Follow the Money - The Big Business of College Football

[Circa]

Sad, But probably true.
[url]https://sports.theonion.com/ncaa-determines-becoming-a-bengal-punishment-enough-for-1841064671[/URL]

 

[Legacy]

Boise State sues Mountain West over new TV contract, future plan to end Broncos’ bonus

 

[phork]

Boise State sues Mountain West over new TV contract, future plan to end Broncos’ bonus

I am surprised that BoiseSt hasnt been added to the PAC10 yet.

 

[Ndaccountant]

https://www.onlineathens.com/sports...football-spending-drives-increase-in-expenses

Wow.

UGA spent nearly $150K per player signed in the 2019/2019 class, which was second nationally in the composite rankings. They will probably be first this year. Follow the money indeed.

 

[Legacy]

Clemson and Georgia have reached a deal to play each other Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium in 2021. To do so, each school needed to free up their schedule. That neutral site game is bound to be very lucrative.

Clemson is ponying up $1.1 million to cancel their contract with Wyoming. Georgia is cutting a $1.8 million check to San Jose State. USC then contracted with San Jose State for that date, jettisoning the game against UC-Davis. The USC buyout of UC Davis would have cost $225,000 prior to Jan 1. With the Trojans canceling in February, they paid UC Davis a half million more - $725,000. USC shelled out $1.1 million to schedule San Jose State.
USC's total costs - $1.825 million.

SJ St gets $1.1 million for scheduling USC to add to the $1.8 million from Georgia - total $2.9 million for that date.

UC Davis took the Trojans $725,000 and then contracted for a buy-in game with Tulsa for $400,000. Total - $1.25 million.

As for Wyoming, they took their $1.1 million check from Clemson and scheduled a home game against FCS Montana State, which they could easily cancel for a better offer.

Nevada is a third Mountain West team that has been earning checks for buy-in games. The Wolfpack was free for the first game in 2020 because Penn State cancelled their scheduled game. Nevada received a $1.45 payout from Penn State. Their replacement for Penn State on 9/5/20 was Arkansas to the tune of $1.5 million. Arkansas postponed their scheduled game against Kent State to play Nevada. Nevada's total for that date was $2.95 million. Guess who Penn State is playing instead of Nevada - Kent State.

The Nevada Wolf Pack has played or scheduled eight games with a payout of $1 million or more. That includes a $1 million-plus game in each of the next four seasons, including Arkansas ($1.5 million in 2020), Kansas State ($1 million in 2021), Iowa ($1.5 million in 2022) in addition to USC ($1.6 million in 2023). They have played Texas A&M ($1.5 million in 2015), Northwestern ($1.3 million in 2017) and Notre Dame ($1 million in 2016).

 

[Ndaccountant]

Nailed it. Well, most of it anyway. There is some goofy things in there, but the premise stands.

You can see what the priorities are. Book learning and bookkeeping aren’t among them.

The party is over, obviously. A perfect storm has overtaken an NCAA structure that was rickety to begin with and is knocking it down, exposing all the rotten innards. “This is a crazy system we’ve had, that never really worked economically for schools, that got more and more commercialized over time, and it’s ripe for change,” economist Andrew Zimbalist says. “You have all these commercial enterprises called athletic departments that did not face normal marketplace discipline, because there is nobody, not you or I, who owns stock in the Notre Dame or Michigan football team.”

The accounting is finally here. The pandemic and its accompanying contraction are a painful and uncertain experience all across the country. But one good thing has come of it: It has tilted some leverage to athletes, on whom so many overpaid livings depend. Now*they are asking: Why should we play for free and put our health at risk just so a bunch of paper pushers can walk off with more millions?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...ed-with-coronavirus-crisis-bill-has-come-due/

 

[Legacy]

Without their big paydays from buy-in games, do you see any reason Group 5 conferences should play this year?

Nearly 40 Power 5 programs have scheduled a total of 49 buy games worth about $65 million, according to the Associated Press. The MAC will lose $10 million from their games with B10 schools. The MAC's 12 head coaches have $7.75 million in total 2019-20 earnings.

 

[DONALDIII]

Without their big paydays from buy-in games, do you see any reason Group 5 conferences should play this year?

Nearly 40 Power 5 programs have scheduled a total of 49 buy games worth about $65 million, according to the Associated Press. The MAC will lose $10 million from their games with B10 schools. The MAC's 12 head coaches have $7.75 million in total 2019-20 earnings.

Give P5 Schools a chance to schedule 2 games in the spring against G5 as scrimmage type games. Each P5 can have 2 games, that is it. Not every team is going to get those games and that is fine. It isn't a season for the P5, it is a scrimmage. To the G5 it is beneficial. You can make it scrimmage rules or make it a real game. But it would be fun as hell! We'd basically play the game with our backups which would be fun. It would keep the G5 team in it most likely which would also be great.

