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Football: Enhancing Everyone’s Game Day Experience

Posted April 29, 2015, 6:00 a.m.

Notes: (1) This blog essay reproduces an op ed column by Nicholas Johnson in today's Press-Citizen -- the latest in what have been dozens of prior columns and blog essays regarding football-related issues.
(2) A selection of them is available at http://FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com/2015/04/football.html, where they are listed chronologically in categories, such as, The College Football Industry, its impact, economics, and future; Football's Ties to Crime; to Gambling; to Alcohol; and the impact of its fans on the Kinnick Stadium Neighborhood.
(3) Newspaper columns don't have footnotes, but for those who may wish they did a narrative discussion of some of the sources can be found following the text of the column. -- N.J., April 29, 2015.
(4) June 18, 2015 Update: Apparently the "enhancement" has not been enough to pull the money out of the pockets of reluctant former season ticket fans. Season ticket sales may fall as low as 30,000, compared with 2011's 55,457, for a stadium with 70,585 seats. So the latest gambit is an offer of a three-ticket package at a discounted $157 (at $52-plus per game, $3 below the per-game price for season ticket holders) -- with the worst seats in the stadium (south end zone) -- for one of two night games, one of two non-conference games, and one of the last three conference games. ("How's that working out for you?" I'm wondering.) Chad Leistikow, "Iowa hopes new ticket discounts will help fill Kinnick," Des Moines Register, June 18, 2015.
(5) [July 2, 2015]. And for another approach to why fans might decide to skip the games, see Don Campion, "Consider These Reasons for Declining Ticket Sales," Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 29, 2014, p. A7.


Enhancing Everyone's Experience at Kinnick
Nicholas Johnson
Iowa City Press-Citizen, April 29, 2015, p. A13
During a previous life, the University of Iowa’s athletic director set about enhancing fans’ “game day experience” at Wyoming Cowboys’ football games.

He bar-coded tickets and opened more stadium gates to speed entry. He provided parking lots and shuttle services — with discounts for flying the Cowboys’ flag. He added 75 handicapped parking spaces. He improved restrooms and concession facilities. Solid improvements.

Flash forward to Iowa’s Hawkeyes.

Well below national averages, only 64 percent of Iowa’s season ticket holders are even “likely” to renew. Of those not renewing, 68 percent have concluded that seven opportunities to watch Hawkeyes lose too many games (while fans sit unprotected in Iowa’s weather) is not a sufficient benefit to justify the cost: $790 for a couple’s season tickets — plus their added costs and hassles of attending.

When the fast-food hamburger chains see a decline in sales, they have a five-step program to increase sales. First they add salt. If that’s not enough, they add sugar. Next, cheese. Then two burgers per bun. If none of that works, there’s the nuclear option: bacon in everything. [Added photo (photo source unknown)]

AD Gary Barta is evolving his own multi-step program. When too many of the 70,000-plus seats in Kinnick Stadium were empty, he tried luring fans with a sound system, then a video board — acknowledging both need work. He offered $70 discounts on concessions for those renewing early. [Added photo: Video screens weren't enough to fill these seats. (Photo source unknown.)]

What bacon is for McDonald’s, alcohol is for Hawkeye football, a liquid lariat from Laramie for roping and corralling fans into Kinnick. Once praised for accommodating the handicapped with more parking, he has now grasped the revelation from Ogden Nash’s two-line poem that “Candy is dandy/but liquor is quicker.” He’s extended the hours for tailgate drinking and booked two night games — his way of enhancing “the game day experience.”

That is, enhancing fans’ memories of the party while forgetting the game. The theory? The more they drink, the more they party. The more they party, the more they forget what they were doing before they passed out. The more they forget the losses, the more they renew season tickets. [Photo credit: Nicholas Johnson]

Of course, the most effective food and football solutions, customer satisfaction and enhanced game days? Better beef in hamburgers, and winning seasons for the Hawkeyes.

So how to win? The problem is not with the athletic director, coaching staff and athletes. They’re entitled to our sympathy. The problems with big-money college football are systemic.

College football needs to take some lessons from the National Football League for which they are the farm teams.

For starters, college ball, like the NFL, needs to be split off from academic institutions. Trust me; it would make it easier for everyone — university presidents, faculty, staff, students, coaches, athletes, sports writers, broadcasters, advertisers, investors, sports gamblers and fans.

Examples? Barta notes that stadium beer sales "potentially could be a big revenue stream," but that’s not now possible. Also, because of the university affiliation, the commercial ties between the football program and Riverside gambling casino are both a violation of the spirit of NCAA regulations and an academic embarrassment. [Photo credit: Nicholas Johnson]

Second, the teams need to recognize that, like the NFL, college ball is a single industry in which every team’s income would increase if talent were more equally distributed. They need a draft, in which teams with the poorest records get the best new players.

Third, the Iowa Hawkeyes play in Iowa weather. Kinnick, wedged between a railroad track, an expanding hospital and residential neighborhoods, was great in the 1920s. Today? Not so much. The team needs a domed stadium, with plenty of parking, preferably centrally located among eastern Iowa’s population centers.

More alcohol (Barta’s “fun factor”) impacts Kinnick’s neighbors. Parachuting 60,000 to 70,000 uninvited visitors into a neighborhood designed for 250 people, give or take, shifts football’s costs to the neighbors. Students urinating in residents’ yards, breaking glass beer bottles into shards, throwing trash under bushes isn’t “Iowa nice.” [Photo credits: Nicholas Johnson]

These three proposals could truly enhance everyone’s game day experience.
_______________
Nicholas Johnson, a former sports law professor, is a fan of Iowa women’s basketball, and offers links to more such commentary at http://FromDC2Iowa/2015/04/football.html.


Narrative Footnotes
"Improvements Announced to Enhance Fan Experience at War Memorial Stadium; New location of Pepsi's Cowboy Tailgate Park among changes," Wyoming Official Athletics Site, Aug. 18, 2004 (description of Barta's improvements; note that the Wyoming "Tailgate Park" is named for a soft drink); "UW Athletics Director Gary Barta Announces First Interstate Bank Gift; Funds go toward the Strategic Plan for Intercollegiate Athletics,", Wyoming Official Athletics Site, June 17, 2005 (reference to efforts to "enhance the fan experience" and the improved restroom and concession facilities). And see, "Gary Barta Profile," Wyoming Official Athletics Site.

"Hawkeyes Offer Bonus to Fans Who Renew Season Tickets," Quad City Times, Hawkmania.com, Feb. 16, 2015, provides the stats regarding attendance, season ticket sales, forecasts of season ticket renewals, and makes reference to the "concessions and souvenir discount opportunities." ("Of Iowa fans who indicated they were undecided or unlikely to renew, 68 percent indicated a price compared to value and benefits of being a season ticket holder was a factor in their uncertainty and far outweighed other concerns.") And see, "Marc Morehouse, "17 Years of Trust," The Gazette, May 20, 2015, pp. B1, B4 ("Iowa has sold around 30,000 season tickets for the 2015 season. That's about 7,000 below last season's 37,823, which was the lowest since 2009. Iowa . . . recorded just one sellout (Iowa State) . . . in the last two seasons.")

The details of the extended drinking hours are explained in "UI to Lengthen Postgame Tailgate Time; Extra Hour Added to Postgame Opportunity for 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Start Times," HawkeyeSports.com, Hawkeye Football, April 17, 2015 (making reference to the "fun factor" and "game-day experience": "We know the opportunity to enjoy pregame and postgame time with friends and family is an important part of the game-day experience for many of our fans. . . ." said Barta said in an official statement released by the UI on Friday. "The `fun factor' surrounding Hawkeye football is an important focus of ours as we plan for 2015").

AD Barta's saying of stadium beer sales, "it potentially could be a big revenue stream" is found in a video from July 25, 2014, posted on the Press-Citizen's Web site. In that video he asserts that the idea has never even been discussed at either Big Ten meetings or at the University of Iowa.

