Mallett Will Not be the Difference
Robert Shields
While the national media has all but given the Razorbacks’ starting quarterback job to Ryan Mallett, let’s not count out the backups making a run to give him competition and replace him in that role next season.
Just kidding, but that was the sentiment of fans heading into last season, and I told you all that Mallett would be the starter, which resulted in many nasty e-mails telling me how wrong I was. The backup may be very good but he is not Mallett.
Funny how different a year later makes.
This year the issue for fans is not who will start, but rather the roar becomes louder and louder from fans for Mallett to be a Heisman candidate, and he will be one before he takes a snap this season even with him skipping spring practice. These expectations will be high and need to be managed correctly for a player who has displayed signs of immaturity in the past.
Mallett posted great numbers last year and had some memorable games against Georgia, LSU, and Florida, but all of those games were loses. He finished the season on a flat note in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl with a very subpar performance. I blame it on the cold, although he said it had no effect. I think the freezing temperatures affected the whole team, which was used to playing in the warmth of the SEC.
Mallett had surgery that is sidelining him for this spring practice, so I fully expect fans to talk a lot about one or two other quarterbacks who look good at times and will again spark a small fire for some that the guys in waiting are just as good or almost as good as Mallett. That will be wrong, though.
Mallett is probably the premier quarterback coming back in the SEC, maybe even the nation. He will have a receiving corps as good as any with Cobi Hamilton, Joe Adams, Jarius Wright, and Greg Childs. DJ Williams returns along with Chris Gragg. Mallett will also have a list of running backs including Dennis Johnson (I think this kid is just a football player), Ronnie Wingo, Knile Davis, and Broderick Green (who probably improved the most over last season).
These weapons at Mallett’s disposal will make him very dangerous in addition to what I expect will be an improved offensive line.
The above just explained why expectations will be high on the Razorback offense that fans will expect to be super great in September. These expectations need to be tempered even though I think Mallett has the best raw ability of any quarterback to ever wear the Razorback uniform.
Why should optimism be tempered even though I say Mallett be the best ever? Let me count the ways.
1) He is coming off surgery and nobody knows how he will recover from it. I along with every other Hog fan expect a full recovery and an improved Mallett. Yet only time will tell.
2) Even though Mallett improved during the season, almost all fans could still see weaknesses. He is still slow footed. He got better about not taking sacks, but I expect this next season he will see even more pressure if that is possible. I expect defenses to pick their poison and go man up even more on the corners to bring all the pressure on Mallett they can muster. SEC defensive coordinators have will have had a season of footage of him and had months reviewing and dissecting it on how to get to him. His improvement of finding the open receiver quickly will have to outpace defensive coordinators’ schemes.
3) The foot injury may slow him even more, but nobody hopes that is the case. We all hope that he becomes more agile. Time will tell, but a slower Mallett will not be a better Mallett. Foot injuries can be nagging.
4) Mallett will be a deadly quarterback but only if the Hogs can manage the sticks and stop putting him in long-yardage situations. He often bailed out the offense with some long passes last season. Fans cannot expect that to happen on a regular basis. Maybe he can continue to do it, but it’s a lot to ask even for an NFL quarterback. Defenses love it when they know the quarterback has to throw the ball. The running game will have to improve to make this situation the best for Mallett. A great running game takes the pressure off of him. In the Florida game last year, it helped Mallett when Dennis Johnson started picking up yards on the ground.
5) To have a great season, the defense will have to improve. The defense created opportunities last season, and it will have to do the same next season. It will be very helpful to Mallett if the defense can get some three and outs. The more possessions it creates for this offense, the better it will be. Teams will try to keep Mallett and company off the field, and some teams will certainly try more ball control against the Hogs.
6) The kicking game will have to be solid. Mallett does not need to face every possession looking at 80 yards to go down the field. The kicking game often dictates field position. Great field position will give Mallett great possessions.
7) The receivers have to hold onto the ball. I expect Mallett will have to unload early and often. This means the receivers have to be ready, run proper routes, and come up with the hard catches.
