New Mizzou Endzone Project

[shinatoo]

Mizzou posted pics for new endzone facility today.

http://mutigers.com/news/2016/12/16/foo ... shape.aspx

[StL_Dan]

I'm excited to see the finished project. I think it will add a lot to the already good atmosphere at Faurot.

[beautyfromashes]

Do people who donate to stadiums like this get a tax write off? It seems giving to a sports team shouldn’t get a break for donors.

[swid]

Personal seat license payments for season tickets are no longer tax-deductible, but I don't know if other sorts of donations to athletic departments still are.

Given that the only one I heard about was this specific change, I suspect that everything else that previously was tax-deductible still is.

[bobbyhawks]

Do people who donate to stadiums like this get a tax write off? It seems giving to a sports team shouldn’t get a break for donors.

I could be wrong, but I think it depends on if you get a benefit from the donation. It used to be that these donations were 80% deductible if you receive priority seating, team access, a mug, etc. Now, I think they require you to fully waive all "rewards" for the donation to get a tax benefit.

[shinatoo]

Great series in the Columbian about Mizzou's move to the SEC. The last one is about declining football attendance across the country and the move to downsize stadiums.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/spor ... b6f2f.html

Following a trend
Missouri, and the other athletic departments that have undertaken similar projects in recent years, were by no means pioneers in their thinking. Stanford senior athletic director Ray Purpur drew the ire of school alumni in 2006 when the university’s Board of Trustees approved a $95 million plan to shrink its stadium capacity from 85,000 seats to 50,000, even though the Cardinal’s football team drew fewer than 35,000 fans for most games. Much of that criticism centered around the “lavish spending” associated with intercollegiate athletics, according to the New York Times. Stanford took a gamble on a program that finished 1-11 the previous season and hadn’t recorded a winning season in five years.

[dnweava]

I hate everything about the north endzone project. Puts luxury boxes in front of the students, blocks the view of campus and just overall seems unnecessary. They need to remodel those god awful nasty concourses under the east/west stands before they do anything else. more lipstick on that pig of a stadium.

Personally, I think college sports are going to collapse sooner than people realize, all the NIL money and unlimited transfers is turning off most casual fans so colleges should be rethinking these big stadium projects. Plus nobody under 40 has cable anymore so surely that TV money is going to be drying up soon. I didn't watch a single march madness game this year for the first time since at least the 90s, I'm done with what college sports is becoming.

[bspecht]

Didn't Mizzou basketball go 0-18 in conference? Might be part of your anecdote.

March Madness had great ratings (not to mention WBB)... https://awfulannouncing.com/college-bas ... dness.html

Everyone I know under 40 just gets YouTube TV, basically cable. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02 ... lion-subs/

[dnweava]

Didn't Mizzou basketball go 0-18 in conference? Might be part of your anecdote.

March Madness had great ratings (not to mention WBB)... https://awfulannouncing.com/college-bas ... dness.html

Everyone I know under 40 just gets YouTube TV, basically cable. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02 ... lion-subs/

I'm not a Mizzou fan. I'm legitimately surprised ratings were good. Only hardcore sports fans have YouTube TV from what I've seen, regular people aren't subsidizing ESPN anymore. Cables numbers are droping way faster that YouTube TVs numbers are growing.