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Good news - Bradley University's incoming Freshman Enrollment

Y

yoda

Well-known member
As we've seen and discussed, incoming enrollment took a sharp decline under Glasser, then fully recovered under President Gary Roberts.
BUT - the past few cycles were disastrous under Standifird -
Getting enrollment numbers back up was and is new President James Shadid's #1 priority.

Now I am hearing very good news, that the numbers for this coming fall are looking very good.

Here is an article published just yesterday noting how almost every college is seeing a big decline in new freshman enrollment
because of the sharp dropoff of families having kids back in 18 years ago during the recession...

"Starting with the Great Recession in 2008-09, the U.S. birth rate dropped sharply. It has not recovered. The first cohort of kids conceived in that time
is now graduating from high school and preparing for higher education"

ISU in particular is seeing "student deposits ... down 8% compared to last year"
www.wglt.org

ISU student deposits drop as enrollment cliff arrives

The long-dreaded enrollment cliff for colleges and universities is here. “I think there's still a path to success for us, but we'll have to be nimble,” said ISU admissions chief Jeff Mavros.
www.wglt.org www.wglt.org

HOWEVER- the good news is cited later in the article that the author got a statement from Bradley:
"A spokesperson for Bradley University in Peoria said its first-year student deposits rose 30%."
 
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Now we need the City of Peoria to start stepping up.

Repave Main Street. Imagine you're spending 50k+ to send your kid to Peoria and attend Bradley. You are welcomed by the series of potholes that is Main Street between University and the Western turn. How does that look for a city? Embarassing, to say the least. Hell, even the HAWK crossings on Main Street are dangerous for walking - might break an ankle out there.

Get a very, very friendly deal with the publicly owned Peoria Civic Center. I'm talking $0 rent for Bradley basketball. With tenant-hating Rik Edgar out of the way, maybe things can actually progress on a REAL City-Bradley partnership there.
 
Civic Center is managed by Madison Square Garden. All restaurant patrons in the city pay 2% tax on purchases to support the civic center. Also, a hotel tax. East Peoria pays nothing, but benefits greatly in the Levy District. Bradley receives no money from parking or concessions.
 
molar50 said:
Civic Center is managed by Madison Square Garden. All restaurant patrons in the city pay 2% tax on purchases to support the civic center. Also, a hotel tax. East Peoria pays nothing, but benefits greatly in the Levy District. Bradley receives no money from parking or concessions.
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Legends Global (ASM), not MSG. But yeah- Bradley gets $0 from anything you spend at PCC during a Bradley game. Bradley pays full price for parking and their catering stuff in the old BSS room, Braves Club area, and Lexus Club as well.
 
Main Street is definitely on the radar. City manager Urich wanted to use the proposed $1.8 million per year Par A Dice settlement annuity to repave Main Street. That unfortunately got voted down.

I know we’re seeking grant money to pay for Main Street renovation from our local congressmen. We’ll see how that goes.

A Main Street TIF district (pushed by President Shadid) was introduced last week. That though will be bordered to the west by University Street.

I don’t know who is being considered to replace Edgar but I don’t consider the Civic Center Authority anti-BU and hopefully the hire reflects that.
 
JMM28 said:
Now we need the City of Peoria to start stepping up.

Repave Main Street. Imagine you're spending 50k+ to send your kid to Peoria and attend Bradley. You are welcomed by the series of potholes that is Main Street between University and the Western turn. How does that look for a city? Embarassing, to say the least. Hell, even the HAWK crossings on Main Street are dangerous for walking - might break an ankle out there.

Get a very, very friendly deal with the publicly owned Peoria Civic Center. I'm talking $0 rent for Bradley basketball. With tenant-hating Rik Edgar out of the way, maybe things can actually progress on a REAL City-Bradley partnership there.
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Oh thank you. Finally someone spoke up about my pet peeve. Repairing alot of roads in Peoria but they seem to have forgotten about the road in front of Bradley. The city bult that catastrophe at the intersection of Main and University but they cant touch 200 yards of a pot riddled road. When giving a tour of Bradley to prospective students it is hard to talk about the positives when you are trying to avoid holes in the road
 
Mikovio said:
Main Street is definitely on the radar. City manager Urich wanted to use the proposed $1.8 million per year Par A Dice settlement annuity to repave Main Street. That unfortunately got voted down.