There are a number of NCAA statements regarding gambling. Here is a sample: "The NCAA opposes all forms of gambling — legal and illegal — on college sports and specifically prohibits coaches, administrators and student-athletes from gambling on any sports event or providing information to anyone gambling on sports. Sports gambling threatens the well-being of student-athletes and the integrity of the game. The NCAA works to preserve sportsmanship and to provide every student-athlete the opportunity to win fairly." "Gambling on College Sports: What is the NCAA policy on gambling on sports?" This page has much more regarding the NCAA's objections to gambling and discussion of the issues, and is a good place to start on this subject.

Chad Leistikow, "Barta's Goal Is an Improved Kinnick: The Athletic Director Wants Great Fan Experience," Des Moines Register, April 20, 2015, p. C1 ("Barta's goal in all of it is to improve the fans' gameday experience"; "Barta spoke about wanting to increase the fun while continuing to stand against past 'deep-seated alcohol abuse'"; reference to "concession vouchers"; reference to "the video board" and "gripes about the new sound system"; "A dip [in attendance] is expected this year . . . -- there's no Iowa State, Wisconsin or Nebraska on the schedule to pad the numbers.") And see, "Efe Ayanruoh, "UI to Extend Tailgaiting: The University of Iowa Extended Its Tailgating Hours Starting This Fall, Depending on the Start Time of a Home Football Game," The Daily Iowan, April 20, 2015, p. 1.

Comments Entered on Press-Citizen Online Publication of Column
Rudolf Schmidt - University of Iowa
Nick's right. On the other hand, building a new domed stadium would probably cost a billion dollars. That's a lot of beer to sell. Apr 29, 2015 8:02am

Nicholas Johnson
For an "enhanced" version of this column, complete with illustrative photos and supporting documentation, see "Football: Enhancing Everyone's Game Day Experience," http://fromdc2iowa.blogspot.com/2015/04/football-enhancing-everyones-game-day.html

For a catagorized list/index of some 40 prior blog essays on football-related issues, see "Football," http://fromdc2iowa.blogspot.com/2015/04/football.html Apr 29, 2015 10:18am

Nicholas Johnson
Thankfully, most of the feedback I'm receiving on this column suggests that those readers (like Rudolf Schmidt) have grasped that my three proposals are not intended to be real and practical suggestions at this point in college football's evolution -- for a wide variety of reasons I won't bother to list here.

As painful as it is to try to explain humor, for the others I will try. While those proposals have within them an occasional sprinkling of facts/truth they are primarily designed to illustrate (by way of these alternatives) some of the problems (that many in and out of this industry acknowledge) with the present system. And yes, I do know that many college football players do benefit from their opportunity for a college education. Apr 29, 2015 10:28am

Joseph Dobrian - Principal and Founder at Dobrian, Frances, Bowie & Long
Night games make me less inclined, not more, to renew my season tickets. Night football is for high schools, on Friday. I hate night games at Kinnick with the burning heat of a thousand artificial suns. 23 hrs [noted May 1, 2015, 8:05am]
_______________

Consider These Reasons for Declining Ticket Sales

Don Campion

Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 29, 2014, p. A7
In the agonizing to which so many column inches were devoted in your June 24 edition with respect to the declining sales of Iowa Hawkeye football tickets (Our View: More to success than winning), various possible causes were identified, including a poor recent won-lost record, a weak upcoming season, fans’ feeling exploited by blatant commercialization, and so forth.

I would suggest that you consider some alternative hypotheses: that more and more Iowans are 1). weary of seeing the football tail wag the university dog; 2). taking to heart the proposition, based on a large and growing body of medical evidence, that watching football amounts to witnessing brain damage for profit; 3). deciding that participatory sport is better than spectator sport and spending game time in healthy physical activity; 4). tired of seeing student athletes overworked and under-rewarded for participating in a dangerous and injury-ridden occupation; and 5). simply finding more interesting and profitable things to do with their time.

A good starting point for learning about the medical evidence is available online at www.endCTE.org, the website of the Patrick Risha CTE Awareness Foundation, which fights chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the name of Risha, a casualty of college football who, after suffering for years from the effects of repeated concussions, ended his own life at age 32 on Sept. 17, 2014. The organization was founded by Risha’s family after the posthumous determination that the physical and emotional symptoms he endured after years of high school and college football stardom were attributable to CTE. The Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health and many other governmental and medical organizations provide a wealth of information about CTE and other neurological deficits associated with playing football.

Dan Campion
Iowa City

# # #

Football

ver.1, April 25, 2015; ver. 1.1 April 30, 2015

FromDC2Iowa: Football-Related Blog Essays
Note: Entries are listed chronologically within categories. This blog entry index is a work in progress that may have additional entries in future versions.

Contents

"The College Football Industry (impact, economics, future)"
"Football's Ties to Crime"
"Football's Ties to Gambling"
"Football's Ties to Alcohol"
"Impact of Fans on Stadium Neighborhood"

# # #
The College Football Industry (impact, economics, future)

"UI Held Hostage-Day 378 - Feb. 3 - Athletics," Feb. 3, 2007 (Sen. Grassley questions whether "contributions" to football programs should be tax deductions; includes N.J. Press-Citizen column on topic, "It's Sure Cheaper Than a Rain Forest," Feb. 3, 2007)

"UI Held Hostage Day 429 - March 26," March 26, 2007

"Earthpark's Week-Long Wake," Nov. 26, 2007 (search for "Hawkeye Football's Good News")

"Floods and Football," June 17, 2008

"Forbes, Mural, Poverty and 7 Presidential Candidates," Aug. 17, 2008 (Forbes magazine ranks Hawkeye football coach nation's "most overpaid coach," based on salary and won-lost record)

"Corporatizing the University of Iowa," Nov. 17, 2009

"The $100 Million Hawkeyes' Football Team; Hawks: "How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Dollars," Aug. 28, 2010

"Coach Ferentz Provides Classy Variety of Wins; Winning Isn't Everything," Nov. 22, 2010

"Fandom; Super Bowl, Super Mystery," Jan. 30, 2011

"Super Boosters' Super Bowl; Campions' Wins Can Be Taxpayers' Losses; Lessons for Iowa," Feb. 8, 2011

"Crisis Communications 101; There Are Three Steps," Feb. 14, 2011

"Peak Oil, Peak Football; $80,000 for the Seat; $3750/Year to Sit In It," Jan. 21, 2012

"What America Most Highly Values; In 23 of 50 States It's Football Coaches," Aug. 16, 2013

"Curing a Cancer on the Academy," Aug. 20, 2014

"NFL: Just Another Rigged TV Show," Jan. 2, 2015

"Football: Enhancing Everyone's Game Day Experience," April 29, 2015

Football's Ties to Crime (and see, "CollegeFootball's Ties to Gambling", below)

"UI's Good News, Bad News," Dec. 31, 2007 (includes "UI Football Crime Update")

"UI, Sexual Assaults and Secrecy," Jan. 5, 2008

"Humoring the Hawkeyes," March 3, 2008 (jokes about Hawkeye felons)

"UI Sexual Assault Update," July 19, 2008

"Alcohol Update," Sept. 6, 2008 (armed robbery, bottom of essay)

"Extra: Stolar Report," Sept. 18, 2008 (sexual assault case)

"Rational Responses to Stolar and Global Finance," Sept. 20, 2008

"Cleaning Up After the Party," Sept. 26, 2008 (sexual assault case)

"Hawkeye Football Players' Criminal Records; We're Number Two! We're Number Two!" March 3, 2011

"Felons as Student Athletes; Felons on the Field; From District Court to Basketball Court; Do Hawkeyes Check Criminal Records Before Awarding Scholarships? March 27, 2011

"College Football Scandals Larger Lessons; Football's Privileged Tip of Abuses by Powerful," Nov. 8, 2011

Football's Ties to Gambling

"UI Football Promoting Gambling?" Sept. 16, 2006

"Riverside Gambling Casino's Future," Oct. 12, 2006

"Riverside Gambling Casino's Future II," Nov. 13, 2006 (description of "casino-football program partnership")

"UI Held Hostage Day 439 - NCAA Criticizes Gambling Tie," April 5, 2007

"Does Herky Have a Gambling Problem? NCAA vs. Hawkeyes," Jan. 25, 2012

Football's Ties to Alcohol (and see, "Impact of Fans on Stadium Neighborhood," below)

"Alcohol Update," Sept. 6, 2008

"Drunken Fights and Digital Photos," April 13, 2009

"A Busch in the Hand is Worth . . . Who Knows? They Won't Tell Us," June 16, 2012

"'We're # 2!' . . . in Campus Drunks; Coach: Players Should Drink in Dorms, Not Downtown," Aug. 21, 2012

"UI Administrators 'Shocked' By School's Beer Ads; Who Could Have Guessed?" Aug. 30, 2012

Impact of Fans on Stadium Neighborhood

"Hawkeye Football's Externalities," Sept. 9, 2007

"Serious Reflections on 'Football's Externalities,'" Sept. 13, 2007

"Externalities: Hawkeyes' Football, Obama's Safety," Sept. 21, 2009

"A Neighborly Request," Oct. 14, 2009

"Glass-Steagall, Happy Valley and The Dark Knight: Institutions, Conflicts of Interest, and Remedies," July 24, 2012

"Football Trash Talk; Iowa City: Where Great Minds Drink Alike," Sept. 12, 2012

"Anheuser-Busch, UI & Hawks a Win-Win-Win; Advertising Pays," Sept. 17, 2012

"Clean Streets and Creative Consumption," Sept. 30, 2012 (includes, "Alcohol: Friend or Enema? At last, Less Drinking")

"'GO, HAWKS!' -- Just Not in My Yard; Homecoming's Public Urination," Oct. 5, 2013

# # #

'GO, HAWKS!' -- Just Not in My Yard

October 5, 2013, 2:30 p.m. Homecoming's Public Urination
The Athletic Department needs to put at least a half-dozen porta-potties along Melrose Court, from its intersection with Melrose Avenue to the barricade at the intersections of Melrose Court, Myrtle Avenue and Greenwood Drive.

It's Homecoming.

For some football fans Iowa City is home. For others a second home. For still others it's just the home of Kinnick Stadium.

Unfortunately, apparently some fans came from a place where "home" means you can pee on your neighbors' lawns whenever you want. [Photo credit: Nicholas Johnson.]

It's nice that the Athletic Department can drop 70,000 folks into a tiny residential neighborhood designed for about 200, and that the crowd can feel at home. Sharing the football Saturday with friends. Tailgating. Throwing a football around. Playing the beanbag game. The colorful clothes, the music, the chatter.

What's to complain about that?

I am a resident of that neighborhood (in the house I lived in from 1941 to 1952, and returned to in 1989). So far as most of the fans are concerned, there's little, if anything, about which I complain. They are friendly, fun-loving, and respectful.

Unfortunately, that can't be said of all.

I have often written in the past about the trash that gets left behind. Most of it is left out in the open and can be easily picked up by the neighbors. The two exceptions are (1) the broken glass created, and left behind, by those who enjoy throwing beer bottles into the air just to watch them crash and shatter on the sidewalk, and (2) those who think it tidier to throw trash under bushes, out of the way, perhaps not realizing that means we need to get down on our bellies and crawl under the bushes to get it back out. [Photo credit: Nicholas Johnson, 2012.]

In fairness, early Sunday mornings these days there seems to be less trash throughout the neighborhood than there used to be. There's an organized trash collection and removal effort. This is in addition to the valuable service provided by those who have always gathered the visible cans and bottles and carried them off on their backs, in large 300-container bags, in exchange for the redemption money welcomed by those down on their luck.

But the public urination business is another matter. It's really offensive, and quite common. The two pictures embedded in this blog essay were taken within 10 minutes of each other while my wife and I were trying to enjoy breakfast on our back patio this morning. [Photo credit: Nicholas Johnson.]

I've never called the police to report it. It would never have occurred to me to do so. But two weeks ago, during the Western Michigan game, I noticed an Iowa City Police car parked in front of the house and went out to see what was going on. The friendly officer asked if I lived here. I said I did. He asked if I had given students permission to urinate in my yard. I acknowledged that I had not. "Just wanted to make sure," he responded, "because I just gave a guy a ticket for public urination." What a unique experience it was for me; the first time since 1941 that anyone had ever been ticketed for peeing in our yard (so far as I'm aware).

As we continued to talk, I noted that a little earlier I had asked three or four guys who were urinating on my front lawn to please go down the street to the Myrtle Street Parking Lot, where there are usually a dozen or more porta-potties, and how they'd argued with me. Their analytical position seemed to derive from their possession of an entitlement to pee wherever they wished. The officer explained that I should not expect to have reasoned discourse with a drunk.

OK, he's right. But I do expect reasoned discourse with the Athletic Department. The football program pulls in (and spends) tens of millions of dollars each year from television revenues, ticket sales, and gifts. This morning's paper explains that it spends over $200,000 on paying the dozens of regional law enforcement officers needed for security. Tara Bannow, "About a Dozen Agencies Protect Gamedays; UI Spent About $210K on Security Last Season," Iowa City Press-Citizen, October 5, 2013, p. A1. It can put up porta-potties by the dozen when and where it wishes. Why can't it put up a half-dozen where its paying customers, and neighborhood residents, have to put up with the externalities created by 70,000 Hawkeye fans -- including their public urination?

Oh, and sorry about the 26-14 outcome today.

# # #

Anheuser-Busch, UI & Hawks a Win-Win-Win

September 17, 2012, 12:10 p.m.
Advertising Pays
There are numerous stories of the almost miraculous impact of advertising, including these from the 1960s reported in How to Talk Back to Your Television Set: "Alberto Culver relied almost exclusively on television advertising, and pushed its sales from $1.5 million in 1956 to $80 million in 1964. The manufacturer of the bottled liquid cleaner Lestoil undertook a $9 million television advertising program and watched his sales go from 150,000 bottles annually to 100 million in three years--in competition with Procter and Gamble, Lever Brothers, Colgate, and others. The Dreyfus Fund went from assets of $95 million in 1959 to $1.1 billion in 1965 and concluded, 'TV works for us.'" How to Talk Back to Your Television Set (1970), pp. 21-22.

Now it looks like the story of the joint marketing agreement between the University of Iowa and Anheuser-Busch -- designed to increase sales of the company's beer to the University's college students -- is soon to join those historic tales.

Last week's game did not go very well on the field, or in the adjoining neighborhood. "Football Trash Talk; Iowa City: Where Great Minds Drink Alike," September 12, 2012.

Last Saturday's [Sept. 15] game against UNI went better both on and off the field. The Hawks won, 27-16, and there may have been slightly less drunkenness and trash on the neighbors' property -- although as this picture shows, there's still a shortage of students brought up to pick up. And a part of the reason may still be alcohol consumption. Last week I relayed that the Daily Iowan reported 78 arrests; this morning it reported 119. "Police Blotter," Daily Iowan, September 17, 2012.

Some of the arrest records reveal the seriousness of the problem. (Names, although in the public record and media, redacted from this blog entry for reasons of privacy and lack of relevance.) Note that the legal age in Iowa for obtaining or consuming alcohol is 21. You can argue about what it ought to be, but that is what it is. Of the following individuals, one was one day over 21, all others were under the legal age. Thus, not only were they illegally consuming alcohol; someone had illegally provided them that alcohol. Note also that the blood alcohol level that constitutes DWI is 0.08 percent. All whose blood alcohol percentages were mentioned here were over that level. (Another man, over 21, who tried to enter the University Hospital through a plate glass window, had a level of 0.310.) Here's an excerpt from the report: "[Name], 21, of Cedar Rapids, told officers he partied a bit too hard for his 21st birthday. [He] was found vomiting inside Kinnick Stadium and blew a .123 on a preliminary breath test. He was arrested for public intoxication. [Name], 18, of Iowa City; [Name], 19 of Cedar Rapids; and [Name], 19, of Iowa City, all were found passed out in Kinnick Stadium restrooms within 30 minutes of each other. [Name] was vomiting and [Name] had defecated on herself. All three women had blood-alcohol contents between .127 percent and .177 percent. They were arrested for public intoxication. Men pass out inside Kinnick Stadium, too, as proven by . . . [Name], 19, of Iowa City. . . . [He] was found passed out in a bathroom. . . . [Name], 20, of Iowa City, was arrested after he tried to carry prohibited items into the stadium . . .. He refused a breath test but was charged with public intoxication . . .." Lee Hermiston, "Gameday Arrests Down From ISU Game," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 18, 2012, p. A1. (Differences in numbers of arrests are due to a "gameday" only count and the Daily Iowan's "Police Blotter" report on Monday from the football weekend -- which showed an increase between the ISU and UNI weekends.)

What also was different this last Saturday was that my eye began to focus on the content of the trash, like that of an archeologist digging through the remnants from an ancient civilization. The ratio of Anheuser-Busch beer can containers to those of the company's competitors was grossly disproportionate -- something I'd failed to notice the week before (although I see one of the pictures I displayed in last week's blog entry does show such a container).

In case you missed the news, the University of Iowa and its Athletic Department have entered into a joint marketing agreement with Anheuser-Busch. The company gets to associate itself with UI athletics with its use of the Herky logo, in exchange for which the University gets some cash. For background and commentary on the Anheuser-Busch deal, UI's alcohol programs, and numerous ignored proposals for improvement, see, among many more, e.g.: "UI Administrators 'Shocked' By School's Beer Ads," August 30, 2012; "'We're # 2!' . . . in Campus Drunks," August 21, 2012; "A Busch in the Hand is Worth . . .," June 16, 2012; "Lessons from Lincoln: Reducing Binge Drinking Hazards," May 21, 2010; UI's Alcohol Abuse: Look to Nebraska," December 28, 2009; UI's Alcohol Problem: Many Solutions, Little Will; Alcohol Back in the News? No, Always in the News," December 16, 2009 (with links to 30 more); "Getting Real About Alcohol," January 18, 2008.

From the looks of the trash this week, it looks like it's a win-win-win. The Hawks win the game, and Anheuser-Busch's sales of Bud Lite and Busch Lite must be way up.

The other thing to notice in these first two pictures are the empty containers of Anheuser-Busch product that have been dropped within arms reach of trash containers that could easily have held them.

Here are more examples of Anheuser-Busch sales at a variety of other locations.

Advertisers are always looking for tangible evidence that the millions they spend on advertising, with and without logos, is actually having some impact. Anheuser-Busch and the University should be very proud of what, together, they have been able to accomplish. The proof is in the trash.

# # #

Football Trash Talk

September 12, 2012 10:10 a.m.

Iowa City: Where Great Minds Drink Alike

Football is not pretty. Last Saturday [Sept. 8] it was the Iowa State game. This Saturday it will be the University of Northern Iowa.

Last Saturday may be the worst I've ever seen.

And I'm not even talking about the Hawkeyes' performance inside Kinnick. Nor am I talking about the exploitation of student athletes for what is, in fact, big business -- complete with TV revenues, multi-million-dollar facilities, budgets (and salaries). I'm not talking about current concern over the life-long consequences for players from concussions and other injuries.

I'm talking about one of the consequences from the University of Iowa's alcohol culture -- the effort to mix what the pictured shirt advertises ("Iowa City: Great Minds Drink Alike") as the improbable co-existence of "great minds" and a student binge drinking rate twice the national average.

On Monday the Daily Iowan reported 78 arrests, most of which involved alcohol. "Police Blotter, Daily Iowan, September 10, 2012, p. 2. On Tuesday it reported that, among Iowa's state schools, "the UI ranks highest in total number of incidents reported, total number of charges, and total number of people arrested in both 2011 and the first half of 2012." "New crime stats show UI highest in overall activity", Daily Iowan, September 11, 2012, p. 2. The Press-Citizen and Register reported, Lee Hermiston, "140 alcohol citations given near Kinnick on Saturday," Iowa City Press-Citizen/Des Moines Register, September 11, 2012.

But even with regard to alcohol, I'm not talking about the personal and institutional consequences of this culture -- the self-inflicted injuries, the violence, the unwanted pregnancies, permanent brain damage, the hospital admissions for injuries and near-fatal blood alcohol levels, the drunk driving deaths and injuries to others, the missed classes, absenteeism from work, and the ultimate student drop-out rates. E.g., Robert McCoppin, "Colleges try new tactics in battle against binge drinking; Campuses offer safety training, sponsor dry events and require alcohol assessments, but 'there is no magic bullet,' an NU official says," Chicago Tribune, September 5, 2012 ("[T]he National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, blames binge drinking for more than 1,800 college student deaths a year . . .. Research shows that frequent binge drinkers are more likely to miss classes, get hurt, engage in risky sex and have problems in class."); Rick Nauert, "Binge Drinking Linked to Brain Damage," PsycCentral, June 28, 2011 ("experts now believe binge drinking can cause serious brain damage").

What I'm limiting myself to this morning is the behavior of the fans, its impact on the residential neighborhoods surrounding the stadium, and more specifically what it says about the attitudes of fans and university officials.

It just seemed to me last Saturday that the music was much louder, the language more gross, the drunkenness more obvious, and the urination on private lawns more offensive.

And the trash. Oh, the trash.

Bottles are thrown in the air just for the thrill of watching them fall and shatter. Cans are dropped, rather than put in available trash containers.

Eventually, at least most of it gets picked up within a couple of days -- thanks in large measure to the homeless and others who gather and recycle the cans. Even they are handicapped, however, by what seems to be the new macho sport of can crushing. Crushed cans can't be recycled, so they are left on private property.

It's bad enough that fans just drop their trash wherever they happen to be. What's worse for homeowners, however, is that the students don't just drop it. That would make it easier for others to pick up. Rather, they choose to demonstrate their athletic prowess, having crushed the can, by throwing their trash of all kinds into and under bushes and shrubs. As a result, picking up trash from one's yard requires crawling under the bushes to try to retrieve trash that is visible but well out of reach. This picture illustrates a small portion of what one elderly woman was able to retrieve, and pile up, before carrying it to her own trash container.

What I found especially offensive was the trash deposited in front of the Mormon "Institute of Religion." It is, among other things, a rather ironic choice of location for one's alcohol-related trash, given that UI's Mormon students are the one group that neither consumes alcohol nor has been brought up to drop their trash for others to pick up. I'm not a member of the LDS church, but I like to see respect accorded all religions and their property. It may be those who put it there were simply demonstrating the same general drunken thoughtlessness that was evident throughout the neighborhood and that -- notwithstanding the sign out front -- they were totally unaware of the purpose of one of the neighborhood's finest buildings. At least I hope it was no more than that.

Whatever UI's administrators may say, these pictures reflect what "Responsibility Matters" looks like. (To borrow from the Chicago teachers' picketing chant, "this is what democracy looks like," I can hear the trash protesters pointing and chanting: "Show me what 'responsibility' looks like" -- "This is what 'responsibility' looks like.")

