Performance Drives Funds

The following article is emblematic of college football and the money it generates. My school, the University of South Carolina, has had recent football success and thoroughly expects it to continue. Its supporters not only agree, but are eager to cough up the money as well. It's unfortunate that money separates a good football program from an elite football program, but I'm glad Gamecock supporters are making that transition possible. Take a look at the type of money I'm talking about:



Capital campaign tops $13 million

Seven big donations have been earmarked for USC athletics facilities


By JOSEPH PERSON - jperson@thestate.com

South Carolina raised nearly $14 million in the first year of the athletic department’s first major capital campaign, according to university officials.

In the just-completed fiscal year, donors made gifts totaling $13.7 million earmarked for the athletic department’s facilities plan, according to Michelle Dodenhoff, USC’s associate vice-president for university development.

Those gifts came from seven donors, including five who made pledges of $1 million or more, Dodenhoff said.

“We’re off to an unprecedented start,” Gamecock Club director Chris Wyrick said Friday. “We certainly hope this is the beginning and we don’t intend to go backward next year.”

The campaign remains in the silent phase, during which officials meet with a limited number of potential donors. Wyrick described the initial response as “incredible.”

“You’ve got to understand that the $13 million that we’re talking about is from only about five or six people,” he said. “Everyone that we’ve asked so far has participated.”

USC athletics director Eric Hyman last year announced a $195 million, long-term facilities plan that includes expansion of Williams-Brice Stadium and redevelopment of the 41-acre Roost complex that will be modeled after the USC Horseshoe.

Dodie Anderson, a 1981 alumna of what is now known as USC-Upstate, pledged a major gift for the new academic enrichment center, an $11.4 million, 35,000-square foot building that will be named in her honor. Officials hope to begin construction on the academic center next year and open the facility in the fall of 2009.

“The fundraising has been exceptional, absolutely exceptional,” Hyman said. “We’re trying to raise as much money as we can. We’ve got some ambitious goals to be able to do some of the things that we want to in this athletic department.”

Besides the major gifts, USC announced that Gamecock Club revenues rose to $14.5 million, a 9 percent increase from last year’s $13.3 million total. Club members paid $40 more for their football season tickets this year and are being charged to park for games for the first time in the club’s history.