Blog: New research suggests CSU should pull trigger on stadium

Does an increase in success by the football team, many school’s most-visible and highest revenue-generating sport, mean that the school will bring in more money, smarter students and become a better university in general? You bet it does.

A new National Bureau of Economic Research paper by Michael Anderson went deep on the issue recently, and its findings suggest that a better football team attracts more students and increases donations.

By using a method detailed here, Anderson was able to determine that “winning football games increases alumni athletic donations, enhances a school’s academic reputation, increases the number of applicants and in-state students, reduces acceptance rates, and raises average incoming SAT scores.”

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More specifically, Anderson said that if a team could improve its record by five wins, the approximate difference between at 25^th percentile season and a 75^th percentile season, the school may “expect alumni athletic donations to increase by $682,000 (28%), applications to increase by 677 (5%), the acceptance rate to drop by 1.5 percentage points (2%), in-state enrollment to increase by 76 students (3%), and incoming 25th percentile SAT scores to increase by 9 points (1%).”

Extrapolating those results into the CSU stadium debate becomes a bit tougher, but the lessons learned are compelling.

In the last seven seasons, the Rams have compiled a dubious winning percentage of .341% and have ended up on the losing end of many of their biggest rivalry games, including a 2-5 record against in-state rival CU, and have lost in their last three attempts against the University of Wyoming, each time failing to claim the coveted “Bronze Boot.”

If you take a look at the athletic facilities of CSU vs. CU, the comparison may justify the team’s consistent losing efforts over the last few years.

While CU’s Dal Ward Athletic Center gleams at the base of Folsom Field, they’ve continued to build, with a major upgrade and expansion looming in the coming years, while CSU’s athletic facilities continue to age.

There is no doubt that playing in the PAC-12, with major television contracts for football coverage allows CU more resources to pour into their facilities. But, if CSU truly wants to be competitive for the state’s best athletes, then it’ll need to show it’s serious by giving those athletes the facilities they need to push them to their athletic potential, especially in football, where virtually every player entering college has dreams of the NFL.

In order to keep CSU and Fort Collins growing, it needs long-term economic viability to coincide with its dynamic local culture. Bringing a stadium on-campus creates jobs, will increase business activity on game-days, and could give the football team the boost that it needs, along with new head coach Jim McElwain, to start winning against bigger schools, a la Boise State.
A CSU decision to move forward with the stadium in August will have its opponents, but should generally be greeted with cheer – a football stadium on campus is not only a win for Colorado State, but it (especially in vying for LEED-certification) will bring more attention to the Northern Colorado-area and allow our local citizens the resources to focus on more important things.