Why Must LSU Have a Championship Football Team? It’s Not Bragging Rights

(KMDL-FM) The college football program at Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College is currently in a state of turmoil. To be more precise, the Administration of the LSU Athletic Department is in turmoil. As you might imagine, there is an urgent need for the turmoil to end and for LSU to get back to winning championships. But why is having a championship football team so important for LSU and Louisiana as a whole?

If you haven't heard, LSU has fired coach Brian Kelly. That job action by the university was made in response to what most of us believe was "not winning". But Kelly and his team were winning. They just weren't winning enough. The university also announced the not-surprisingly-at-all departure of Athletic Director Scott Woodward.

READ MORE: Can You Legally Place a Bet on Who the Next LSU Coach Will Be?

READ MORE: Governor Landry Talks LSU Turmoil with Pat McAfee

The Difference Between a Winning Football Team and a Championship Football Team

Some people might argue, "Why does that matter?" Those are the people who mistakenly believe college athletics is about a sport. It's not, it's about money. And no, it's not about ticket sales, merchandise sales, and concessions; having a championship football team means so much more.

For a breakdown of what championship football money looks like, let's look to a place where they've had more than a few championships, the University of Alabama. It is estimated that through the years, the success the Crimson Tide has had on the football field has translated into a $3.3 billion impact on the state.

That impact comes in the form of increased enrollment at the university, which Alabama has consistently achieved during the tenure of Nick Saban. More students mean more businesses to serve those students. That creates jobs. So, there's even more money for the community, spurred on by the success of the football program.

How Does LSU Winning Championships Benefit All of Louisiana?

As the late Billy Mays would say, But wait, there's more! Those jobs and businesses improve the tax base. The improved tax base improves the school systems and the roads in the state. Better schools and better infrastructure attract other businesses, which in turn hire more people and create an even larger tax base.

Perhaps the largest unspoken benefit of having a championship football program comes from those "three-hour TV commercials during primetime," also known as a football game broadcast. Having the name of your university in front of millions of television viewers around the world enhances interest in the state.

Think of how many televised LSU games where the broadcast team referenced the food, the lifestyle, the joie de vivre that is Louisiana? We didn't have to pay for that "commercial," and it didn't even require Billy Nungesser getting on a float to get the eyeballs and ear holes to pay attention.

A few years ago, when Jackson State hired Deion Sanders as its coach, a lot of people thought it was a crazy idea. Within months of that hire, national networks were suddenly talking about Jackson, Mississippi, and more and more people were learning about the university and the state around it. Neither Jackson State nor the State of Mississippi could afford to buy that kind of publicity. They got it for free because of a football team.

And when you go from being just a "football team" to a "championship football team," the "Coach Prime" effect is multiplied exponentially. So, if you're wondering why universities spend so much money on coaches and then fire them only to pay them to go away, that's why.

Even the late Kenny Rogers, in his role as The Gambler, would be willing to lose $52 million for a chance to earn $3.3 billion. Governor Landry knows that, and perhaps that's why he has more than a casual fan's interest in making sure the LSU Tigers football team not only wins, but they win championships.

To borrow from the Southeastern Conference, of which LSU is a member, yeah, it does mean more, a helluva lot more money. And let's face it, if it weren't for Ohio State University, I know they like the "The" but I don't like them, so there, how many of us would even know that Columbus, Ohio, existed? I probably wouldn't.