Dec. 27, 2012
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
Good News/Bad News: Collegiate football administrators have worried for some time about declining game attendance and unofficial figures from the 2012 season show why. SEC football attendance was at its lowest level since 2007, down 2% this year despite Vanderbilt being one of the national leaders with a 15% increase. Among BCS schools, the biggest increases in attendance came from: Cal and TCU (expanded stadiums); UCLA (21 percent); USC (18 percent); and Vanderbilt and Duke (15 percent each). Eight BCS schools experienced attendance declines of 10 percent or greater from 2011: Kentucky (17 percent); Maryland (15 percent); Stanford (13 percent); and Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, North Carolina and Colorado (10 percent each).
Nashville merchants have reported that Vandy gear outsold all other area team merchandise during the holiday shopping season.
The new varsity clubhouse and instruction facilities at Vanderbilt Legends Club will provide a game changer for our already good golf programs. The hitting bays will be completed approximately April 1 and the 4,977-square foot clubhouse – one of the finest in college golf – is to be completed by the end of July.
We just received word that Brad Tinsley, a four-year starter on our basketball team until graduating this past year, has started to play professionally for Okapi in Belgium.
