Feb. 24, 2006
Friends,
This weekend we will be hosting close to 200 Baylor basketball letterwinners along with several former coaches at the 100-Year Basketball Celebration. We appreciate the contributions that each of our former coaches and student-athletes have made to the program in establishing its tradition over the years. The weekend will include a dinner for the former players on Friday night, a brunch on Saturday and introduction of our honorees including the All-Centennial Team at the Baylor - Iowa State game on Saturday afternoon.
Last week, the University hosted a NCAA certification peer review team that visited our campus following Baylor's submission of its self-study report. The on-campus site review went well and we expect a certification decision in May.
The ticket office has good tickets remaining for the Big 12 men's and women's basketball tournaments in Dallas next month. We need to have a strong Baylor presence to cheer on our teams. Tickets may be purchased at Floyd Casey Stadium or by calling 710-1000.
Thank you to all of our fans who attended Wednesday's senior night game for the Lady Bears and participated in Operation 100K. We had a great crowd on hand that pushed our season attendance for the season over 100,000 for the first time ever. Those at the Ferrell Center had the privilege of witnessing the Lady Bears' 86-40 victory over Colorado and the final home game for our three seniors: Sophia Young, Chameka Scott and Jordan Davis. Congratulations ladies on your outstanding careers for the Lady Bears!
The BaylorBears.com website is becoming more popular each year. We recently learned that our official website is averaging more than 118,000 unique users per month, an increase of 20 percent from the previous year. This is your most complete source of information on Baylor Athletics. You will be hearing more about "The Time is Now" - the tag line for the athletic department's revenue enhancement plan. I want to thank Todd Patulski, Bill Chaves and Doug Smith on our staff who worked diligently to identify ways to enhance our revenue streams and allow our programs to be funded at levels that allow them to be competitive in the Big 12 and nationally. We will be modestly increasing season ticket prices and seat options in 2006-07 in order to help us fund excellence throughout our athletic program. Next year for the first time our athletic budget will eclipse the $30 million mark.
Baylor's spring sports are off to a great start. Of particular note, congratulations to both the men's and women's golf teams on winning season opening tournaments along with the baseball team that has won its first five contests.
Here are some questions that we have received through Ask Ian in the past couple of weeks:
Ian:
Why have we increased our women's programs to nine and still only have seven men's teams at the varsity level?
Tim Berg
Thorndale, Texas
Tim,
Baylor sponsors eight men's and 10 women's intercollegiate teams. Equestrian was recently added as our 18th intercollegiate program in large part to expand opportunities for female student-athletes at Baylor consistent with our commitment to compliance with Title IX.
Ian
Ian: When is the soonest we would be able to know the times for the non-conference football games? I am debating if I can buy season tickets or not due to the times. Can we have more night games?
Aaron Ward
Mesquite, Texas
Aaron,
We need to wait for television to make its selections for the non-conference portion of our schedule before we are able to set our first four game times. As you know, the Big 12 Conference game times are subject to either 12-day or six-day selections during the season. At this point, I anticipate that our three non-conference home games will be played in the late afternoon or evening.
Ian
Ian: We really miss seeing the inflatable Baylor bear at the basketball games. Please tell me why this was phased out while he was so popular and tended to really get the fans involved?
Thank you for any information regarding this matter.
April McAdams
Waco, Texas
April,
The inflatable bear lives. I have noticed the inflatable bear at each of our home games in the past couple of weeks. I know that it is a favorite of our fans and especially the children who attend Baylor games.
Ian
Hi Ian, My question concerns video broadcasts of Baylor sporting events. Does Time Warner Cable have exclusive rights to events that are not broadcast nationally? There have been several games (including women's basketball vs. Missouri and men's basketball vs. Nebraska) that were picked up by TWC, but not by Grande Communication, and I wanted to know why?
Thanks for you answer, and Sic 'em Bears!
Jeremy McCarver
Hewitt, Texas
Jeremy, Thanks for your great question.
ESPN Regional has an agreement with Time-Warner to carry a series of Big 12 games on its Central Texas cable systems, including all Baylor and Texas A&M contests which are in this package. In most Big 12 markets, these games are carried by commercial stations, something we continue to work with both the Big 12 and ESPN Regional in securing for Central Texas. This year, KCEN-TV was gracious enough to carry our Oklahoma State and Texas games which were produced by ESPN Regional on its air and we are hopeful that they will be able to clear more of our games in the coming years.
As for games which are produced by our opponents, such as the Baylor-Missouri women's game you spoke of, Time-Warner is able to air those broadcasts as a result of a sponsorship agreement that was in place with Baylor Athletics prior to Grande Communications coming on board with the University.
Ian
Ian; Let me take this opportunity to tell you what a great job you are doing with the athletic department.
My questions regard the status of the football training facility, where it will be located and projected start date; and could you explain something called the "Success Center"? I believe it is supposed to be in the old Sid Richardson Science building?
Mark Hollis
Houston, Texas
Mark,
We continue to push forward on both the football practice facility project and the success center. Funding commitments for approximately one-half of the cost of the football practice facility are in place. We are still in need of a lead gift to name the facility and move us close to the project goal.
As you may have read recently, alumnus Paul L. Foster of El Paso made a $3 million to the Success Center and we are hopeful that the remaining funding for this project will be in place by the end of the academic year. More information on Mr. Foster's gift can be found at this link: http://www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=story&story=38802.
Ian
