Florida Has the Fans and Bucks to Keep Donovan

As you know, Kentucky fans want Florida's head coach to take over their 'troubled' program.

Many of those fans believe that Kentucky is the top job in college basketball, that Billy Donovan would be insane not to come running to Lexington, and that Kentucky's fan support and ability to pay a top salary leaves Florida in the dust.

The pro-Florida part of my little SEC soul has been bothered by several of these beliefs, because by and large, many aren't true, or are, at best, misleading. Don't worry, Kentucky fans -- turnabout is fair play and there are areas in which Kentucky "plusses out" Florida. We'll look at those, too. But let's start by playing "Fact or Fiction?" with several of the top beliefs.

Fact or Fiction: Florida Can Only Sell out One or Two Games Per Year in the 12,000 Seat O'Connell Center.

Fiction. My father has been a basketball season ticket holder for over a decade. We personally attend most, if not all home basketball games. Every single home game is a sellout, including December cupcake matches with pre-season warmup opponents. The emptiest I've ever seen the O'Connell center was maybe one hundred seats shy of being fully filled, and that's due simply to season ticket holders occasionally not attending a lower-tier game. It's not at all uncommon to see visitors attempting to get tickets by holding fingers in the air prior to the tip, only to find none available and be forced to watch the game in one of Gainesville's sports bars. We've had the same nosebleed seats for the entire time we've had the tickets, and have had absolutely no chance of moving up in the queue to get better seats without big dollar donations to the University (and AOL doesn't pay me enough to do that.) Lastly, if you want to get season tickets, too bad -- you can't. They haven't been available for years.

Fact or Fiction: Florida Can't Afford to Match Kentucky's Salary Offer to Donovan.


Fiction. This is an example of where Lexington's basketball fetish gets the better of them, and they forget that a 90,000 seat football stadium makes a hell of a lot more money than a 23,000 seat basketball arena. Kentucky fans also seem to believe they have a stranglehold on the concepts of school pride and team support, but in truth the Gator Nation's passion for University of Florida athletics -- at least when it comes to their pocketbooks -- easily exceeds that of the Big Blue Nation's (thanks to Saurian Sagacity for compiling these figures):

Total Athletic Contributions (Donations)

Florida $26,896,283 (3rd Nationally)
Kentucky $8,060,667 (37th Nationally)

Florida advantage - 3.3 times

Total Athletic Operating Expenses

Florida $73,868,754
Kentucky $52,462,483

Florida Advantage – 1.4 times

Total Sports Revenue

Florida $77,742,484
Kentucky $54,536,426

Florida Advantage – 1.4 times

Mergz, take it away:

Don't think there is a big difference between $77 million and $54 million? Well, in 2005, those amounts made Florida the 4th highest school in the NCAA (Ohio State was 1st at $89 million). Kentucky was 17th, just ahead of Minnesota...

You can see from the above that Kentucky had a "profit" (if you will) of $2,073,943 in 2005. (As noted, with Florida's two recent national championships and increased donor costs, our amounts would be far higher, reportedly exceeding $100 million total revenue presently. Kentucky's amount would be fairly stable.)

With $2 million "to spare", if Kentucky were to pay Donovan $3.5 million dollars, they would be essentially spending all the excess revenue in their program.

Simply put, Florida can run circles around Kentucky in this department. If it ever came to a financial battle for Donovan's services (and I for one don't think that it will), Florida could win that fight with one hand tied behind its back.

And don't think for a second that Florida minds using football funds to pay for basketball expenses. Florida football revenues carries most of the athletic department's various sports -- everything from swimming to gymnastics to women's volleyball.

Fact or Fiction: Florida Fans Don't Travel Well for Basketball.

Fact. Guilty as charged, right here.

It's very clear to fans of those few schools with strong programs in both football and basketball (including Texas, Ohio State, Tennessee, LSU, etc.) that it's flat out tough to be a 'good fan' throughout both seasons. Think about it: if you "travel well" for football, that means from September through January, your schedule is filled with football events, assuming a bowl game is included. Basketball starts in December and continues through late March if your team has a deep NCAA tournament run.

