Failure to communicate

Dear Editor,

After yet another blow-out defeat Saturday on Barry Alvarez Field at Camp Randall, the Wisconsin Football Program continues to erode the prior hard-earned brand equity with the current status quo, specifically via lost fan support that is escalating weekly.

Wisconsin's Football and Basketball programs are the only two athletic programs that make money. The other school's D1 programs are not self-funded and require funds from the two aforementioned entities. Therefore, if you risk one of the two sources that generates the bulk of department's funding, then that in itself is a serious issue for the entire athletic department, and the University.

Course correction is required by our University Leaders. They can start by requesting Barry Alvarez to stop calling Wisconsin football fans "spoiled rotten" and "if they want to boo, leave and go to the bar and boo, and get the heck out of here." Words of wisdom by Barry to Badger Nation. Those quotes are from an ESPN Radio show on 9/22. Additionally, fans are reacting to Barry's request and that is to leave the game. They did that in the thousands on Saturday, as well as they protested. When the game was finally over, there were less than 20,000 fans remaining in the stands. 

The University, the media, and specifically the University football program truly and successfully oversold "Cool Hand Luke" to the public via their ads and promo's communicating that greatness is here. 

It appears that "what we've got here is failure to communicate." 

Patrick Franzen, Middleton, WI