In fairness, it's tough for a university administration to simultaneously try to (1) carry out programs designed to discourage college students from binge drinking and other forms of alcohol abuse and its consequences, while (2) (a) engaging in a lucrative joint-marketing agreement designed to increase the sale of Anheuser-Busch products, and (b) engaging in a gambling bet between the presidents of Iowa and Iowa State in which the winner gets -- that's right, a bottle of booze. (The UI administration has reassured critics of this last seeming conflict by noting that it advises that hard liquor as well as beer should also be consumed "responsibily.") Iowa State, Iowa university presidents settle up on college football bet," Des Moines Register/Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 13, 2012 ("On the line was a bottle of Templeton Rye, a drink sold by an Iowa-based company and billed as 'Prohibition-era whiskey.' . . . [D]oes wagering alcohol while the university works to curb problem drinking send a mixed message? University officials say no.")

The UI administration recently bragged that some of the alcohol abuse statistics on campus had actually declined. (Binge drinking rates remain twice the national average.) The leader of the school's "Responsibility Matters" movement concedes, however, that “Culture change takes a long time.” True. But I rather suspect that "culture change" takes longer still at a university that promotes the sale of beer, and whose administrators gamble with bottles of hard liquor. Just saying. Nate Otjen, "Iowa City-UI alcohol partnership touts new statistics," Daily Iowan, September 13, 2012.

For background and commentry on the Anheuser-Busch deal, UI's alcohol programs, and numerous ignored proposals for improvement, see, among many more, e.g.: "UI Administrators 'Shocked' By School's Beer Ads," August 30, 2012; "'We're # 2!' . . . in Campus Drunks," August 21, 2012; "A Busch in the Hand is Worth . . .," June 16, 2012; "Lessons from Lincoln: Reducing Binge Drinking Hazards," May 21, 2010; UI's Alcohol Abuse: Look to Nebraska," December 28, 2009; UI's Alcohol Problem: Many Solutions, Little Will; Alcohol Back in the News? No, Always in the News," December 16, 2009 (with links to 30 more); "Getting Real About Alcohol," January 18, 2008.

Apparently the Melrose neighborhood was not the only repository for trash. "A mass of volunteers descended upon Kinnick Stadium last weekend. Their task was simple— recycle every piece of waste. . . . Roughly 4,700 pounds of recycling were collected . . .. 'The majority of waste is in the stands after the game,' said . . . the president of Delta Tau Delta." Kelsey L. Johnson, "Recycling Initiatives for Iowa-Iowa State Game Yield Results," Daily Iowan, September 14, 2012. Two thoughts: Over two tons of trash left behind by fans! A multi-million-dollar football program that doesn't pay the players the fans come to see, and then relies on volunteers to pick up the trash their entertainment program produces?!

Ah, but there's more. Apparently downtown Iowa City wasn't very pretty either. "On Sunday morning at 9 a.m., downtown Iowa City wasn’t the fun-filled place to party. It was a place no public relations firm would want to promote. I saw numerous piles of vomit, broken bar glasses and beer bottles, numerous plates of half-eaten food sitting around the outdoor cafés, and trash blowing everywhere." Andrea Rauer, "Use Beer Money to Clean Downtown," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 14, 2012, p. A7.

As for UI's students with alcohol-soaked "great minds," someone, sometime, better tell them that a great mind with a B.A. degree is only one of many, many qualities necessary to progress along the road to whatever they consider "success" -- whether the financial ability to engage in the "conspicuous consumption" of the rich, or a reduced-stress bliss. Along with at least minimal social and time-management skills, and what my parents' generation used to call "the sense God gave geese," it includes things as mundane as the civility to pick up and dispose of one's own trash.

And that's the point of this blog entry. It's not about football or alcohol -- although both are involved. It's about being thoughtful, and sensitive to others. And it's about, as was the case during the recent Penn State discussion, what the NCAA calls "institutional control." "Institutional Control," NCAA Constitution, Art. 6, NCAA 2011-12 Division I Manual, p. 43; and see Michelle Brutlag Hosick, "Presidential Leadership Drives Transformation," NCAA News, June 28, 2012.

'We're # 2!' . . . in Campus Drunks

August 21, 2012, 10:00 a.m.

Coach: Players Should Drink in Dorms, Not Downtown

UI vaulted to the No. 2 spot of the Princeton Review’s annual top 20 party schools list for 2013, which was released Monday. UI moved up two spots from the No. 4 ranking it held a year ago . . ..

The party school rankings are one of 62 lists included in the Princeton Review’s 2013 edition of “The Best 377 Colleges,” . . . based on 122,000 surveys conducted last school year . . ..

The book also ranks UI No. 6 on its “Lots of Hard Liquor” list, No. 6 on the “Students Pack the Stadiums” list, No. 8 on the “Students Study the Least” list and No. 9 on the “Lots of Beer” list.

Josh O'Leary, "UI Jumps to No. 2 on Party School List; School Official Dismisses Rankings as Unscientific; W. Virginia Earns Top Spot," Iowa City Press-Citizen, August 21, 2012, p. Al. See also, Madeline Savoie, "UI officials balk at party school rankings," Daily Iowan, August 21, 2012.

Needless to say, University administrators were shocked and outraged -- not at their students' drinking, but because "the rankings [are] unscientific."

“Among all the rankings published by various media outlets, the Princeton Review’s stand out for their complete lack of objective, scientific methodology. Their rankings are based almost exclusively on anecdotes and random, subjective feedback,” according to a UI spokesperson.

However, later in Josh O'Leary's story the same spokesperson is quoted as noting the UI's good news from what he presumably considers a much more scientific source. He "points to the latest data from the National College Health Assessment, which surveyed 882 undergraduates this past spring and found that the high-risk drinking rate for UI students has dropped 9 percent from 2009 to 2012."

Sounds good, until Mr. O'Leary informs us of another UI statistic the spokesperson failed to mention: "Even so, the 64.1 percent rate of UI students who reported consuming five or more drinks in one sitting in the two weeks before the survey [one definition of "binge drinking"] was almost twice the national rate of 34.1 percent, the National College Health Assessment found." (Besides binge drinking, the NCHA also reported that, "in 2012, 79.9 percent [of UI students] reported drinking in the last 30 days.")

If your students are consuming alcohol in bouts of binge drinking at twice the average rate of students on other campuses, according to a source you do consider scientific, it would seem to me that rather undercuts any efforts one might make to put down the Princeton Review rankings as "unscientific."

Nor does it help the institution's credibility when it has recently entered into a joint marketing arrangement with a major beer distributor, having apparently decided that the money it would provide is worth whatever additional harm it may do to students. "A Busch in the Hand is Worth . . .,"

Meanwhile and coincidentally, but totally consistent with the University's response to its impressive ranking as a party school, the same day's paper reported that a Hawkeye basketball player had been "arrested early Saturday [approximately 1:00 a.m., Aug. 18] by University of Iowa police and charged with public intoxication." His coach reassured the public that "He's a really good kid," and that the coach "was not as concerned [because the player] was in his dorm. [He wasn't] blowing a 0.2 at 4o’clock in the morning downtown.”

(You may have noticed that I do not mention the UI spokesperson, the coach or the player by name. This is because my concerns do not relate to them personally, and I see no reason to further implant their association with these events in Google and other search engines. My focus is on the campus culture regarding underage binge drinking, the Administration's willingness to participate in the marketing of even more alcohol to students (so long as it contains the words, "Responsibility Matters"), "A Busch in the Hand is Worth . . .," June 16, 2012, the campus culture surrounding athletics in general, and the especially volatile mix of alcohol with athletics.)

One wonders whether the coach's lax approach to student drunkenness was because the student was "a really good kid," or had perhaps been influenced at least a little by the fact that he was also "a really good basketball player."

Because the coach does not live in a dorm, perhaps he is simply unaware of the University's residence hall regulations:

All residents are expected to be familiar with and abide by the University of Iowa Policies and Regulations Affecting Students . . .. Any resident who commits, incites, or aids others in committing any acts of misconduct shall be subject to disciplinary action by University Housing & Dining and/or the University . . . as well as student or non-student guests . . . subject to disciplinary sanctions imposed by the Dean of Students for violating the rules listed below. . . .

(8) Unlawful manufacture, distribution, sale, use, or possession of illegal, addictive, dangerous, or controlled substances (including alcohol) on residence hall property. Empty alcohol containers and drug paraphernalia are prohibited.

"Prospective Residents Policies, Rules, and Regulations Guidebook," University [of Iowa] Housing & Dining.

So far as I know there are no provisions for disciplining coaches whose players violate these housing rules.

# # #

A Busch in the Hand is Worth . . .

June 16, 2012, 10:50 a.m.-June 22, 2012 5:45 a.m.

Who Knows? They Won't Tell Us
In exchange for all the beer he can drink, the University of Iowa's athletic "Herky" the Tigerhawk has signed a contract with Anheuser-Busch, brewers of Budweiser, to walk behind the Budweiser Clydesdales and pick up . . . well, a big bag of change.

How much? Herky can't talk, and UI administrators won't.

In a if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em switch in policy, the University has decided to join the company's push to encourage college students' binge drinking by linking its most prominent and popular logo with alcohol -- but this time share in the significant profits that will be produced by this joint venture. For example, did you know "For all of 2009, [Anheuser-Busch] posted a profit of $4.6 billion on $36.8 billion in revenue"?

Showing admiration and appreciation for the University of Iowa students' binge drinking reputation, a reputation that has made the UI one of the top party schools in the nation, an anonymous industry observer commented, "I have to say, now that Bud's bagged the UI's students I have to switch its stock from a 'hold' to a 'buy.' This one's big!" [Photo credit: Nicholas Johnson, Sept. 8, 2007, football game, scheduled times and bars for group binge drinking]

"Clyde Miller was right," he continued, crediting the originator of the quote, "It takes time, yes, but if you expect to be in business for any length of time, think of what it can mean to your firm in profits if you can condition a million or ten million children who will grow up into adults trained to buy your product as soldiers are trained to advance when they hear the trigger words 'forward march.'" [The quote appears in Nicholas Johnson, Test Pattern for Living (1972), Chapter 4, "Caution! Television Watching May Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health," p. 46, and Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders (1957), pp. 158-59.]

While this proposition applies to any product, it is of course particularly powerful if the products have potentially addictive qualities, such as tobacco and alcohol, and are unlikely to be taken up later in life if not first marketed to children from their pre-teens through college.

That's why this contract is such a win-win for everyone -- Anheuser-Busch's shareholders, the UI's administrators and coaches, and, of course, Herky. You can see from the photo how handicapped Herky now is in getting girls when everyone's sober and he has to stand, and so far away from them, for just a light kiss. [Photo Credit: Kyra Seay]

Well, there are some downsides, I suppose. UI students' consumption of alcohol, especially the binge drinking, seems to be involved in most of their arrests, fights, property damage, sexual assaults, criminal records, hospitalizations, accidental injuries, jail time, auto accidents and deaths, unwanted pregnancies, poor grades, the resulting early dropouts from school, and those dropped off of athletic teams.

But we must not jump to conclusions.

After all, as the ancient sages have often reminded us, "A correlation is not a cause." Who can know how much of this behavior would have occurred without alcohol? Unfortunately, as scientists remind us, it is impossible to find out, because there are apparently no colleges or universities in this country for which binge drinking is not a problem.

So until a university can be found where a controlled experiment can resolve once and for all whether alcohol is, in fact, a cause of this student misery and misdirection, it's best that higher education simply profit from it. After all, boys will be boys, and girls will be . . . well, girls will be abused. That's just the way it is.

With legislatures rapidly turning "public" universities into private universities, the money has to come from somewhere. This leaves public universities with two urgent missions: (1) to create the appearance of making modest reductions in what will be, of course, the ever-escalating rate of increases in students' tuition, while simultaneously (2) obtaining the revenue necessary to provide the essential and deserved immodest increases in administrators' income.

For more on the subject, see "UI's Alcohol Problem: Many Solutions, Little Will; Alcohol Back in the News? No, Always in the News," December 16,2009 (with links to 31 additional prior blog entries on the subject).

Here are some additional things to look for in the excerpts from the Register's story, below:

(1) Responsibility Matters. The two words "Responsibility Matters," to be included in the advertising designed to increase beer consumption and corporate profits, apparently were shrewdly slipped by the Anheuser-Busch lawyers. As everyone knows, and UI President Mason confirms (near the end of the following excerpts), there must be a body of literature somewhere regarding the impact of this very powerful phrase on excessive consumption of alcohol.

Apparently, the following scenario is not uncommon. Imagine a college-age binge drinker, having consumed three servings of beer in short order on his way to the definitional five (for "binge drinking"). When his eye catches one of the numerous signs advertising Budweiser beer, and he sees those two very powerful words, "responsibility matters," he immediately stops drinking, abandons his goal, and apologizes for his earlier boorish behavior. Who would have guessed? But you can't argue with science.

I have earlier written, "Telling officials always to TIF 'prudently' has proved as effective as liquor companies’ TV commercials, urging University of Iowa binge-drinking students always to 'drink responsibly.'" Nicholas Johnson, "Making a 'Prudent TIF' More Than an Oxymoron," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 29, 2011, p. A7, embedded in "TIF Impact Statements," November 29, 2011.

Apparently I was wrong about that. However imprudent most TIFs turn out to be, "drink responsibly" or "responsibility matters," really do have a powerful impact on what would otherwise be college students' binge drinking. I now apologize for the inaccurate analogy to "TIF prudently," which as we all know has no effect on public officials whatsoever.

Fortunately, "Responsibility Matters," which has such an enormous impact in reducing college students' harmful behavior, does not interfere in any way with the normal decision-making processes of adults, especially educational administrators.

(2) UI Researchers Find, Reveal "Advertising Does Not Pay. Apparently the UI has pulled an even bigger scam on Anheuser-Busch than first revealed with the powerful "Responsibility Matters" campaign. The Daily Iowan reported June 21 that UI administrators and academics were questioning whether Anheuser-Busch would be getting anything at all for its advertising dollars invested in this deal, downplaying the notion that advertising has any effect on sales. Imagine the shock for Anheuser-Busch's shareholders and executives once they take a good hard look at this new data and realize the $607 million they spent on media advertising in 2006 had no impact whatsoever on sales. Wow, I'd hate to be trying to explain that at the next A-B board of directors meeting! Think of how silly the other major corporations are going to feel. Total projected media ad buys this year are estimated to reach $169.5 Billion. Super Bowl 30-second ads averaged $3.5 Million this year. All wasted.

For source material see, Amy Skarnulis, "Officials, Students Split on UI Anheuser-Busch Deal's Impact," The Daily Iowan, June 21, 2012 ("[O]pinions differ on whether or not the contract between Anheuser-Busch and the university would actually affect students' drinking habits. [A UI marketing professor] said he doesn't necessarily think the contract alone will encourage students to drink more. . . . [The official statement from a top University administrator declared] 'use of the Tigerhawk logo [to] be accompanied by the phrase 'Responsibility Matters' is consistent with our alcohol harm reduction initiative,' . . .. [Students agree; one is quoted as saying,] 'I really don't think it [the advertising campaign] will have that much of an effect.'"). "US Online Ad Spend Set to Exceed Print," MarketingCharts.com, January 19, 2012; Charles B. Stockdale, Michael B. Sauter and Ashley C. Allen, "Companies that have wasted the most on Super Bowl advertising," The Bottom Line, MSNBC, February 4, 2012; Center for Science in the Public Interest,"Alcohol Policies Project Fact Sheet; Putting Anheuser-Busch’s Consumer Responsibility Campaign into Perspective," December 20008.

(3) Use of funds. Please note that "All proceeds from the beer deal will fund the university’s alcohol harm reduction plan."

As the one-time chair of the FCC, Rosel Hyde, used to tell us commissioners from time to time, "'The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.' What could be fairer than that?" [Job 1:21, King James version.] The University can giveth to Anheuser-Busch's profits with the partnership that increases beer consumption and the consequences of binge drinking, and then taketh away all adverse consequences for students with UI's alcohol harm reduction plan. Who can argue with that Biblical truth?

Although it does seem that what the UI is doing is reminiscent of Jerry Seinfeld's effort to get inside the head of a race horse: "I’m sure the horses have some idea that the Jockey is in a big hurry. . . . [B]ut the horse must get to the end [and think], 'We were just here, what was the point of that!? This is where we were! That was the longest possible route you could take! If we just stayed here, we would of been first.'" "Jerry Seinfeld Stand-Up Routine," Lybio.net. That's the kind of common horse sense that apparently went unspoken with regard to this Anheuser-Busch deal.

What is this about? The UI is going to do its damnedest to accelerate the consumption of alcohol by our students, and in the process Anheuser-Busch's profits. After all, that's why for-profit corporations advertise, especially with emotionally compelling logos for children, such as Joe Camel (to encourage smoking) or Herky (to encourage drinking). And the school is doing this to accomplish what? To raise money for its "alcohol harm reduction plan"?

Res ipsa loquitur is a legal phrase from tort law, when it is clear who is responsible for a negligent act. It means "the thing speaks for itself." (All of which prompted my torts professor, Texas' beloved Page Keeton to comment, "If the thing speaks for itself, why in the hell doesn't it speak English?")

In short, I think if the University is endeavoring to increase alcohol consumption to fund its "alcohol harm reduction plan," no more really need be said. Res ipsa loquitur.

(4) What's our cut? So we've established that UI's administrators and coaches are willing to sacrifice their students' health and welfare to raise more money. OK. That's not so uncommon.

After all, many of the nation's grade schools and high schools deliberately contribute to their students' likelihood of rotten teeth, obesity, and diabetes in exchange for the funds provided by their bottled beverage machines (that funnel most of the money to the sugared drink manufacturer and distributor). They do it with soda pop, the UI will do it with beer. What's the big deal? College students prefer beer.

If the NCAA disapproves of athletic programs' ties to the gambling industry, and yet the UI Athletic Department goes ahead and puts ads for a local casino on the football scoreboard, and provides the casino a sky box (with alcohol) for its high rollers, why should it feel restrained by the NCAA's discouragement of ties to the alcohol industry?

Like Steve Martin's Mavin Johnson character in the movie, "The Jerk," I, too, finally get it: "This is a profit deal" -- or, given the UI's non-profit status, an effort to increase cash flow. That being the case, since cash rather than student welfare is the goal, it seems to me the public and media have a right to know how much cash is involved, how financially successful is this tradeoff of values, and how the revenue from increased beer consumption will be divided between the company and the university.

There are bound to be nanny naysayers who will object to this creative revenue enhancing scheme. Let's bowl them over with just how much money this is going to produce. And then see if they still want to object.

So isn't it kind of counter productive (as the Register reports), that "[UI President Sally] Mason declined to say how much money the university will receive . . ."?

[Illustrative of the naysayers is UI Professor Jeffrey Cox, of whom the Register says, "The new deal [between the UI and Anheuser-Busch] highlights the ongoing conflict between the multibillion-dollar business of U.S. college athletics and the academic mission of universities and their efforts to curb students’ overconsumption of alcohol.

"Jeffrey Cox, a history professor on the U of I President’s Committee on Athletics, said it’s hypocritical for the university to spend money to curb drinking and arrest students for alcohol violations while also accepting money from beer companies.

"'I’ve said that repeatedly, and I’ll say it again. But it hasn’t really changed anybody’s minds,' he said."]

(5) "But Billy's mommy lets him do it." The Register's research reveals that, "Seven Big Ten Conference schools . . . said they had no sponsorships with companies that sell alcohol."

Some will try to argue that the UI shouldn't be doing what other Big 10 schools find ethically repulsive. I say, "Balderdash!" What is leadership anyway, if it's not a willingness to speak out and stand up for what you believe to be right, regardless of what the crowd says?

You mark my words, when those seven backward schools find out how much money the UI will be making from pushing beer consumption on its students, those other Big Ten universities are going to be coming around to the UI's plan pretty darn fast.

As the dogs have been heard to say in the Alaska Iditarod, "If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes."

I'm proud that the UI is the lead dog in this race for the money. It's looking straight ahead, it can enjoy the view (and the money); it is the leader of this pack of dogs.

(6) Where Next? Following UI's monopoly contract with Coca Cola (increasing the price on a popular beverage that contributes to dental decay, diabetes, and obesity), and alcohol (a factor in virtually all student problems), what other revenue possibilities are there for a university willing to profit from its students? Yale Cohn offered a suggestion in this morning's Press-Citizen as a guest cartoonist. [June 21, 2012, p. 7A; unavailable online.] He pictures a box of 30 1 mg tablets of Rohypnol" (Flunitrazepam) with the Tigerhawk logo and "Hawkeyes" proudly displayed on the box. He captions the cartoon: "What with the U of I signing a marketing contract with Anheuser-Busch, might as well go 'all in.'" The P-C's editor adds the explanatory note, "Rohypnol is commonly known as 'Roofies' and 'The Date Rape Drug.'" What other possibilities might we be able to come up with?

(7) What's New [June 22]? So what have we learned from this morning's Register story, below? (1) The UI (like virtually every other corporate and governmental institution in the country, up to and including the White House regardless of party) has yet to learn the principles of Crisis Communications 101. For example, it's better to provide fulsome information, explanations (and apologies when appropriate) at the outset than to go through the inevitable drip-drip-drip of revelations. "Crisis Communications 101," February 14, 2011. (2) The University's marketing of its good name, logos and students provides, not $50,000 but $5.8 million (this past year), with a promise of over $8 million a year for the next 14 years ($114 million through 2025-26). The funding of anti-binge-drinking programs has actually been cut, not increased. (3) Although UI has not yet reversed its position regarding use of the Tigerhawk logo on cans of Bud beer (that always remains a possibility), this agreement with Anheuser-Busch is not limited, as early reports had it, to posters. It apparently includes the right to a proclamation of the UI-Bud partnership on everything from shirts and hats to cups.

So what are the implications of (2), above? Where is this $114 million coming from, why, and where is it going? How will all this affect funding of the anti-binge-drinking programs?

UI, Hawkeye Sports Properties, and Learfield first said they couldn't and wouldn't even tell the media and public how much they got for selling off the University's name and logos to the cause of beer marketing. (No big deal, given these numbers, but even that report had to be revised. We were first told it was $50,000 a year, which somehow totaled $185,000 over four years. Now we see it starts at $43,000. Whatever.) But $185,000 is but 1/2 of 1% of the $32 million marketing dollars over four years (and but 16/100th of 1% of the contract term's $114 million. So where's the 99% coming from? For what? What else are we marketing? How much is it producing?

Where is this money going? Is it all going into coaches' salaries and other athletic program expenses (aside from the pittance going to reducing the alcohol problem the contract is otherwise promoting)? How much is going to help reduce the tuition now charged student drinkers and non-drinkers alike? The "University of Iowa" is really two major, corporation-like operations, and one minor endeavor -- the UIHC, the athletic department, and the instructional and research activities elsewhere on campus. How much of all this income is going to the cash-strapped educational mission?