All this said, in long form, is just to remind you that Mallett will not be the difference. He makes the season have a real possibility of being great, but it will be the rest of the team that determines how disappointing Bobby Petrino’s third season will be, not Mallett.
Send your singular heroics to fromthebench@yahoo.com
Buy my books at fruitbatbooks.com.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
From the Bench
The John Pelphrey Report Card
Robert Shields
I typically hand out report cards every year for the University of Arkansas basketball and football coaches, and it’s time for the much anticipated John Pelphrey grades. A year later and John Pelphrey still remains the wonderwall. Can he get it done?
As a precursor, you can’t just win 14 games at Arkansas and lose your last six of the season and expect a good grade. Last year, I wrote in my report card that my expectation for this season was to go 8-8 in the conference. He missed the mark this year with a 7-9 conference record.
Now the grades for this year…
Player development: D
(Last year: D)
No player improved except for maybe Marshawn Powell, who I think was good anyway. He just adjusted to the college game on his own. You can argue Rotnei Clarke also improved, but I will just argue he was a good shooter before he put on the Razorback uniform.
Game management: D
(Last year: D)
The Hogs came back in some games and won. In other games at the end of the season when the team should have been playing better, they looked terrible.
Recruiting: D
(Last year: I - Incomplete)
His recruiting gets a low grade for no other reason than the list of players he has signed that either never made it or have left the program. This would be an F if not for Courtney Fortson and Powell, who are both good players.
Discipline: F
(Last year: A)
The shenanigans off the court to start the season set this team back at the beginning, and the team struggled to ever regain itself.
Game plan: D
(Last year: F)
The team did not go 2-14 this year in conference so I have to assume this improved, but other teams at the end of the year seemed to have the Hogs figured out and the team never seemed to adjust to correct its shortcomings.
Fundamentals: F
(Last year: F)
In one man’s opinion, the defense stunk this year, and fundamentals show up more on the defensive side while raw ability shows up more on the offensive side. If you don’t bring to the game sound discipline and fundamentals, the defense will usually show it and it did for the Hogs. The exhibit that I will use is the dunk by UAB on an inbounds play to win the game. Sound fundamentals would never allow that play to happen.
Success: F
(Last year: F)
At Arkansas, which has a long history in basketball save for this decade, not making some sort postseason activity outside the HPER building earns you an F, especially when bowing out of the first game in the SEC tournament against a weak opponent. The SEC West was pathetic and for the first time in decades it did not send a team to the NCAA tournament. At a time when the Hogs should be dominating it, the Pigs are equal to the task of stinking it up.
Usually at the end of my grades, I just end the column. But not this time. Nolan Richardson was fired for the stated reason by the Powers That Be that fans had lost faith in the program. My question for Jeff Long, who is all business, is what do you do when many of your stockholders in your business have lost faith in your coach?
Coach, please have your athletic director sign this report card and return it to me by the end of the week.
Send your grade of John Pelphrey to fromthebench@yahoo.com
My new book, “Scarlet Fever: A Razorback House Divided,” is newly available on Amazon’s Kindle for you technos.
My books are also available at http://www.fruitbatbooks.com/
Robert Shields
I typically hand out report cards every year for the University of Arkansas basketball and football coaches, and it’s time for the much anticipated John Pelphrey grades. A year later and John Pelphrey still remains the wonderwall. Can he get it done?
As a precursor, you can’t just win 14 games at Arkansas and lose your last six of the season and expect a good grade. Last year, I wrote in my report card that my expectation for this season was to go 8-8 in the conference. He missed the mark this year with a 7-9 conference record.
Now the grades for this year…
Player development: D
(Last year: D)
No player improved except for maybe Marshawn Powell, who I think was good anyway. He just adjusted to the college game on his own. You can argue Rotnei Clarke also improved, but I will just argue he was a good shooter before he put on the Razorback uniform.
