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What does the future hold for the Apple Cup? A discussion about a potential move of the Apple Cup game to Qwest Field in Seattle has created quite a stir of controversy in the last two weeks. Follow this story by clicking on a the following links.
Jim Sterk
Economic Impact Part I.
Economic Impact Part II.
After reading the reports, what are your general thoughts regarding the move? In regards to this course, commercialization gives power to those who have the resources to produce and promote sport. How does the situation with the Apple Cup match this statement? Is this good for college sport?
This has been a topic I have been discussing with my friends and family along with my fellow students. Although the Apple Cup is considered a game that is full of bragging rights, it is just like any other home or away game you play in the Pac 10. It would be like moving a WSU-ASU game to Phoenix Stadium or a UW-USC game to Quest Field even. The home team would lose advantage in that sense. As far as money is concerned, it would lose money for businesses in small towns like Pullman. Football games bring a sense of unity and school pride for the love of the game and friendships alike. Alumni of all ages come to these games to enjoy what they hae missed in the past. But due to the economic standpoint, it would clearly increase the athletic department's budget. According to the article, the time it would take to make about 3 million for those games to be in Pullman, the university would have 10 million if the games were in Seattle(Quest Field). Keep the Apple Cup in Pullman, for pride's sake.
ReplyDeleteMore than likely, Apple Cup will be moved to Qwest Field for the next six years. Hopefully, after that, it can return to home field advantage. It is not something that I feel is a good move because a lot of support from Pullman, the Palouse, Eastern Washington, students, alumni, and anyone else involved with Cougar Football and WSU Athletics. With rivalry games, it is about protecting the home field, and the move of Apple Cup to Qwest Field loses home field advantage. I don’t blame WSU and UW in considering this deal. It is an economically ideal move. From this course, the move of Apple Cup matches the statement, commercialization gives power to those who have the resources to produce and promote sport. Qwest Field, First & Goal, and Seattle offer many amenities that Pullman cannot offer WSU Athletics. As mentioned in the article, this agreement could result in $10 million of revenue over a six year period as compared to over $1 million in a two-year period. Financially, this could benefit both WSU and UW Athletics in order to remain competitive or at least afloat in the Pac-10 Conference. It seems that WSU may be on a lifeline to stay in the Pac-10 Conference because it does not perform nearly as well in revenues as compared to the other schools in the Pac-10. The Apple Cup to Qwest Field is an attempt for WSU to garner new resources to the Athletics Department. Unfortunately, this is not good for college sport. In college sports, athletic departments are focusing on winning and bringing in the most revenue. It is not what college sports are for though. College sports are supposed to provide quality education and memorable sporting experiences for student athletes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard of this idea, I thought it was awful. Two weeks later, it is just as bad. I understand that as an economy we are in a recession. The wsu athletic department I'm sure are making budget cuts, and at first thought this seems like an easy way to make some extra money. But you have to think about all the businesses in pullman that bank on apple cup for a weekend as a huge profit making weekend: the hotels, resturants, grocery stroes, ect. Besides the money that the community is loosing, what about the tradiation? The apple cup is one of my favorite weekends in pullman every other year. All my friends from uw drive over. I know many people that go to uw and they are just as upset about this proposition as the wsu fans are. The really sad part is, it is looking like we are giong to approve this move. With the outcome, I hope we do good things with the money like get peoples jobs back who were cut out of the athletic department.
ReplyDeleteLike many WSU students, I was obviously very dissapointed in hearing that the Apple Cup may not be held in Pullman in the next few years. The Apple Cup is the one game that keeps us Cougar fans going through the terrible seasons that we will undoubtedly have. But on the other hand, I do understand that their is an economic downturn and WSU needs to do everything they can in order to save/make money. I believe we are the poorest school in the PAC-10 and this proposal shows that. I have heard that moving the game to Quest Field will give WSU at least one million dollars, so in terms of money, the move seems inevitable. But on the other hand, Jim Sterk needs to look at what this move is going to do to small businesses in Pullman. Most of these businesses depend on three things for survival: Mom's weekend, Dad's Weekend, and Apple Cup. Small businesses rely on the thousands of people who come up to Pullman for Apple Cup, and without it, I do not think that they will be able to make it. So before we look at moving Apple Cup, I think that we need to keep these small businesses in mind.