According to the story, the UI was budgeting $500,000 a year for anti-binge-drinking efforts. (It would be interesting to know what was, and was not, included in that figure.) This year, that figure was cut to $300,000. Thus, the net effect of this Anheuser-Busch deal, promoting the sale of beer while providing money for the UI to discourage its consumption, will be to decrease rather than increase the program's funding. If this year's funding is continued at the $300,000 level, the program will have been cut only $157,000 rather than $200,000. That's better than eliminating it entirely, I suppose, but it's scarcely a big boost to what the UI was doing just last year.

And what about (3), above -- the expansion of A-B's use of the Tigerhawk logo from "retail displays such as posters and flags" (as we were originally told) to caps, shirts, and cups. Once the UI's students are gathered under Bud banners blowing in the wind, wearing their Bud hats, and their Bud shirts, and pouring their Bud into Bud cups, someone please tell me how that's a big improvement over keeping the Tigerhawk off of the can from which the beer was poured? Can the company insist coaches and players wear a Bud logo on their uniforms, along with the Nike swish? Will the Anheuser-Busch flag fly from the stadium along with those of other Big 10 schools? No, based on what has already been agreed to, this could blossom forth as a complete Anheuser-Busch take-over of UI's football Saturdays.

Who remembers Nile Kinnick anyway besides me? Why don't we just move his statue, take his name off the stadium, and re-christen it the "Anheuser-Busch Stadium"?

(8) Iowa Fight Song revisions. Although it's not yet been officially announced, I understand Anheuser-Busch has approved the revisions in the Iowa Fight Song the UI Music Department has been requested to prepare. Here are the original words, followed by the new version:

The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,
Let every loyal Iowan sing;
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"
Until the walls and rafters ring (Go Hawks!)
Come on and cheer, cheer, cheer, for IOWA
Come on and cheer until you hear the final gun.
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"
Until the game is won.

We're going to "Drink! Drink! Drink! for IOWA,
Give every loyal Iowan some booze;
We're going to "Drink! Drink! Drink! for IOWA,
'Cause if you snooze you loose (Go Hawks!)
Bring on the beer, beer, beer, for IOWA
Come on and drink until you fall down on the floor.
We're going to "Drink! Drink! Drink! for IOWA,
And then we'll drink some more.

Of course, the official University of Iowa anthem indicating the final end of home football games will remain the much beloved "In Heaven There Is No Beer":

In Heaven there is no beer
(No beer?!)
That's why we drink it here
And when we're all gone from here
Our friends will be drinking all the beer.

____________

For details on the contract, see Jens Manuel Krogstad, "Anheuser-Busch, U of I make deal on use of logo; U of I president sees no conflict with stance against binge drinking," Des Moines Register, June 15, 2012:

The University of Iowa and Anheuser-Busch have renewed their relationship, a move some say conflicts with the university’s high-profile
responsible-drinking campaign.

A new four-year agreement approved this month by the U of I athletic department allows Anheuser-Busch to place Iowa’s Tigerhawk logo on retail displays such as posters and flags, and promotional giveaways like cups, caps and T-shirts.

The Tigerhawk may appear alongside Anheuser-Busch beer logos like Budweiser, Busch, Michelob and Natural Light. All the items the logo will appear on, however, require athletic department approval, and must include the message “Responsibility Matters.”

The new deal highlights the ongoing conflict between the multibillion-dollar business of U.S. college athletics and the academic mission of universities and their efforts to curb students’ overconsumption of alcohol. . . .

All proceeds from the beer deal will fund the university’s alcohol harm reduction plan, launched in 2010 to reduce binge drinking, said Sally Mason, president of the U of I . . ..

[UI President Sally] Mason declined to say how much money the university will receive . . ..

[T]he agreement stands out among U of I’s peers.

Seven Big Ten Conference schools reached Thursday [June 14] by The Des Moines Register said they had no sponsorships with companies that sell alcohol: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue. . . .

Financial details and copies of the sponsorship agreement are not available because officials at the taxpayer-funded university contend the contract is not a public record. . . .

University officials disagree on whether the Anheuser-Busch sponsorship conflicts with the university’s efforts to curb binge drinking. . . .

[UI President Sally] Mason defended the deal Thursday, . . .. “The requirement that the possible use of the Tigerhawk logo be accompanied by the phrase ‘Responsibility Matters’ is consistent with our alcohol harm reduction initiative. The university will continue to emphasize that students and fans should consume alcohol only in a legal, safe and responsible manner."

Members of a committee [the UI President's Committee on Athletics] charged with advising the athletics department on various issues first learned of the new sponsorship deal Thursday [June 14] from The Des Moines Register . . ..

[The Chair] said it’s unclear to him whether a beer corporation’s “Responsibility Matters” advertising campaign will help or hurt the university’s efforts to encourage responsible alcohol use. . . .

[Another member noted] “I believe that participating in a corporate campaign whose ultimate aim is to increase beer sales to persons who have a positive regard for
university athletics (students, fans, alums) is probably a poor idea and one that undermines our efforts to encourage the responsible use of alcohol."

Versions of this story have also appeared in the Iowa City Press-Citizen as Jens Manuel Krogstad, "Busch, UI Make Deal on Logo Use; President Sees No Conflict with Stance Against Binge Drinking," Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 15, 2012, p. A1, and The Gazette as "Iowa Signs Marketing Deal with Anheuser-Busch," Associated Press/The Gazette, June 16, 2012, p. B4. And see Aly Brown, "Busch's UI Deal Draws Fire; Learfield Communications Will Pay the UI Athletics Department $114 million through 2026 as Part of a Larger Deal," The Daily Iowan, June 19, 2012, p. A1, and the commentary, Ben Evans, "A Little Busch Goes a Long Way," The Daily Iowan, June 18, 2012, p. A4.

This morning [June 22]the Register's Jens Manuel Krogstad shares more of what he's been able to pull out of the UI: Jens Manuel Krogstad, "Anheuser-Busch to pay U of I $185,000; As part of logo deal, company will help fund anti-binge-drinking programs," Des Moines Register, June 22, 2012. Here are some excerpts:

Beer giant Anheuser-Busch will pay the University of Iowa about $185,000 over four years to help support the university’s anti-binge-drinking programs, an athletics department official said.

The payments, which start at $43,000 and scale up to $50,000 the final year, are part of a sponsorship agreement finalized this month that allows Anheuser-Busch and the U of I Tigerhawk logos to appear together on some merchandise and advertisements.

In 2011, the university budgeted $300,000 for anti-binge-drinking programs, $200,000 less than the year before.

U of I President Sally Mason last week declined to tell The Des Moines Register how much the university would receive and referred the question to Hawkeye Sports Properties. A company official declined to provide any financial details of the deal.

On Thursday, however, Mason told Iowa Public Radio that Anheuser-Busch would pay the university $50,000 per year.

The athletic department contracts with Hawkeye Sports Properties to handle all of its sports marketing, including sponsorships. The university and the company contend the sponsorship agreements are not public record, because Hawkeye Sports Properties is a private company owned by Missouri-based Learfield Communications.

The U of I, a public university, received $5.8 million from the company last year. The contract calls for the university to receive $114 million through 2026.

Critics say the deal with Anheuser-Busch, which replaces an expiring three-year deal, conflicts with the university’s efforts to reduce underage and binge drinking.

U of I professor Mike O’Hara, a member of the Presidential Committee on Athletics, said in an email to other members of the committee the fundamental problem with the deal is that the university is not aligning its actions with its values. He said he was dismayed the 17-member committee, created to advise the athletic department on issues like this, was not consulted.

“As an academic institution we have an obligation to set a very high standard for ourselves and be willing to forgo financial benefit when it conflicts with our core values,” O’Hara said.

Athletic department officials told the Register last week that a new addition to the agreement allows the beer corporation to place Iowa’s Tigerhawk logo on retail displays such as posters and flags, and promotional giveaways such as cups, caps and T-shirts. . . .

Stay tuned.

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