First, the collective average endowment of these schools is currently in 1.5 billion range. UH has an endowment of approximately 186 million. The endowment illustrates the resources and solvency of the institution.

Second, most of the schools in the PAC12 are research institutions, some of them premier research institutions, and thus the pedagogical philosophy from an academic vantage is also a factor.

And three, we have a small market relative to most of the other schools, and further, not viewed as a “national university” such as UCLA or USC. Thus, while we certainly have a niche value, relative to the other schools, they provide a smaller margin of value added from a sports marketing standpoint.

Even big dogs in Hawaii like Hawaiian Airlines are considered by , market standards, a small cap (between 300 million and 2 billion of market cap). To compare, California has 53 fortune 500 companies or Washington State has 8. Again, some of the numbers don’t bode well for Hawai’i.

a qb who can challenge immediately would be nice.

one more rb who can hit the home run would be nice.

…and linemen, linemen, and more linemen on both sides of the line of scrimmage. including a tight end.

Hawaii corporations are some of the most prolific advertisers in the Bay Area. Look at the Muni buses and bus stops (Hawaiian), Oakland Raiders (Hawaiian), Oakland Airport (Hawaiian), freeway billboards (Aulani), double decker buses (Hawaiian), etc. Hawaii has something to offer (ad $$$ for live sports programming). Pac-12 needs markets so they can get more ad and subscriber revenue. We have advertisers and a new market. The Pac-12 has something to give (bigger fan bases who regularly travel to Hawaii to watch live sports in person, especially during shoulder tourism season, college educated viewers with affluence).

Questions: What is the economic impact of Pac-12 membership? What is the ROI above the status quo? What is the net balance of additional corporate support of a conference upgrade (expenditures), offset by additional revenue from media deals from the Pac to UH (revenues) and increased customers via sports tourism and increased exposure to ads? It seems like Hawaii tourism leaders are using the Kaiser Permanente marketing strategy of saturating specific areas and trying to gain market share. Kaiser can’t be everywhere because to be everywhere means that they need to invest billions to build infrastructure. Same with Hawaiian, advertise where they have direct flights in markets deep enough that a few percentage points market share gain is material. The Pac-12 fits nicely in these markets, don’t they? In-conference rivalries, create extra incentive. I’m not looking for handouts (I’ll be happy with them), but Hawaii Athletics and our business community have a congruence of similar goals.

Creating a brand with the “last game of the day” on ESPN would be a good thing to attract a national following (mainly younger demographic awake at those hours).

http://tracking.si.com/2013/12/02/illinois-tim-beckman-remain-coach/

If Babers does manage to be HC at UH, it comes at a big risk for Babers. Taking a $500k-$600k (assuming he doesn’t laugh at UH’s offer) at UH might parlay into a high dollar $2+ million at a BCS program if he wins big immediately with Chow’s players, but it if doesn’t go great, he would be stuck with his UH salary, wishing he took that $1+million job at a higher paying MW-type school or low profile BCS school.

Just throwing a number on it, I’m guessing Babers would seriously consider UH if they can offer around $700k. In actuality, it’s really closer to $2million for the first year (salary+Chow’s buyout).