post-season.

The former non-scholarship schools (like Duquesne) will be full scholarship in 2-years. At that point all of those AD's are going to demand return games. So I would like to schedule Duquesne and RMU because they are only an hour's drive for the fans.

You seem to forget that we are in the toughest conference in I-AA/FCS, so any of these non-conference teams should be inferior to us.

I do not have an ego to boost in the OOC regular season, I have one to show in the post-season and in conference play.

[go guins]

"The MAC can kiss-off. No return ...no game. Any game scheduled with a MAC school must be home and home, with the MAC school traveling to Stambaugh FIRST."

1AA, I hate to say this but you are more than wrong, you are DAMN FAR WRONG!  I agree, I'd rather drive to Kent or Akron than watch Dayton etc.

[HappyPenguin]

The schedule maker doesn't care about us being entertained. Money is the only factor here, and the home loge money drives that. Therefore we "need" to schedule teams that can come in on the cheap.

That's it as far as I'm concerned.

[ytownchief22]

Nation you have said this same thing 1,001 times. So here is response 1,001:

The MAC can kiss-off. No return ...no game. Any game scheduled with a MAC school must be home and home, with the MAC school traveling to Stambaugh FIRST.

I want as many home games as possible EVERY year ..not every other. The game itself is only one part of a Penguin game day experience. I guess you have to be a fan to know that.

Until YSU has regular postseason experience, I want the two easiest DI games we can get. On 12-game seasons, we need to be scheduling the MVFC team that would would be that season's normal Bye-game. I do not care about playing other conferences, as YSU is not in those conferences. My hope would be to defeat them in the post-season.

The former non-scholarship schools (like Duquesne) will be full scholarship in 2-years. At that point all of those AD's are going to demand return games. So I would like to schedule Duquesne and RMU because they are only an hour's drive for the fans.

You seem to forget that we are in the toughest conference in I-AA/FCS, so any of these non-conference teams should be inferior to us.

I do not have an ego to boost in the OOC regular season, I have one to show in the post-season and in conference play.

You and Strollo are the only ones who think that. No mac school is going to travel to an FCS school, which is what we still are. FCS. Get real.

[Penguin Nation]

I do not have an ego to boost in the OOC regular season, I have one to show in the post-season and in conference play.

NEWS FLASH:   We've made the playoffs once in the Strollo era.  IT'S NOT WORKING.

Conference play?  Is RMU on Saturday going to prepare us for UNI, SDSU, and NDSU?

What is the primary objective of the non-money game OOC schedule? 

If it's revenue generation, as I detailed above, the current scheduling model doesn't even accomplish that.  If it's winning, and representing the YSU brand, it absolutely doesn't accomplish that.  If it's about reducing the costs of cleaning up Stambaugh after games, and causing less traffic on campus on gameday, it definitely accomplishes that.

[goodnews]

What do the OOC schedules look like for 2017 (Pitt) and 2018 (WVU)...  Any plans for 2019?

[Wick250]

Nation,

Here is the flaw in your scheduling plan that includes the CAA.  The athletic directors at the better schools in that conference are doing the exact same thing that Strollo does.

Delaware plays lowly Delaware State (MEAC) and Lafayette (Patriot) before Wake Forest
JMU plays lowly Morehead State and Central Connecticut (NEC) before North Carolina

A P5 and two dogs, then their conference schedule.  Neither school would want a real game with us. 

As far as playing MAC schools on the road instead of the sixth home game, I disagree with you and have no interest in debating a dead issue.  However, in response to your suggestion earlier in this thread, we would actually lose money playing at Kent.  The 200k revenue from the home game does not include loge revenue which is kept in a separate account.  If you include that money, each home game yields over 400k.