Game management: D
(Last year: D)
The Hogs came back in some games and won. In other games at the end of the season when the team should have been playing better, they looked terrible.
Recruiting: D
(Last year: I - Incomplete)
His recruiting gets a low grade for no other reason than the list of players he has signed that either never made it or have left the program. This would be an F if not for Courtney Fortson and Powell, who are both good players.
Discipline: F
(Last year: A)
The shenanigans off the court to start the season set this team back at the beginning, and the team struggled to ever regain itself.
Game plan: D
(Last year: F)
The team did not go 2-14 this year in conference so I have to assume this improved, but other teams at the end of the year seemed to have the Hogs figured out and the team never seemed to adjust to correct its shortcomings.
Fundamentals: F
(Last year: F)
In one man’s opinion, the defense stunk this year, and fundamentals show up more on the defensive side while raw ability shows up more on the offensive side. If you don’t bring to the game sound discipline and fundamentals, the defense will usually show it and it did for the Hogs. The exhibit that I will use is the dunk by UAB on an inbounds play to win the game. Sound fundamentals would never allow that play to happen.
Success: F
(Last year: F)
At Arkansas, which has a long history in basketball save for this decade, not making some sort postseason activity outside the HPER building earns you an F, especially when bowing out of the first game in the SEC tournament against a weak opponent. The SEC West was pathetic and for the first time in decades it did not send a team to the NCAA tournament. At a time when the Hogs should be dominating it, the Pigs are equal to the task of stinking it up.
Usually at the end of my grades, I just end the column. But not this time. Nolan Richardson was fired for the stated reason by the Powers That Be that fans had lost faith in the program. My question for Jeff Long, who is all business, is what do you do when many of your stockholders in your business have lost faith in your coach?
Coach, please have your athletic director sign this report card and return it to me by the end of the week.
Send your grade of John Pelphrey to fromthebench@yahoo.com
My new book, “Scarlet Fever: A Razorback House Divided,” is newly available on Amazon’s Kindle for you technos.
My books are also available at http://www.fruitbatbooks.com/
Monday, March 15, 2010
From the Bench - Missing the Days of being Called SOB
Missing the Days of Being Called a Turd and SOB
Robert Shields
The sports editor of the statewide paper on Sunday leveled a charge against Razorback basketball coach John Pelphrey saying that he does not have control of his team. I wonder if Wally Hall is close enough to the team to make that call, and this sounds like the same cliché Wally and others have used in the past when they begin the campaign to get a coach fired.
I think all coaches in this day and age struggle with control of their teams because they are all dealing with 18-year-old prima donna knuckleheads who have been placed on a pedestal in high school by the recruitniks. It’s just a matter of degree. I assume in the eyes of Mr. Hall it has reached a level of such a lack of control it has become detrimental to the team.
Wally gave some anecdotal evidence to back his claim, but he easily could have also pointed to the stuff that started the year with an event that happened at a fraternity house that kept some players from the court for a period of time.
What we all know is that Pelphrey will be back next season -- a season that he will have to win or be replaced by maybe someone even worse. I have to believe the UofA athletic department is in a cash-flow crunch that has precipitated the ticket price increases in some sports. I do not believe that it’s broke, but maybe its assets in the Razorback Foundation are not producing as they once were and maybe fundraising has not been as strong.
A lack of cash flow will hamper hiring a top-flight basketball coach, plus the UofA is radioactive after the firing of Nolan, the racial-discrimination suit, the lack of winning, the firing of Stan Heath, the one-day hiring of Dana Altman, and then hiring basically the only guy willing to take the job in Pelphrey.
I do not question Pelphrey’s knowledge of basketball, but I also don’t know if Pelphrey can get the job done. I think he learned some things under Rick Petino and Billy Donovan and that his recruiting has been decent enough that the Hogs have equal or better talent than the teams in the SEC West. Sometimes all these things seem to come together like last year when the Hogs beat top 10 teams in Oklahoma and Texas. Then during the winning streak in the SEC this year, it seemed to come together again.
