From The Desk Of Mark Hollis
5/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | General
May 20, 2010
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
"We gather and engage our community to teach, support and celebrate our student-athletes in the quest for excellence."
I cannot begin to express how important that mission has become to me personally, to our coaches, and to our student-athletes. And, try as we might, we certainly cannot accomplish this lofty mission without the unwavering support of our alumni, fans and supporters.
In the coming weeks you are being asked to participate in the 2010 Men's Basketball Seat Adjustment. I am confident you will find the Seat Adjustment process surprisingly easy to navigate. I have had the opportunity to see, on several occasions, the seat selection tool you will be using. Also, I have previewed the communication pieces, the tutorial and the plans in place to provide you with an optimal level of customer service.
The decision to implement the Seat Adjustment program was not made lightly. It has been 14 years since we have had any type of change to men's basketball seat assignments. Because of that, I recognize that this is an emotional issue for some and that change is not always easy. However, after two years of consideration and much research on basketball programs of our caliber, the program created provides us with a much needed level of consistency and transparency when determining seat locations within the Breslin. This program does three things: it promotes fairness, rewards loyalty and encourages the current and future support of Spartan Athletics.
Our Athletics program operates a self-sustaining budget of $75 million - no tax dollars or University general revenue funds help to support us. Additionally, we provide more than $11 million to the University in the form of scholarship aid for more than 600 deserving student-athletes.
In an effort to meet our ever-increasing budgetary demands, MSU Athletics relies heavily on football and men's basketball. Approximately 92% of our revenue is derived from these two sports. Accordingly, we must make the business decisions necessary to strategically utilize the revenue opportunities associated with those sports.
We appreciate so very much all that our great fans, donors and Spartan faithful do to support our program. Intercollegiate Athletics are instrumental to the image and success of this great University. We thank you in advance for your loyal support. Together, we will continue to achieve tremendous things for MSU and Spartan Athletics.
Sincerely,
Mark J. Hollis
Director of Athletics