Tom Shatel's weekly "Lunch With Tom" Q&A session starts on omaha.com at 12 p.m. today.

We, as a wrestling community, need to flood this with questions about the World-Herald's unwillingness to follow through on details brought out in ESPN's feature on the UNO athletic department that was brodcast on "Outside The Lines" on Sunday.

Why is the World-Herald dropping the ball on this? What are they trying to hide? Who are they protecting?

We need to hit this forum hard today and really challenge Shatel on this one.

Been delayed until 12:20

Got my question sent in already, so we'll see if it sees the light of day.

Link?

Tom Shatel has lost all credibility with me now. He thinks UNO will get 4-5k people at games when the Summit League averages around 2,000 in attedndane.

[Comment From Mark B Mark B: ]
UNO averaged 500 people a game for men's basketball this past seaon. How do you think they are planning attracting more fans to games? Do you think this is a huge gamble on UNO's part?
Monday May 16, 2011 12:33 Mark B
12:36 tom shatel: Not really. I think it's less of a gamble than a lot of people think. There are different levels of Division I basketball. I think Omaha, and Nebraska, has some good hoopers, who can play at the lower level of D-I. I think they'll be able to play in the Summit League. And, yes, there will be some kids who can't get into Creighton, or transfer, etc. One thing to watch is UNO's schedule. We talked a lot about UNO football playing Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas State, etc. I think UNO basketball will be able to line up those big money road games. That, and living in Omaha, might attract some kids you wouldn't normally get. Do I think they're going to average 10,000? No. Not even close. But if Derrin Hansen can put a lower-level D-I winner out there, I think you can get 4-5,000. Especially with local kids playing good hoops. We'll see.

Comment From Mark BMark B: ]
When the Summit League averages about 2,000 in attendance per game how do you expect UNO to make a jump to 4000-5000 in attendance even with local players and good play? Also is there enough good DI talent in the state to support 3 DI Programs?
Monday May 16, 2011 12:53 Mark B
12:55 tom shatel: That's just my guess. It could, in fact, be a lot lower. We don't know what the market will be for UNO basketball. There hasn't been a UNO Division I hoops team before. We'll see. UNO fans might go nuts, they might not. Will they serve, ahem, beer? Don't know. Is there enough talent? Again, apples and oranges. UNO's level is lower than Creighton or Nebraska (insert your own punch line here). I think there are Nebraska kids who can't play in the Big Ten or Valley but could make it work in the Summit. We'll see if I"m right.

Comment From Mark BMark B: ]
What do you think will happen if UNO's DI gamble does not pay off? What happens when people decide not to show up to basketball games. Also what happens if they are not able to play at the Civic?
Monday May 16, 2011 12:58 Mark B
1:01 tom shatel: If they hadn't made this gamble, they'd be gambling with the whole athletic department. UNO basketball is not going to be a big factor anytime soon. It's going to take a few years of recruiting. Crowds won't be big early. This is a down-the-road story. The key here is winning hockey games and getting a new rink/arena built. Those are the headlines for the next few years. Monday May 16, 2011 1:01 tom shatel

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BLASCHKO,

Shatel lost credibility with me long before then...as did the World-Herald. Notice how you couldn't find the story they ran Sunday anywhere on the home page of their website. You had to dig into a specific link in their sports section to find it.

Now explain to me, again, why the wrestling community should give any more information to a publication that hates to cover our sport, does a shabby job covering key issues surrounding our sport and buries information on the rare occasions when they actually do their job???

quote:

Now explain to me, again, why the wrestling community should give any more information money/subscriptions to a publication that hates to cover our sport, does a shabby job covering key issues surrounding our sport and buries information on the rare occasions when they actually do their job???

FTFY

quote:

Originally posted by elwayfan:

quote:

Now explain to me, again, why the wrestling community should give any more information money/subscriptions to a publication that hates to cover our sport, does a shabby job covering key issues surrounding our sport and buries information on the rare occasions when they actually do their job???

FTFY

I haven't bought a copy of the OWH in years, so I guess that part of it never entered my mind...LOL.

Will someone interpret for us old goats? What does FTFY stand for?

quote:

FTFY

Fixed That For You

The angle that nobody has covered is how insance it is that UNO is betting their financial future on a basketball program that averaged 500 fans per game this past season and did $16,000 in ticket sales. Shatel finaly ends up admiting that the Summit is a third rate conference. Its not the Valley and not the Big 10/Big 12. Why are people going to choose to spend their money to watch a third rate team play in a third rate conference if they are not already doing so? Also how do they build a new arena without people like David Sokol and Van Deeb on board? Maybe they will do it with all of the money they rake in from guaranteed payouts from big time conference schools? There are 10 current Summit League Schools who played a total of 18 games against big conference schools this past season. 9 of them were played by two schools. Oakland 5, Oral Roberts 4, NDSU 2, SDSU 2, UMKC 2, WILL 1, IPFW 1, IUIPUI 1. So they will get 1 or two games against big times schools. Will that bankroll the athletic department? Doc Sadler has already stated he has no interest in playing UNO. Why would he? It is a lose, lose situation for him.



http://www.omaha.com/article/2...t-revenue-enrollment

Teams Played from BCS Conferences

BCS Team Summit League

Oregon NDSU

West Virginia Oakland

Iowa SDSU

Missouri W ILL

Purdue IPFW

Minnesota SDSU

Texas Tech Oral Roberts

Illinois Oakland

Ohio State IUIPUI

Michigan State Oakland

Oklahoma Oral Roberts

Tennessee Oakland

Missouri Oral Roberts

Miami FL Oral Roberts

Minnesota NDSU

Kansas State UMKC

Ohio State Oakland

Kansas UMKC