Perhaps the Fans Do Care?: I wrote in a post earlier this year about how fans are often willing to forgive off-the-field problems so long as the team is winning. But when the team is not winning, a scandal can give fans a perfect excuse for dropping their support.



Witness the University of Colorado. After a 5-7 season, the team has been making headlines all summer for recruiting scandals and stories of sexual exploits involving players. The coaching staff and the administration have been implicated as having known of at least some of these problems and many lawsuits have been filed.



Now, fourteen percent of the Buffs' season ticket holders have said, "No thanks" to keeping their seats, a much higher percentage than in normal years. Now, the athletic department faces a potential budget crisis because of the lost revenue. CU, like most schools, relies on football to fund most of its other programs. The cancellations may not be due solely to the scandal, but following a sub-par season, the allegations could not have come at a worse time for the program. One only hopes that they clean up their act, so that the team can begin a revitalization, both on and off the field.

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