Bowling Green State University Athletics
Ask The AD -- Feb. 18, 2008
February 18, 2008 | General
Feb. 18, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Bowling Green State University Assistant Vice President/Director of Athletics Greg Christopher answers a few of the many questions that have been submitted to BGSUFalcons.com. Here is the latest installment ...
Q: Does the athletic department have any connection with the production of the EA Sports NCAA Football games? If so, what information is provided? Also, does Bowling Green receive any revenue for providing this information. Thanks!
Mario in Bowling Green
A: Similar to other I-A schools, we allow EA Sports to use our marks and colors as part of their football and basketball video games. We do receive licensing royalties from EA Sports. Royalty revenue from video games is the fastest growing licensing category in collegiate sports, although the revenue stream is still behind the leading apparel manufacturers.
Q: What is the 2008 BG football schedule?
David in Perrysburg
A: We expect to announce our football schedule in conjunction with other MAC institutions within a week or so. Our non-conference games have been publicized before and are road games at Pittsburgh, Boise State and Wyoming. We also host a Big Ten team at The Doyt for the first time ever, when Minnesota comes to Bowling Green on Sept. 6.
Q: Many of us fans are somewhat less than enthused with the decision to hire a non-local group to design and construct the new convo center for basketball. Was this decision a financial one? Many of us hardcore Falcon basketball fans want a new arena that keeps the qualities of Anderson that make it the loudest and toughest place to play around, i.e. students/general admission sections on the floor. We just want this new convo to be our new "House that Roars."
Brandon in Portage
A: I completely agree with your last couple of sentences. As I stated in our public forums and have already told the architectural team, our number one goal with this building is to create the best home court advantage possible for our teams. We'll replicate what we can and what works in Anderson, while improving on many fan amenities.
As for the selection of an A&E (architect and engineer) team, here's some background: the process was open and objective. A team of staff members from Facilities, Capital Planning and Athletics reviewed the submitted A&E proposals (about a dozen bid on the project) and selected four for in-person interviews.
All four finalists were solid teams - typically an architectural firm teaming with an engineering firm. We graded each team and proposal based on their relevant experience, personnel and other factors. No part of the decision was based on finances. In the end, we selected the team of Rossetti as the architect (from Detroit) and URS as the engineer (from Cleveland). When the time comes for construction, BGSU will conduct another bid process. As a state institution, that decision will be based on the financial bids.