 

[Legacy]

Give P5 Schools a chance to schedule 2 games in the spring against G5 as scrimmage type games. Each P5 can have 2 games, that is it. Not every team is going to get those games and that is fine. It isn't a season for the P5, it is a scrimmage. To the G5 it is beneficial. You can make it scrimmage rules or make it a real game. But it would be fun as hell! We'd basically play the game with our backups which would be fun. It would keep the G5 team in it most likely which would also be great.

If the fall football season is canceled and we have football in the spring, that's fourteen games season for each team. The attendance wouldn't be great and TV contract would be small, so for G5 schools with a smaller payday, would it be worth it? Wear and tear. Chances of injuries. In the end, this will be a significant loss this year for G5 athletic programs.

 

[stpeteirish]

Without their big paydays from buy-in games, do you see any reason Group 5 conferences should play this year?

Nearly 40 Power 5 programs have scheduled a total of 49 buy games worth about $65 million, according to the Associated Press. The MAC will lose $10 million from their games with B10 schools. The MAC's 12 head coaches have $7.75 million in total 2019-20 earnings.

According to some reports the cost of testing is trending much higher than expected. It will be more than the ESPN contract pays the MAC schools.

Without the buy games and fans buying tickets the MAC would be looking at losing millions to play this fall. Hard to justify playing for them. I'd expect the rest of the group of 5 to come to the same conclusion.

As FCS has already thrown in the towel the +1 games are not happening.

 

[Irishize]

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...vid-19-fuels-power-5-concern-season-viability

 

[Legacy]

FBS Independents Scheduling

FBS Independents Scheduling

Not including ND, the Indpendents are BYU, Liberty, Army, New Mexico State and UMass. The latter two canceled their seasons.

Army has been filling out their schedule nicely with ten games so far and seven of the ten at home. They recently scheduled BYU. Though the Mountain West canceled their seasons, Air Force has an exemption to play the other two service academies. Two games in their season - Navy (Oct 3 at home) and Army (away Nov 7).

Liberty has an eight game schedule with the farthest west games in Mississippi and Louisiana. The Fighting Falwells have openings on Sept 3, Oct 31 and Nov 28.

BYU has only five games on the schedule.
Sept 7 - Navy (away)
Sept 19 - Army (away)
Sept 26 - Troy (home)
Oct 16 - Houston (home)
Nov 21 - N. Alabama (home)

Looking for a Power 5 opponent is getting slim. The SEC is conference only play. The Big 12's last team, Baylor, with their one conference opponent requirement just chose theirs.

That leaves the the ACC and Liberty.
Recent scheduling of Army on 9/19 eliminated Notre Dame, Florida State, and Clemson. BC and Pitt have not chosen a non-conf opponent yet and have Sept 12th open. Same with Wake who have open dates on Oct 10 or 17th, depending on which week they have Off.

https://fbschedules.com/byu-football-schedule/

 

[Legacy]

BYU is filling out their schedule, announcing a game agains W. Kentucky on Oct 31 (home) and UTSA for Oct 10th in Salt Lake.

It's also being reported that Texas State are to be added to their schedule, though that has not been announced yet and date to be determined.

On August 12, BYU had three games on their schedule due to cancellations. They now have seven, five of which are home games. Texas State will be their eighth.

Sept 7 - Navy (away)
Sept 19 - Army (away)
Sept 26 - Troy (home)
Oct 10 - UTSA (home)
Oct 16 - Houston (home)
Oct 31 - W. Kty (home)
Nov 21 - N. Alabama (home)

Open - Sept 12, Oct 3, Oct 24, Nov 7,14, and 28.

BC and Pitt have Sept 12 open, but other than those two, no P5 schools are possibilities.

Western Kentucky now has ten games.
https://fbschedules.com/wku-football-schedule/

 

[Ndaccountant]

Sorry if this was discussed, but...wow.

The story also uncovered how loans from the university were recorded in financial reports as generated revenue for athletics, violating NCAA guidelines. Other loans to Rutgers athletics from the Big Ten Conference — $48 million in all — were also recorded as revenue.

Those practices concealed the athletic division’s true annual deficits. The university reported a $10.6 million shortfall to the NCAA in 2019-20, but the true deficit was $73 million that year when the loans and other university and state support are not counted. It could be much higher in fiscal year 2021 because of losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I can't imagine Rutgers is alone. This will come crumbling down at some point. Just a matter of when.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/n...university-athletics-debt-big-ten/5776947001/

 

[BrownerandFry]

Sorry if this was discussed, but...wow.



I can't imagine Rutgers is alone. This will come crumbling down at some point. Just a matter of when.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/n...university-athletics-debt-big-ten/5776947001/

you are correct.

Even in the SEC this year, there were a lot of empty seats.

Americans hate this fact, but the end result of competition, naturally, is monopoly. College football is not that, but there are about.... 12 fiscally sound programs.

The chickens are coming home to roost.


And one of them happened this year. The last 6 games on ND's schedule were sort of boring. And that may be the new normal.

 

[ACamp1900]

BYU is filling out their schedule, announcing a game agains W. Kentucky on Oct 31 (home) and UTSA for Oct 10th in Salt Lake.

