If the 2009 financial numbers are any indication, we should have a brand new Dome roof made of woven gold by 2015. Assuming we haven't loaded the entire building on a flatbed and moved it to Central Park by then.
A year after losing $834,377, the football program made a profit of about $3.9 million in 2009, according to the most recent report by the U.S. Department of Education's Equity in Athletics. In its first year under head coach Doug Marrone, the program reported $19,152,691 in revenue and $15,300,740 in expenses.
Now, one could argue that the increase had a lot to do with the fact that we no longer had to pay Greg Robinson the $2.2M he made off us while burning Michigan to the ground. Plus, the extra home went a long way towards recouping some costs.
But come on now. We all know the real reason. Doug "Money Maker" Marrone. His mere presence alone generated millions for the University.
SU can keep their facts. I've obtained a copy of an internal study done at SU that charts how the football program would perform financially if anyone except HCDM were in charge right now. Here are the expected yearly football-related incomes...
2009: -1.3M
2010: -4.9M
2011: -59.3M
2012: University shuts down due to inability to pay off football-relate expenses.
Staggering and sobering. Instead, Marrone is leading Syracuse towards a New Deal much like FDR led America out of the Great Depression. Pretty soon there will be a meal on every table, a roof over every head, a little Otto bumper sticker on every car and a top-of-the-line Smartphone in every DOC Gross' hand.
Here's a fun fact revealed in the article. You know that giant stadium located on Syracuse University campus with no possible tenant within 250 miles? Syracuse has to PAY to play there.
Edson also said SU has to pay to play in the Carrier Dome, which is a unique expense among schools.
"A lot of places, if they have their own facility on campus, they're not paying to play there, but we do that," he said. "It's part of the university budget process, and that's part of what we do."
The more I learn about the financial set-up of SU, it's athletic department, it's bookstore and it's stadium, the less I understand it all.