But a lot of other times, the team comes apart. I can’t explain why it happens. There is something missing. Wally seems to believe it’s a lack of coaching control. Regardless, the failure falls on the coach’s shoulders.
Personally, I am missing the days of Nolan calling me names like SOB and turd. He had one losing season and was out. The new standard at the UA since then seems to be that you can rack up quite a few before you are let go.
I don’t know if the basketball program can be resurrected any time soon. Great players right now will avoid the SEC because it’s not a premier basketball conference. So besides Arkansas not winning, it also faces the hurdle of getting good players in a conference right now with some challenges (with Kentucky being the exception).
The Razorback basketball heroics of 15 years ago are long forgotten with today’s youth. You may as well be talking about the national championship Butch Lee and Jerome Whitehead won for Marquette. It is ancient history to the kids in high school today.
For the basketball program to return, it will take a turn of events that are unseen in today’s crystal ball. The genesis may start in two years because the recruitniks say the class that will be seniors next year in Arkansas high school basketball are one of a kind. The Razorback basketball program had to start in its own backyard some 35 years ago with the triplets of Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer, and Marvin Delph. The bottom line is the basketball program is back to where it was before Eddie Sutton arrived on the Hill.
The question remains, if Pelphrey has another losing season will he be around to reap the benefits of what is supposed to be a great recruiting class next season?
Send your basketball regrets to fromthebench@yahoo.com
My books are available on Amazon and www.fruitbatbooks.com
Robert Shields
The sports editor of the statewide paper on Sunday leveled a charge against Razorback basketball coach John Pelphrey saying that he does not have control of his team. I wonder if Wally Hall is close enough to the team to make that call, and this sounds like the same cliché Wally and others have used in the past when they begin the campaign to get a coach fired.
I think all coaches in this day and age struggle with control of their teams because they are all dealing with 18-year-old prima donna knuckleheads who have been placed on a pedestal in high school by the recruitniks. It’s just a matter of degree. I assume in the eyes of Mr. Hall it has reached a level of such a lack of control it has become detrimental to the team.
Wally gave some anecdotal evidence to back his claim, but he easily could have also pointed to the stuff that started the year with an event that happened at a fraternity house that kept some players from the court for a period of time.
What we all know is that Pelphrey will be back next season -- a season that he will have to win or be replaced by maybe someone even worse. I have to believe the UofA athletic department is in a cash-flow crunch that has precipitated the ticket price increases in some sports. I do not believe that it’s broke, but maybe its assets in the Razorback Foundation are not producing as they once were and maybe fundraising has not been as strong.
A lack of cash flow will hamper hiring a top-flight basketball coach, plus the UofA is radioactive after the firing of Nolan, the racial-discrimination suit, the lack of winning, the firing of Stan Heath, the one-day hiring of Dana Altman, and then hiring basically the only guy willing to take the job in Pelphrey.
I do not question Pelphrey’s knowledge of basketball, but I also don’t know if Pelphrey can get the job done. I think he learned some things under Rick Petino and Billy Donovan and that his recruiting has been decent enough that the Hogs have equal or better talent than the teams in the SEC West. Sometimes all these things seem to come together like last year when the Hogs beat top 10 teams in Oklahoma and Texas. Then during the winning streak in the SEC this year, it seemed to come together again.
But a lot of other times, the team comes apart. I can’t explain why it happens. There is something missing. Wally seems to believe it’s a lack of coaching control. Regardless, the failure falls on the coach’s shoulders.
Personally, I am missing the days of Nolan calling me names like SOB and turd. He had one losing season and was out. The new standard at the UA since then seems to be that you can rack up quite a few before you are let go.
I don’t know if the basketball program can be resurrected any time soon. Great players right now will avoid the SEC because it’s not a premier basketball conference. So besides Arkansas not winning, it also faces the hurdle of getting good players in a conference right now with some challenges (with Kentucky being the exception).
The Razorback basketball heroics of 15 years ago are long forgotten with today’s youth. You may as well be talking about the national championship Butch Lee and Jerome Whitehead won for Marquette. It is ancient history to the kids in high school today.
For the basketball program to return, it will take a turn of events that are unseen in today’s crystal ball. The genesis may start in two years because the recruitniks say the class that will be seniors next year in Arkansas high school basketball are one of a kind. The Razorback basketball program had to start in its own backyard some 35 years ago with the triplets of Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer, and Marvin Delph. The bottom line is the basketball program is back to where it was before Eddie Sutton arrived on the Hill.
The question remains, if Pelphrey has another losing season will he be around to reap the benefits of what is supposed to be a great recruiting class next season?
Send your basketball regrets to fromthebench@yahoo.com
My books are available on Amazon and www.fruitbatbooks.com
Monday, March 08, 2010
From the Bench - Annual Marathon Column
The Annual Marathon Column (Plus Football Ticket Talk)
Robert Shields
For the first time in five years, I did not run the Little Rock Half-Marathon (also known as “the Better Half”). Instead, I filled in for a few people in other events as they decided they were not ready for the chore. I ran the 5K on Saturday and the first leg of the relay on Sunday.
So this week I will talk about the marathon and for another week skip talking about the Razorback basketball season. This may be the first time in more than 10 years of writing my column to never write about basketball all season. I guess I will still have to hand out my grades for Coach John Pelphrey once the season is over.
The weather on Saturday morning was great. After a season of training in the cold and snow, a day where the high actually reached average temperature was perfect. The 5K course in downtown Little Rock is one of my least favorites. For the fist half of the race, you spend the whole time in a gradual ascent up to Broadway, which is taxing (though not nearly as taxing as the hardest race, the Catholic High Rocket 5K).
The 5K course then comes back down LaHarpe with its small, undulating hills. It’s not a course for a personal record. The turnout though for the race was good, and this was the first year they moved the 5K to Saturday so that those runners wouldn’t have to deal with the madness of marathon race day on Sunday.
By Sunday when it was time to do my part of the marathon relay, my legs were somewhat dead. I did a poor job hydrating on Saturday after the 5K and instead spent most of the day drinking Mountain Dews.
Since I was a fill-in on the relay, I was stationed in corral D. I have never started that far back, and it was a good experience. Literally, I was at the back of the field. So when the race started, it seemed like a good five minutes for me to get from the beginning of the River Market to the starting line (gun time to chip time was actually at six minutes), and then it seemed to take another three good miles before there was running room. I never had an appreciation how many people actually run in the event until getting this perspective.
Starting at the back presents its challenges in addition to the slow start. Groups of walkers stay together creating a maze to work through as you make the slow gradual ascent up Broadway. On the second day, it was not as taxing because the pace in the large throng of people was slow.
I saw North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays out as usual greeting people to his fair city as you crossed the Broadway bridge. On the way back, I saw Shelly the Arkansas Travelers mascot. I did not stop for a picture with the moose or whatever Shelley is, but many runners inexplicably did.
At the first aid station, or as I like to call it the splash zone, I took a direct hit accidentally as one runner threw down his water in front of me. There were millions of cups, so I know others had certainly taken collateral damage as there were so many people and so many cups going down is such a small area.
What was awesome to see was a woman with a prosthetic leg pushing a baby carriage in the marathon, and she was booking. The Little Rock fire department had their usual rollout with the large ladder truck extended out gracing the entrance to the Broadway bridge.
Best costume for a pacer goes to the 4:30 pacer. Best name for a relay teams was “I thought you said telethon.”
The weather on Sunday may have even been better than it was on Saturday. Next year, it’s back to the half-marathon for me.
-
Razorback Football Ticket Talk
After many articles in the past, I have been attacked verbally and gotten tons of responses from e-mail and various other communications. But my column last week that was critical on the ticket price increase for Razorback football generated the most responses that I have ever received, even during the Great Stadium Debate. I think the reason is that the price increase has hit a lot of families hard, and there is genuine outrage.
