Nuttin? But Trouble

Arkansas fans vote with their feet — and their wallets — and no one knows that better than J. Frank Broyles.
The Razorback football program has been in upheaval following a season that paradoxically set records for accomplishment and fan disconnect.
Arkansas football brought about $152 million into the Northwest Arkansas economy in 2006 and a record amount of ticket sales swelled the athletic department budget to $42.8 million, numbers that will be tough to match in 2007 considering the combination of a weak Fayetteville schedule and the current ill mood of the Razorback nation.
But at least no one will have Broyles to kick around anymore, and his retirement may go down as one of his shrewdest in a long history of moves that benefited the Razorback program.
Rather than see the program he built from the ground up continue to suffer publicly — or financially — Broyles announced his retirement as University of Arkansas athletic director Feb. 17 effective at the end of 2007.
Although Internet message board posters and talk radio were the popular targets for blame from UA Chancellor John A. White, who said it “would be ridiculous to think” recent events didn’t contribute to Broyles’ decision, it’s hard to imagine Broyles was losing sleep because of anonymous bloggers or Drive Time callers like Jimmy from Grapevine.
No, Broyles is a man who always has his eye on the bottom line. The athletic department balanced its budget for 33 straight years under Broyles’ direction without the aid of state funds or student fees, truly a unique accomplishment in collegiate sports.
The 2006 football season set highs for attendance and ticket revenue, boosting the athletic department budget from $37.6 million the previous year.
Keyed by the best home schedule in Razorback history with Southern California, Alabama and Tennessee, Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden and interest in a heralded group from Springdale, the Hogs averaged a record 73,895 fans and took in $19.7 million in ticket sales, up $5.5 million from $14.2 million in 2005.
Arkansas played two more Fayetteville games in 2006 than in 2005 to account for part of that jump, but average attendance was also up nearly 6,000 per game.
Balancing the Books
Thanks to the facilities Broyles is so often credited for building, the Arkansas athletic department also had a record amount of debt — $4.65 million — for the Reynolds Razorback Stadium expansion, the John McDonnell Field renovation and continued payments on Bud Walton Arena.
The Fayetteville home schedule is as unattractive in 2007 as it was juicy in 2006 and even if everything were blissful on The Hill, the athletic department would be unrealistic to project similar ticket sales for a schedule featuring just one marquee opponent (Auburn, Oct. 13).
Using the Arkansas State Parks and Tourism estimates of $212 per person trip, a dip of 3,500 fans per game would cost Northwest Arkansas around $4.45 million over six games.
Arkansas made so much in ticket sales in 2006 it was able to ask for $764,000 less in donations than in 2005 — $4.5 million vs. $5.26 million — and while sports budgets can be pared if necessary, the debt payments cannot.
Arkansas paid $775,000 on the track stadium, $2.68 million on Razorback Stadium and nearly $1.2 million on Walton Arena, which opened in 1993.
The combined budgets for football, baseball, men’s track and women’s athletics increased by nearly $2 million in 2006. There were also increases across the board in academic support, utilities and grounds keeping totaling nearly $1 million.
Any reduction in ticket sales in 2007 will have to be made up through donations, giving Broyles every reason to appease a fan base angry at a seemingly endless string of negative stories emanating from Fayetteville.
Most have been related to the recruitment and eventual departures of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, Gatorade and Parade Player of the Year Mitch Mustain and Damian Williams, who shared the Landers Award with Mustain in 2005 as teammates at Springdale High under Malzahn.
Razorback Foundation president Chuck Dicus said the response from the pledge letters the organization sent out in mid-January has been “heavy,” but couldn’t speculate on what that meant, though he expects donations to remain strong.
Dicus said he has fielded calls from fans and donors, “who have expressed concern about things.”
“Is anybody going to drop out of the program?” Dicus posited. “I don’t know. Sometimes what people say and what they do are two different things.”
Attendance Record
When it comes to fan support for football, Arkansas is no South Carolina.
Arkansas fans are not shy about staying away when the team is losing, playing a low-quality opponent or the game conflicts with something more important such as the opening day of deer hunting season.
During the 1998 and 1999 seasons, South Carolina averaged 74,744 and 78,273 fans, respectively, in the 80,000-seat Williams-Brice Stadium for a team that lost 21 games in a row.
In consecutive 5-7 seasons from 2002-2003, South Carolina averaged 82,138 and 80,844, respectively.
Contrast that with Arkansas, which entered the Southeastern Conference with South Carolina in 1992 and brought a much stronger football tradition from the old Southwest Conference.