It's also being reported that Texas State are to be added to their schedule, though that has not been announced yet and date to be determined.

On August 12, BYU had three games on their schedule due to cancellations. They now have seven, five of which are home games. Texas State will be their eighth.

Sept 7 - Navy (away)
Sept 19 - Army (away)
Sept 26 - Troy (home)
Oct 10 - UTSA (home)
Oct 16 - Houston (home)
Oct 31 - W. Kty (home)
Nov 21 - N. Alabama (home)

Open - Sept 12, Oct 3, Oct 24, Nov 7,14, and 28.

BC and Pitt have Sept 12 open, but other than those two, no P5 schools are possibilities.

Western Kentucky now has ten games.
https://fbschedules.com/wku-football-schedule/

This is sexy,… can we switch schedules with the cougars???

 

[GATTACA!]

This is sexy,… can we switch schedules with the cougars???

You would have us favored in 2 or 3 of those games!

 

[ACamp1900]

You would have us favored in 2 or 3 of those games!

Never doubt me, no way we’d handle a road warrior Troy team,…

 

[GATTACA!]

Never doubt me, no way we’d handle a road warrior Troy team,…

Those Trojans are gonna be scary with Lincoln Riley.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/bkoo/status/1470484942287253512?s=20[/TWEET]

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Would love to see a coordinated effort to freeze ESPN out.

 

[Rogue219]

The SEC owes ESPN for creating the mega myth of their dominance during the BCS Era. Seeing that marriage collapse would be quite a surprise.

 

[Bishop2b5]

The SEC owes ESPN for creating the mega myth of their dominance during the BCS Era. Seeing that marriage collapse would be quite a surprise.

More than just ESPN. The BCS & CFP Committee were in on it too letting so many overrated SEC teams in that they won 11 of the past 15 national championships. The NFL is also guilty of being in on it and perpetuating the myth by drafting more players from the SEC than any other conference in each of the last 15 drafts. The AP and Coaches polls helped too by overrating all those teams week in and week out. It's a wide-ranging conspiracy to create and perpetuate that myth that involves a lot more than just ESPN.

 

[NDLS_USMC]

More than just ESPN. The BCS & CFP Committee were in on it too letting so many overrated SEC teams in that they won 11 of the past 15 national championships. The NFL is also guilty of being in on it and perpetuating the myth by drafting more players from the SEC than any other conference in each of the last 15 drafts. The AP and Coaches polls helped too by overrating all those teams week in and week out. It's a wide-ranging conspiracy to create and perpetuate that myth that involves a lot more than just ESPN.

Hard not to laugh at that one...but you have to admit some of the weaker conference teams get overrated simply due to being in SEC. My Iowa-based friends tell me the B1G gets same preferential early season boosts each year, too, but to a lesser extent.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

More than just ESPN. The BCS & CFP Committee were in on it too letting so many overrated SEC teams in that they won 11 of the past 15 national championships. The NFL is also guilty of being in on it and perpetuating the myth by drafting more players from the SEC than any other conference in each of the last 15 drafts. The AP and Coaches polls helped too by overrating all those teams week in and week out. It's a wide-ranging conspiracy to create and perpetuate that myth that involves a lot more than just ESPN.

Point taken, Bishop, and I'm certainly not going that far. My beef with ESPN is the corporate espionage they engaged in to undermine the Big-12, just like they destroyed the Big East years ago. CFB isn't improved by that sort of greedy interference, and I'd love to see them pay a price for their hubris.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Hard not to laugh at that one...but you have to admit some of the weaker conference teams get overrated simply due to being in SEC. My Iowa-based friends tell me the B1G gets same preferential early season boosts each year, too, but to a lesser extent.

No argument from me at all on that.

 

[Rogue219]

More than just ESPN. The BCS & CFP Committee were in on it too letting so many overrated SEC teams in that they won 11 of the past 15 national championships. The NFL is also guilty of being in on it and perpetuating the myth by drafting more players from the SEC than any other conference in each of the last 15 drafts. The AP and Coaches polls helped too by overrating all those teams week in and week out. It's a wide-ranging conspiracy to create and perpetuate that myth that involves a lot more than just ESPN.

Absolutely.

 

[IrishLax]

There’s some randos on Twitter saying that Texas A&M spent $30 million on their record breaking class. Thirty. Million.

 

[NDRock]

There’s some randos on Twitter saying that Texas A&M spent $30 million on their record breaking class. Thirty. Million.

About time you rich alums step up. Can’t we get like a “Joe Montana starting QB” deal. 100k to our starting QB. “Jerome Bettis RB” for 75k, “Joe Schmidt LB” for like $50 (I’ll sponsor this one).

Let’s get out and pass the hat.

 

[irishog77]

About time you rich alums step up. Can’t we get like a “Joe Montana starting QB” deal. 100k to our starting QB. “Jerome Bettis RB” for 75k, “Joe Schmidt LB” for like $50 (I’ll sponsor this one).

Let’s get out and pass the hat.