BREAKING: Apple Cup at Qwest dead

by Jeff Nusser on Apr 24, 2009 12:09 PM PDT in Cougar Football Comment 15 comments

Well, apparently that was all much ado about nothing. The Apple Cup-to-Qwest move is dead. Here are Jim Sterk's just-released comments in their entirety:

"President Floyd and I have decided not to pursue further conversations about moving the Apple Cup to Qwest Field," said Sterk. "I want to reiterate that at no time did we have a finalized agreement. It became evident an understanding on ways to maintain the neutral-site atmosphere in regards to ticket allotment could not be reached; therefore, our student-athletes and Cougar fans would not be best served without this key component. I was not going to continue following a path that was not in the best interest of WSU Athletics, the university and our fans."

"What made this possible agreement attractive were the additional number of tickets available to our fans, the financial gain seen by the athletic department, and the tremendous exposure created by playing a game of this magnitude at one of the premier sporting venues in the country. However, the final details could not be ironed out.

"We appreciate the relationship we have with First & Goal and will work with them to maintain WSU football's presence at Qwest Field."

I'm pretty shocked this is how it turned out, but I must say I'm incredibly proud of Sterk right now. He didn't sell us down the river to chase the money -- he pulled out in the interest of fairness to the team.

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I would have loved the extra revenue

But I feel better about this now. I’m so glad Sterk didn’t sell us out. He is even more awesome today.

This is where per game statistics go to die.

CougCenter

by Dancing Football on Apr 24, 2009 12:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I've always trusted Sterk to do the right thing....

and no matter what he decided on this very important proposal, I told myself I would still support him 100%. He’s doing a great job.

I wonder what Jim Walden is thinking about this right now. Don’t know why I thought about him, but I know how important a subject it would be to the man that fought so hard to bring the Apple Cup back to campus.

We should be on a mission now to never put ourselves in this position again by raising a signifcant amount of cash for the athletic foundation of WSU.

I wish there was a way I could put my marketing degree to use for the university now. I’d personally call every single alumni to ask for a donation if I had the list of phone numbers.

We’ve got to find a way to reach way more than 6,000+ donors. I’ve got ideas but not sure they fly in today’s market. Create a new slogan backed by some really cool merchandise, word of mouth, whatever it takes. Let’s raise some money. I don’ like the idea of being in last place by $14m.

Go Cougs!!!

by SW WA Coug on Apr 24, 2009 12:19 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree

I think an email chain with a description of the shape the athletic department is in and explaining how they are not allowed to contact any alumni unless they have donated before along with a link to the athletic foundation website would help. If everyone from blogs such as this sent out such an email to all of their Coug contacts who in turn could forward it to their contacts, it could get the word out and hopefully increase numbers. It wouldn’t hurt anyway. I saw in Blanchette’s article that Sterk orininally had a slogan of getting 10K donors by 2010. I have never heard of this and think he must have kind of let that die. Well we can at least shoot for 9K by 2009 right now by all doing our part.

by selahcoug on Apr 24, 2009 12:28 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There's a facebook group out there to that effect

It’s under causes. I’ll post the link when I get away from school. (Facebook is filtered here.)

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Apr 24, 2009 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks Nuss....

If everybody just does a little it will turn into something big. I read today that 6,000 alumni donors to the athletic foundation only represents about 2% of existing alumni from WSU. Quick, in-my-head calculations says there are 300,000 potential donors out there that might be willing to help the cause. Can you imagine the impact if each one only contributed $10 per year?

Sterks goal of 10,000 donors seems pretty modest. That’s a great goal to shoot for short-term but I think we can do a lot better than that over the long haul. I also think that mandate has got to go because that opens up the door to easy access to all these alumni and their family members that may not have a clue to how much of an impact just a little donation could have. I’m thinking out loud. Just saying….

by SW WA Coug on Apr 24, 2009 1:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

I wonder who has the power to change that rule?

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Apr 24, 2009 1:47 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think Sterk really saved face

He wasn’t looking good to many of his supporters recently. He showed that he does in fact have the best interest of WSU in mind. Now we all just need to keep up the push to get more donors and make the athletic department strong.

by selahcoug on Apr 24, 2009 12:20 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

More ways to give

Attend the Athletic Foundation Events and get the word out about them. Here is the website showing when they are with registration forms.

https://www.athletics.wsu.edu/foundation/default.asp

By the way, if you haven’t been to the Tri-Cities Tailgate, I highly recommend it. It is a get together similar to the field house with a bunch of Cougs sitting around talking, eating and drinking. There are also talks by the WSU coaches and a silent and live auction. Most of the other events are golf tournaments so if you don’t like to golf, you can at least go to the tailgate.

by selahcoug on Apr 24, 2009 12:38 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

since i'm seldom right

i figured i’d brag about this one….i KNEW the huskies wouldn’t settle for 50/50 tickets… :)

Witches of Eastman

by BigWood on Apr 24, 2009 6:44 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

You called it

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Apr 24, 2009 7:44 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

You can hardly blame Woodward though....

If the shoe was on the other foot, we’d want all of our season ticket holders to be able to attend an Apple Cup in our back yard. Just saying….

by SW WA Coug on Apr 24, 2009 9:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

posted this in another blog comment

For a home game the dawgs lose 7K, for an away game they game 25K+ (probably 30K) it;s a net gain.

They could figure out a way where if you have season tix for 2 consecutive years you will get a tix for 1 AC. The top 22K get tix to both. If you want to attend both AC’s donate more.

by woolybugger on Apr 25, 2009 12:30 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

They're going to have to come up with some kind of solution like that

And it’s doable. Like I said, I’d be shocked if this thing really was dead — there’s just too much money on the table for two programs that need it.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Apr 25, 2009 6:57 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There is so much at stake right now....

Apple Cup at Qwest / No Apple Cup at Qwest. Yes on SB 6116 / No on SB 6116. Yes on taxpayer money to fix Husky Stadium / No on taxpayer money to fix Husky Stadium.

It’s all tied together right now. I think we’re overanalyzing it all. What’s good for the schools and the state in general? Stop the petty politics. If we’re not careful, nothing at all is going to get accomplished and that’s not good.

by SW WA Coug on Apr 25, 2009 11:03 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs