Rob Mullens looked out his office window on Thursday, where he could see the ongoing construction of the University of Oregon’s indoor football practice facility.
It will be the largest of its kind in college sports. But a different campus football facility was at the heart of our discussion.
“Football generates 80 percent of the revenue here,” the UO athletic director told me. “Autzen is our economic engine.”
Oregon’s 54,000-seat football stadium will be sold out on Saturday when the Ducks play Indiana. Standing-room-only tickets will push capacity above 60,000.
Mullens and I spoke for 20 minutes in a wide-ranging 1-on-1 interview on Thursday. We touched on the Big Ten’s private-equity pitch, talked about the euphoria of Oregon’s double-overtime win over Penn State, and the theoretical logistics of hosting a College Football Playoff game.
However, it was potential expansion and premium seating upgrades at Autzen that I left the conversation thinking about. The Ducks know they’re leaving a pile of money on the table during the college football season.
Our 1-on-1 talk: