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Originally Posted by tascalisa
I doubt he would ever pull the plug on football. The University may spend more money than it earns in the team, but the advertising the team's existence does is priceless.
As far as schools like UCF go, they're in rapidly growing cities in rapidly populating states that are home to countless potential benefactors. Birmingham is big enough to potentially push the team forward, but there just isn't the momentum behind the support that fresh citizens can bring. Maybe that'll change in the coming years, but at the moment it's just not there.
Don't get me wrong, I really really want UAB football to succeed, though I don't think an on campus stadium that has little to no partnership with the city is the best idea. I don't like the idea of potential redundancy if UAB gets a stadium and the BJCC builds the "multipurpose facility."
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I don't see a UAB OCS and the BJCC MPF as linked/competing venues. Bartow Arena and the BJCC aren't competing and UAB needs control over the venues it uses. UCF played in a bowl-level stadium and decided to move on-campus. An OCS, by itself, won't be a panacea for UAB's football problems, but it will kill a few birds with one stone.
Birmingham needs the MPF for convention, bowl, and MC and Labor Day Classic events. While UAB just needs a venue closer to campus where the University can control it's scheduling and use.
More to the point of UCF is that they have over 60,000 students and are able to cover costs of most university programs through tuition increases.