I always couch and ignore when I hear people say they are not going to renew their tickets for this or that. I know it’s more hyperbole than fact. But I am not sure this is the case this time. I don’t think it’s raw emotion speaking, but instead pure economics.
It is rare following a column that people seek me out to approach me in person about what I wrote. They did last week, with all of them telling me that the ticket increase is just too much for them -- not in anger, but distress.
Send your distress to fromthebench@yahoo.com
All my books can be found at Amazon or at www.fruitbatbooks.com.
Robert Shields
For the first time in five years, I did not run the Little Rock Half-Marathon (also known as “the Better Half”). Instead, I filled in for a few people in other events as they decided they were not ready for the chore. I ran the 5K on Saturday and the first leg of the relay on Sunday.
So this week I will talk about the marathon and for another week skip talking about the Razorback basketball season. This may be the first time in more than 10 years of writing my column to never write about basketball all season. I guess I will still have to hand out my grades for Coach John Pelphrey once the season is over.
The weather on Saturday morning was great. After a season of training in the cold and snow, a day where the high actually reached average temperature was perfect. The 5K course in downtown Little Rock is one of my least favorites. For the fist half of the race, you spend the whole time in a gradual ascent up to Broadway, which is taxing (though not nearly as taxing as the hardest race, the Catholic High Rocket 5K).
The 5K course then comes back down LaHarpe with its small, undulating hills. It’s not a course for a personal record. The turnout though for the race was good, and this was the first year they moved the 5K to Saturday so that those runners wouldn’t have to deal with the madness of marathon race day on Sunday.
By Sunday when it was time to do my part of the marathon relay, my legs were somewhat dead. I did a poor job hydrating on Saturday after the 5K and instead spent most of the day drinking Mountain Dews.
Since I was a fill-in on the relay, I was stationed in corral D. I have never started that far back, and it was a good experience. Literally, I was at the back of the field. So when the race started, it seemed like a good five minutes for me to get from the beginning of the River Market to the starting line (gun time to chip time was actually at six minutes), and then it seemed to take another three good miles before there was running room. I never had an appreciation how many people actually run in the event until getting this perspective.
Starting at the back presents its challenges in addition to the slow start. Groups of walkers stay together creating a maze to work through as you make the slow gradual ascent up Broadway. On the second day, it was not as taxing because the pace in the large throng of people was slow.
I saw North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays out as usual greeting people to his fair city as you crossed the Broadway bridge. On the way back, I saw Shelly the Arkansas Travelers mascot. I did not stop for a picture with the moose or whatever Shelley is, but many runners inexplicably did.
At the first aid station, or as I like to call it the splash zone, I took a direct hit accidentally as one runner threw down his water in front of me. There were millions of cups, so I know others had certainly taken collateral damage as there were so many people and so many cups going down is such a small area.
What was awesome to see was a woman with a prosthetic leg pushing a baby carriage in the marathon, and she was booking. The Little Rock fire department had their usual rollout with the large ladder truck extended out gracing the entrance to the Broadway bridge.
Best costume for a pacer goes to the 4:30 pacer. Best name for a relay teams was “I thought you said telethon.”
The weather on Sunday may have even been better than it was on Saturday. Next year, it’s back to the half-marathon for me.
-
Razorback Football Ticket Talk
After many articles in the past, I have been attacked verbally and gotten tons of responses from e-mail and various other communications. But my column last week that was critical on the ticket price increase for Razorback football generated the most responses that I have ever received, even during the Great Stadium Debate. I think the reason is that the price increase has hit a lot of families hard, and there is genuine outrage.
I always couch and ignore when I hear people say they are not going to renew their tickets for this or that. I know it’s more hyperbole than fact. But I am not sure this is the case this time. I don’t think it’s raw emotion speaking, but instead pure economics.
It is rare following a column that people seek me out to approach me in person about what I wrote. They did last week, with all of them telling me that the ticket increase is just too much for them -- not in anger, but distress.