Which means that seven months out of the year, the "good fan" will have to arrange his entire life around his team's sports.

(Why am I picturing my angry and frustrated wife scowling at me as I write?)

Emotionally, physically, and financially, that is very tough for most people to do. Florida fans love their basketball as well as their football, but they can only get off so many days from work. There is only so much money in their bank accounts to support traveling to away football and basketball games, bowl games, and tournament games. I think by virtue of the fact that basketball follows football, many fans are simply 'tapped out' when it comes to hitting the road to support their team. That's not to say Florida fans don't represent -- just check out how many orange and blue clad bodies you'll see in the Georgia Dome when Florida plays UCLA on Saturday night -- but this is clearly an area in which Kentucky has an edge. If the Wildcats were to play in Alaska, there will be a large Kentucky contingent there to cheer them on.

Fact or Fiction: Donovan Would Be a God in Lexington, But in Gainesville, He's Just the Guy Next Door.

Fiction. Donovan is the guy next door, sure... to another national championship coach -- his neighbor, Urban Meyer. But don't think for a second that Donovan isn't revered in Gainesville -- as he has been for some time now.

Everything has been coming up roses for Donovan and Florida for some time now, but if you look back to 2004, thing were decidely less cheery. Ron Zook was fired after losing to Croom's Mississippi State squad. Florida's basketball team lost to Villanova in the second round of the NCAA tournament, yet another early exit for Billy Donovan. The sole bright spot of the season for Florida was winning the SEC Tournament and defeating Kentucky to do it.

There was no hint of firing Donovan, no talk of a hot seat. Sure, some fans were bitterly disappointed with the results of a season which started with such promise, but not once was Donovan's name brought up in the sort of negative light which Kentucky fans cast on their coach when he "only" wins five SEC championships, five SEC tournaments, and one national championship in a 9-year span.

Have expectations risen since that time? Without a doubt, two Final Fours in two years will do that for your program.

But Donovan has no shadow to escape. He's the Steve Spurrier of Florida basketball -- if and when Donovan does step down, hopefully at some distant future date for the sake of Florida fans, his shadow will fall on whomever succeeds him.

Florida's love for him will never diminish and he will always be cherished so long as he continues to roam courtside at the O'Connell center.

Fact or Fiction: Football Comes First in the State of Florida.

Fact. Conditionally, that is. Has there ever been a program which has a chance to maintain true national power status in the top two collegiate sports in America? There are programs which are historically very good in both, but true 'elite' status belongs to precious few. Florida is one, and perhaps the pre-eminent example of a school which can excel in both sports. But there's no doubt that basketball fever is alive and well in Lexington, while in Florida it's simply classified as short-term excitement. 23,000 seat Rupp Arena sells out their Midnight Madness practice event... Florida, meanwhile, can only fill half that many seats for its biggest games. You want to talk about passion? SEC football games are hard to match for that. I'm wondering if Kentucky basketball fans have ever tasted Auburn vs. Alabama or Florida vs. Tennessee. That, my friends, is passion. It does seem to be elevated well above basketball, and that doesn't really help Florida's chances of keeping Donovan.

At the end of the day, Donovan will have to decide how big his ego really is, and how badly he wants to scratch it. Kentucky offers the biggest stage in college basketball. With that stage comes the pressure-cooker demands of a fanbase which, in my view, simply doesn't understand that the SEC and college basketball both have changed such that dominating the way they once did simply won't happen again. It might take several revolutions of coaches for Kentucky to realize their new place in the college basketball universe. Nowadays, elite powers have to settle for being a smidge ahead of the competion, rather than oblitering them into smithereens, as Kentucky once did to Florida on all-too-regular a basis.

Previously at FanHouse:

Could Billy Donovan Coach the Miami Heat Next Year?
Should Billy Donovan Make More than Urban Meyer?
Donovan to Recruits: "I'm Staying at Florida"
Donovan to Kentucky Rumor Grows Wings