During consecutive nine-win seasons from 2002-2003 and quarterbacked by superstar Matt Jones, Arkansas averaged less than 67,000 fans in Fayetteville.
In 2005, the second of two straight losing seasons, attendance dipped by around 2,500 fans per game after four years of increases following the expansion.
That follows a fan trend easily pinpointed in the basketball program, which enjoyed a long streak of sellouts at the 19,200-seat Walton Arena throughout the 1990s but averaged 14,959 in 2005-2006, a season in which Arkansas made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001.
Arkansas has approximately 1.4 million fewer residents than South Carolina, but the Gamecocks also have something the Razorbacks do not — a strong in-state Division I rival at Clemson pulling its own share of fan dollars.
A look at what Arkansas averages for non-BCS conference opponents shows the attendance numbers slide even more.
Arkansas averages just more than 69,000 for a non-BCS, season-opening opponent such as Tulsa or New Mexico State, but that number drops by an average of 11,000 for mid-season games against similar opponents.
Further, against lower-tier teams from the SEC (like South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Mississippi State) Arkansas averages barely more than 65,000.
Arkansas has played four games on the opening weekend of hunting season since the stadium expanded to 72,000 in 2001.
The average attendance for those games is 59,840.
Home Field Disadvantage
Why should this be a concern for the powers that be in the athletic department?
Look at the 2007 schedule.
The six games in Fayetteville include three non-BCS opponents in Troy, North Texas and Florida International.
They also include two against lower-tier SEC teams Kentucky and South Carolina.
The schedule makers avoided the triple whammy, though. Arkansas plays at Tennessee on Nov. 10 to avoid the usual attendance dip on opening weekend for deer season.
Arkansas averaged 102.6 percent of its capacity at Razorback Stadium in 2006 and took in $19.7 million.
Averaging a sellout drops the total by $500,000.
Should Arkansas average 97 percent capacity, as it did in 2004 aided by games against Texas, Georgia and Alabama, the revenue dips $1.1 million.
A more realistic comparison would be the 2003 season, which featured a ranked Razorback team, a star player, two marquee opponents (Florida, Auburn), two duds (New Mexico State, Tulsa) and a lower-tier SEC team (Mississippi State).
Arkansas averaged 93 percent capacity, or 66,735 that year.
Similar attendance in 2007 would drop ticket revenue by $2 million.
The athletic department will see a dip no matter what in 2008 when it loses one Fayetteville home game thanks to a return trip to Austin to renew its longtime rivalry with Texas. That will drop revenue by at least $3 million.
White did not say if concerns about losing financial backing from donors or ticket sales because of recent controversy weighed in the decision to retire for Broyles, who left the Arkansas Union immediately after his announcement and did not answer questions, a move that spoke volumes.
“We didn’t talk about that,” White said. “From Gen (Broyles’ wife), I know that he was having great difficulty sleeping. I don’t know if that was indigestion or what, but she was concerned about the stress he was under.”
Hogs and HMR
The expansion of Razorback Stadium has been a boon to the Northwest Arkansas economy and 2006 was a record year for tax collections in all four major cities.
A study conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the UA’s Walton College of Business commissioned by the City of Fayetteville estimated the impact of the 2004 Georgia game — attended by 71,644 — at more than $25 million.
With an average attendance of 73,895 in 2006, it is safe to say the additional two Razorback games brought in more than $50 million alone.
Aided by the annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ motorcycle rally, Fayetteville’s hotel/motel/restaurant tax collections jumped 16 percent in September and 13.2 percent in October versus 2005.
Hotel capacity in Northwest Arkansas was a concern when the stadium went from 55,000 to 72,000 in 2001. Since then, more than 2,000 rooms have been added in Rogers, Springdale and Bentonville while Fayetteville has remained relatively flat at about 1,700 rooms.
Fayetteville’s collections for hotel taxes have barely moved in the last three years while its restaurant tax revenue has grown by 21.4 percent in the September-October period since 2003.
Rogers added 925 rooms led by the 248-unit Embassy Suites mostly to suit the needs of the burgeoning corporate interests in Benton County, but has benefited from Razorback football as well.
The two extra games in Fayetteville helped Rogers’ HMR collections grow by 17 percent in September-October 2006 versus 2005.
In the last four years, Fayetteville’s highest grossing period has consistently been September-October during the heart of football season.
Bentonville’s HMR collections grew 42 percent for September and 28 percent for October in 2006, compared to the same months in 2005.
Despite its disadvantages in population and income, Arkansas proved in 2006 it is able to fill Reynolds Razorback Stadium when the fans are properly motivated.
Whether or not they are in 2007 will be the final chapter of Broyles’ half-century legacy.