Send your distress to fromthebench@yahoo.com
All my books can be found at Amazon or at www.fruitbatbooks.com.
Monday, March 01, 2010
From the Bench
Razorback Football Ticket Increases Are Absurd
Robert Shields
With the Razorback basketball program continuing its deathly spiral into the pit of despair, I will skip another week of writing about the basketball team’s latest losses since I have avoided this predictable topic all year.
Instead, I will focus on something much more important to the future of Razorback athletics -- the increase in Razorback football ticket prices.
The Razorback Foundation does not share its financial statements with me and never did even when I was an officer in the Little Rock Razorback Club. Being a private corporation that is the independent fund-raising arm for Razorback athletics, the Foundation cannot be hit with a Freedom of Information request, so the reason Chuck Dicus left and how much money has been spent firing coaches and who has largely funded those firings will remain a mystery.
I find the increase in ticket prices troubling during such turbulent economics times known by the Associated Press Stylebook as the Great Recession. Unemployment rates are at extreme levels and many people have found themselves out of a job or having to take a pay decrease as companies struggle to make it in this tough economy.
But back to the matter at hand: I don’t know if the UA athletic department works in a bubble and assumes its entertainment good has an inelastic demand meaning price can be increased with little fall off of the quantity purchased. I have heard more than one person say they will not be able to renew their tickets. I have heard others say they won’t out of principle with a delivery that has a feeling of “take that, UofA”. I don’t know if the threat is fact or an idle threat – probably a little of both. We will see come summertime if tickets are still available as they have been in prior seasons.
The reality is that in sports over the last decade individual ticket sales are becoming more and more the exception and corporate tickets are becoming more and more of the standard. If you drop your tickets, I am sure the hope is that corporations will pick them up. I would hazard a guess that corporations are quicker to renew their donations and tickets when the bill arrives to their accounting department. Us regular people probably leave those donation and ticket forms on the kitchen counter or clipped to a magnet on the refrigerator putting it off as long as they can from the time they get the bill in February to the May deadline.
I do realize money rules and things have gotten more expensive, but I have to ask first before complaining more about the increase -- what has driven the need for the this increase? As stated, I am unsure how fund-raising has been at the Razorback Foundation. With a faltering basketball program, the drama of the end of Houston Nutt’s coaching career at Arkansas, and the departure of Chuck Dicus, I wonder if fund-raising has fallen off that bad that the UA needs a ticket increase to make up any short fall.
Does Jeff Long have the Frank Broyles magic of coming up with money when needed for a big project? It is a question that will bear out over time.
Now back to the complaining. The ticket price increase in Fayetteville was up 22 percent from $45 to $55. In Little Rock, it was up 44 percent for the LSU game from $45 to $65. I do realize things have gotten more expensive, but this vastly surpasses inflation by a large margin.
Exactly what is the UA doing with all that SEC TV and Nike money that they have to pass this onto the fans?
Some will defend the increase by saying other schools charge even more. The last time that I checked, Arkansas was near the bottom in per capita income. Also, compared to its SEC brethren’s home states, Arkansas has a smaller population, smaller metro areas, has an older population, and demographically is just different. The UA faces challenges other schools do not have to face. In the past, it was able to counter some of these problems by only having one major college team in the state, but there is more and more pressure on that status.
The 44-percent increase in Little Rock ticket prices is absurd. I do realize the revenue difference between War Memorial Stadium and Razorback Stadium needs to be mitigated, but this was extreme in one year.
With this increase in place, the revenue shortfall between the two stadiums will be marginalized, and it’s not an arguing point anymore for those that want all the games in Fayetteville.
Not surprising, though, the UofA can charge a premium for tickets in Little Rock. The economic reality is that they are worth more.
In the end, it will be dishonest and cruel if Long raises the ticket prices in Little Rock only to move games after the 2016 season to Fayetteville.