I know we’re seeking grant money to pay for Main Street renovation from our local congressmen. We’ll see how that goes.

A Main Street TIF district (pushed by President Shadid) was introduced last week. That though will be bordered to the west by University Street.

I don’t know who is being considered to replace Edgar but I don’t consider the Civic Center Authority anti-BU and hopefully the hire reflects that.
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I would like to know from the city council members who voted against that, how they intend to generate that $1.8m annually without raising taxes or fees. Peoria gets less money and EP/Par-a-dice gets a less desirable complex that remains disconnected. A lose-lose scenario for sure.

It would have been really nice to have some of that money going towards redevelopment around BU. They thought they could hold out for more money...ended up with nothing.
 
Bradley ball games bring 100,000 fans to downtown Peoria including a lot of visiting fans from out of town.

The level of disrespect and of ignorance the Peoria city government shows towards Bradley basketball & Bradley in general is astounding.

Who, other than the Rivermen, does anywhere near as much for the Civic Center or downtown- and yet the Civic Center is spending $40 millions on upgrades including ripping the whole arena apart to install a totally new ice surface (costing millions) - mostly to benefit hockey. But they treat the Braves as peons, rip up the street in front of the main parking deck and jack parking prices every other year.
 
Yes, I agree that many of the decisions of the city leaders are stupid, not in the long term interests of the citizens. But, nothing in comparison to the last Mayor Daily of Chicago that sold the parking meters to foreign investors for 1.2 billion and promptly raised all metered parking on all days and times at rates compared to parking garages for 75 years.
 
Mikovio said:
Main Street is definitely on the radar. City manager Urich wanted to use the proposed $1.8 million per year Par A Dice settlement annuity to repave Main Street. That unfortunately got voted down.

I know we’re seeking grant money to pay for Main Street renovation from our local congressmen. We’ll see how that goes.

A Main Street TIF district (pushed by President Shadid) was introduced last week. That though will be bordered to the west by University Street.

I don’t know who is being considered to replace Edgar but I don’t consider the Civic Center Authority anti-BU and hopefully the hire reflects that.
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I have confidence in Rick Powers to get it figured out. He is the best hire Peoria has made in eons. The Council has to prioritize crime and roads over all the other gobbledygook though.

1.8 wasn't going to repave half of that stretch though, let alone any reconstruction needed. If that was the plan, that was a UrichPlan™. Like the "green" plan he had to solve the ridiculous, unfunded EPA mandate. (Then hid it on an un-televised, un-recorded special meeting about a totally different topic outside of the Council chambers.) But I digress.

I don't think the Civic Center Authority is anti-BU, either. But Rik Edgar was very anti-tenant towards the Rivermen and Bradley. Having never been at a facility with tenants, he never understood or cared about the value they provide - guaranteed dates/revenues, consistent dates to keep the longtime events staff employed. Instead of treating them well, he treated them like 3rd and 4th class citizens. I know over the years, Bradley adjusted quite a few dates to help him book a show in the arena. Those favors were never repaid nor were they requested to be cashed in.

He did a solid job in a lot of areas, but he absolutely sucked in a lot of areas too. He looked good here because of the utter incompetence that came before him in that role. There is still a TON of meat on the PCC bone, in my opinion. Imagine taking a leak in a Carver Arena bathroom that isn't covered in piss, washing your hands with a soap container that has soap, drying your hands from a paper towel dispenser that has actual paper towels in it, and then going out to buy a beer that doesn't require a home equity line of credit. It could happen!
 
BradleyBiz said:
I would like to know from the city council members who voted against that, how they intend to generate that $1.8m annually without raising taxes or fees. Peoria gets less money and EP/Par-a-dice gets a less desirable complex that remains disconnected. A lose-lose scenario for sure.

It would have been really nice to have some of that money going towards redevelopment around BU. They thought they could hold out for more money...ended up with nothing.
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The people who should be pissed are the major stockholders of Boyd. Not maximizing that license is silly business practice. Some floating casino with an old rundown hotel and crappy convention space is....not going to draw anyone there.