ReplyDeleteI can understand the proposal of bring the apple cup to Qwest field because it is in a major city which has numerous cougar alums and it saves a lot of travel time for those alum. This proposal would generate money for the schools in a economic downturn. What about the students? since UW fans have the opportunity to live in Seattle near Qwest field and the students of WSU reside in Eastern Washington. The proposal is really about money for both programs, what makes the apple cup special is the intensity of the rivalry. It's the opposite side students coming to the other campus to root on their teams to victory. It's the bragging rights one gets on the other university. Apple Cup is a big attraction when it is in Pullman and creates business for the city. taking the game away from the Universities would be detrimental to the fans of the designated teams
ReplyDeleteI've heard and read some articles about having Apple Cup at Quest Field until 2015. I would really miss Apple Cup in Martin Stadium and students would dissapoint that there is no more Apple Cup in Pullman until they graduate. Freshmen might not experience our Apple Cup home game like last year.I think the Quest Field is kind of Huskie's home field. It might give them more athletic opportunities. Supporters would be different than Pullman even it is our homegame. However, Sterk says that the proposed six-year deal would provide each school with in excess of $10 million more than the approximate $3.1million each school would make from continuing to hold the Apple Cup at their respective campus stadiums from 2010-15. I think it is just for 6years. Washington STate's athletic budget of is easily the smallest in the Pacific-10 Conference. If we get more budget, then we can have some funds for stadium improvements. It means that we can have better stadium and more seats where can have more fans and others. Our school would be better look with better stadium. Even though we will miss few great rivalry games for few years, I think it would help our school to become one of the best crowd stadium in Pacific-10 Conference.
ReplyDeleteOk my take on the commercialization factor is that moving the apple cup will in part compromise WSU's athletic identity. We are the eternal underdog becuase we have such minimal financial resources. But has that ever stopped us from being successful? No. Part of the joy in Cougar athletic success is knowing that we did it with the smallest amount of resources. We should be focused more on making sure our football coach and his athletes are making moral decision and being good representatives of our school, and less about the money.Reputation should precede the pocketbook.
ReplyDeleteThe current decision is a difficult one. and it is obvious that fans will only look at one side and want the apple cup to remain at the grounds of Washington state and university of Washington. I personally am taking no preference to either side, but as I man on business I totally understand the move if it was made. Financially we are doing poorly! And is this time of economical crisis matters are getting worse. For the survival of a business risk taking and extreme decisions need to be made, this sounds like one of them. If WSU doesn’t receive more money then other programs will suffer because of this and WSU has the responsibility to these programs to ensure its survival and continuation. The move would only be temporary and in time fans will get over it. At the same time cougar fans will protest, but then they need to ask themselves are they really "cougar fans" or just "football cougar fans". The real fan would want a decision that suits the best interest of the whole university. It has nothing to do with commercialization, it's what's best for the University.
ReplyDeleteI think the move is a horrible move from a fan's standpoint but an acceptable one from a business point of view. WSU lags far behind most other major colleges in terms of funding and it would be a good boost to the athletic fund but I feel it would take away the essence of the game in any form. There would never be home field advantage and even when we in theory agreed to move over there UW's greed took over when home field wasn't good enough and they wanted more tickets than us. In addition the town of Pullman would take a large economic downturn because Apple Cup brings in a lot of business that would't come if it was moved to Seattle. Overall I feel that the economic hit that our athletic program is going to take for this move is going to be offset by the pride that the town will have when the next Apple Cup comes here.
ReplyDeleteNow in the aftermath we know its not going anywhere, I still think that from a economic standpoint it needed to be done. SO what if their were more Husky fans their than Cougs, would it not be fun to beat them pretty much on their homefield every year. But fiscally yes this move made sense. It was reported that over the 6 year deal, each school would make about 10 million dollars revenue from it. This amount of money would have been great for our school, which is already struggling for donations to the athletic department. But in the aftermath of the apple cup staying here, i have read many people are now donating because they realize what the state of our university is . But it does feel good to be able to go to the apple cup here.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed that would might have to switch venues for the Apple Cup, but ultimately believed it was a necessary action for our athletic department to take. Commercialization means a lot in the world of college athletics, and schools in large markets such as Los Angeles and Seattle don't face the same financial struggles as schools in smaller markets such as Pullman. As an athletic department I think it's great that we realized this fact and are attempting to do something about it. Money is tough to come by in small markets, so a guaranteed increase in revenue every year like this deal would have provided has to be strongly considered.
ReplyDeleteObviously moving the apple cup to a neutral site is a terrible idea, however it does have it's benefits.. From a fans perspective it is easy to be upset. Home football games are an amazing atmosphere and a rivalry game makes it that much better. But, 2 million extra dollars is difficult to say no to. I feel like wsu in a way has a social contract to the city of Pullman because there is no doubt that the businesses thrive off of weekends such as the apple cup. Then again, 2 million dollars is a large chunk of change.The move to qwest would make the game easy viewing or attending for many cougars as well considering majority of them live in Seattle. IN the end, the move would decrease the rivalry atmosphere and would take away much of the tradition that surrounds the game. I'm glad they are turning this down because although it's a money business, college football should not be all about the benjamins. Keep the apple cup at the universities. Enough said!
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