Send your ticket complaints to fromthebench@yahoo.com
My books: “The Economics of Sex,” is now available on Amazon’s Kindle, and “Scarlet Fever: A Razorback House Divided” is also available on Amazon.
Robert Shields
With the Razorback basketball program continuing its deathly spiral into the pit of despair, I will skip another week of writing about the basketball team’s latest losses since I have avoided this predictable topic all year.
Instead, I will focus on something much more important to the future of Razorback athletics -- the increase in Razorback football ticket prices.
The Razorback Foundation does not share its financial statements with me and never did even when I was an officer in the Little Rock Razorback Club. Being a private corporation that is the independent fund-raising arm for Razorback athletics, the Foundation cannot be hit with a Freedom of Information request, so the reason Chuck Dicus left and how much money has been spent firing coaches and who has largely funded those firings will remain a mystery.
I find the increase in ticket prices troubling during such turbulent economics times known by the Associated Press Stylebook as the Great Recession. Unemployment rates are at extreme levels and many people have found themselves out of a job or having to take a pay decrease as companies struggle to make it in this tough economy.
But back to the matter at hand: I don’t know if the UA athletic department works in a bubble and assumes its entertainment good has an inelastic demand meaning price can be increased with little fall off of the quantity purchased. I have heard more than one person say they will not be able to renew their tickets. I have heard others say they won’t out of principle with a delivery that has a feeling of “take that, UofA”. I don’t know if the threat is fact or an idle threat – probably a little of both. We will see come summertime if tickets are still available as they have been in prior seasons.
The reality is that in sports over the last decade individual ticket sales are becoming more and more the exception and corporate tickets are becoming more and more of the standard. If you drop your tickets, I am sure the hope is that corporations will pick them up. I would hazard a guess that corporations are quicker to renew their donations and tickets when the bill arrives to their accounting department. Us regular people probably leave those donation and ticket forms on the kitchen counter or clipped to a magnet on the refrigerator putting it off as long as they can from the time they get the bill in February to the May deadline.
I do realize money rules and things have gotten more expensive, but I have to ask first before complaining more about the increase -- what has driven the need for the this increase? As stated, I am unsure how fund-raising has been at the Razorback Foundation. With a faltering basketball program, the drama of the end of Houston Nutt’s coaching career at Arkansas, and the departure of Chuck Dicus, I wonder if fund-raising has fallen off that bad that the UA needs a ticket increase to make up any short fall.
Does Jeff Long have the Frank Broyles magic of coming up with money when needed for a big project? It is a question that will bear out over time.
Now back to the complaining. The ticket price increase in Fayetteville was up 22 percent from $45 to $55. In Little Rock, it was up 44 percent for the LSU game from $45 to $65. I do realize things have gotten more expensive, but this vastly surpasses inflation by a large margin.
Exactly what is the UA doing with all that SEC TV and Nike money that they have to pass this onto the fans?
Some will defend the increase by saying other schools charge even more. The last time that I checked, Arkansas was near the bottom in per capita income. Also, compared to its SEC brethren’s home states, Arkansas has a smaller population, smaller metro areas, has an older population, and demographically is just different. The UA faces challenges other schools do not have to face. In the past, it was able to counter some of these problems by only having one major college team in the state, but there is more and more pressure on that status.
The 44-percent increase in Little Rock ticket prices is absurd. I do realize the revenue difference between War Memorial Stadium and Razorback Stadium needs to be mitigated, but this was extreme in one year.
With this increase in place, the revenue shortfall between the two stadiums will be marginalized, and it’s not an arguing point anymore for those that want all the games in Fayetteville.
Not surprising, though, the UofA can charge a premium for tickets in Little Rock. The economic reality is that they are worth more.
In the end, it will be dishonest and cruel if Long raises the ticket prices in Little Rock only to move games after the 2016 season to Fayetteville.
Send your ticket complaints to fromthebench@yahoo.com
My books: “The Economics of Sex,” is now available on Amazon’s Kindle, and “Scarlet Fever: A Razorback House Divided” is also available on Amazon.
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