Although what does it say about doing business in Peoria that a company was willing to pay 2 million a year to NOT deal with Peoria....
 
yoda said:
Bradley ball games bring 100,000 fans to downtown Peoria including a lot of visiting fans from out of town.

The level of disrespect and of ignorance the Peoria city government shows towards Bradley basketball & Bradley in general is astounding.

Who, other than the Rivermen, does anywhere near as much for the Civic Center or downtown- and yet the Civic Center is spending $40 millions on upgrades including ripping the whole arena apart to install a totally new ice surface (costing millions) - mostly to benefit hockey. But they treat the Braves as peons, rip up the street in front of the main parking deck and jack parking prices every other year.
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Minus BU and Rivermen, Carver Arena sold 108,909 tickets last year. In that same calendar year, BU alone brought in about 100,000 fans. Rivermen, I'm guessing, brought in a similar number across more dates, 95% on weekend dates.

Bradley and Rivermen should be treated like kings at that facility. Instead, they get treated like shit.
 
Well, Urich’s idea was to convert the annual 1.8 into a lump sum, JG Wentworth style, like any good lottery winner. We could’ve gotten $30-40 million and taken care of Main Street easy.

We unfortunately lost the casino 35 years ago. In the decades since then Boyd has built a hotel and conference center around the boat and it made no sense for them to walk away from those investments on the EP side to start fresh in Peoria and build ANOTHER hotel (which they need to comp rooms and attract high rollers). Then their old hotel would plummet in value. Letting it go to EP in the first place was a huge mistake.
 
Mikovio said:
Well, Urich’s idea was to convert the annual 1.8 into a lump sum, JG Wentworth style, like any good lottery winner. We could’ve gotten $30-40 million and taken care of Main Street easy.

We unfortunately lost the casino 35 years ago. In the decades since then Boyd has built a hotel and conference center around the boat and it made no sense for them to walk away from those investments on the EP side to start fresh in Peoria and build ANOTHER hotel (which they need to comp rooms and attract high rollers). Then their old hotel would plummet in value. Letting it go to EP in the first place was a huge mistake.
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Rivermen average was over 4,300 this year. Total was close to 145,000. 29 home games. They drew less in playoffs, but that’s normal. Almost 6,000 for the last game. They also get no parking or concessions. That’s why I don’t park in their lots and very seldom eat there. They sell a ton of merchandise and have din great sponsors. I think the civic center can move up to 3 games a year as needed, for other events. That’s after the schedule has been announced. I’m also a Bradley season ticket holder. I pay much less for Bradley tickets for sure.
 
JMM28 said:

Minus BU and Rivermen, Carver Arena sold 108,909 tickets last year. In that same calendar year, BU alone brought in about 100,000 fans. Rivermen, I'm guessing, brought in a similar number across more dates, 95% on weekend dates.

Bradley and Rivermen should be treated like kings at that facility. Instead, they get treated like shit.
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Just to play devil's advocate...

I'm pretty sure that the 108k tickets brought in by concerts spend more $/ticket sold than Bradley and the Rivermen combined. Not only in the average price per ticket, but hotel rooms, more restaurant spend, increased parking charges, etc....all a big economic driver. Comes at a higher cost for those major concerts, but the margin is likely better for most every concert. I'm not minimizing Bradley or the Rivermen as strong revenue drivers, but I would not be surprised if the profit margin for concerts in the arena far surpassed Bradley and Rivermen games combined...not to mention the bigger economic impacts.
 
BradleyBiz said:
Just to play devil's advocate...

I'm pretty sure that the 108k tickets brought in by concerts spend more $/ticket sold than Bradley and the Rivermen combined. Not only in the average price per ticket, but hotel rooms, more restaurant spend, increased parking charges, etc....all a big economic driver. Comes at a higher cost for those major concerts, but the margin is likely better for most every concert. I'm not minimizing Bradley or the Rivermen as strong revenue drivers, but I would not be surprised if the profit margin for concerts in the arena far surpassed Bradley and Rivermen games combined...not to mention the bigger economic impacts.
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You hit the nail on the head. One sold out concert can generate more revenue than half a dozen Bradley/rivermen games.
 
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