Ahh…it’s rivalry week in college football. My favorite time of year!
Now perhaps it’s because I grew up in SEC country and attended an SEC school for law school, but I was shocked to learn that there were no SEC schools atop the list of the most intense rivalries in college football based on a study by Dr. Joe Cobbs of Northern Kentucky and Dr. David Tyler of Western Carolina.
Click here to read my piece on Outkick the Coverage on FoxSports.com to find out who topped the list!
Great interview by The Advocate with Justin Connolly, ESPN senior vice president for college networks, on SEC Network. Here are some quick facts from that article and what we know about SEC Network already:
The SEC today released a preliminary schedule for SEC Network’s first four weeks of games:
2014 SEC College Football Schedule (subject to change):
| Date | Time (ET) | Game |
| Thu, Aug. 28 | 6 p.m. | Texas A&M at South Carolina |
| 9:15 p.m. | Temple at Vanderbilt | |
| Sat, Aug. 30 | Noon | Tennessee-Martin at Kentucky |
| 4 p.m. | Arkansas at Auburn | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Southern Mississippi at Mississippi State | |
| Sun, Aug. 31 | 7 p.m. | Utah State at Tennessee |
| Sat, Sept. 6 | Noon | Florida Atlantic at Alabama |
| Noon | Arkansas State at Tennessee | |
| 4 p.m. | Eastern Michigan at Florida | |
| 4 p.m. | Nicholls State at Arkansas | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Sam Houston State at LSU | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Lamar at Texas A&M | |
| Sat, Sept. 13 | Noon | UCF at Missouri |
| 4 p.m. | Louisiana-Lafayette at Ole Miss | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Kentucky at Florida | |
| Sat, Sept. 20 | Noon | Troy at Georgia |
| 4 p.m. | TBD | |
| 7:30 p.m. | TBD |
Every team in the SEC will play on the SEC Network at least once in the first four weeks. That won’t go unnoticed by fans or cable and satellite companies. As we get deeper in to the season, expect to start seeing marquee conference games show up on the schedule…likely in areas where a major provider hasn’t picked up SEC Network (if any of them are dumb enough to try and wait it out).
Notre Dame left Adidas for Under Armour when its contract ended last month. Ok, fine. It’s not completely unheard of for a college to change apparel companies, although it doesn’t happen that often.
Now Tennessee has announced its leaving Adidas for Nike.
Coincidence?
I don’t know, but it does raise my antenna.
What I do know is that last April I wrote a piece for ESPN about schools that were terminating or suspending their contracts with Adidas over a workers’ rights issue in Indonesia. The issue largely flew under the radar as only university and local papers covered each school independently. All together, however, I found at least 17 schools had terminated or suspended their contract with Adidas.
Neither Notre Dame or Tennessee made public any sort of disappointment or disagreement with Adidas surrounding the workers’ rights issue. Michigan and Wisconsin led the charge against Adidas, with the latter going so far as to file a lawsuit against the apparel giant.
In April, Adidas did settle with the workers in Indonesia. Although it went largely unnoticed by the national media, I believe the pressure applied by major universities like Michigan and Wisconsin played a pivotal role.
I also believe it’s not a coincidence that Notre Dame and Tennessee are both leaving Adidas. Something is going on there – either Adidas has decided not to make college athletics an emphasis or Notre Dame and Tennessee didn’t like something about the way Adidas was doing business.
Notre Dame is the #3 selling institution in the country for Collegiate Licensing Company, and Tennessee is #15. If Adidas wanted to remain in the collegiate athletics space, why wouldn’t it match or exceed any offer made by Under Armour or Nike?
Sure, Adidas would have to increase Michigan’s contract, as it has this clause requiring it to be Adidas’ highest-paying collegiate apparel contract:
“If during the Term, adidas grants to or contracts with any college or university … that provides for more favorable average annual value … than the current University (of Michigan) average annual value specified in this Agreement … then adidas agrees to make a written offer to grant to the University that same more favorable average annual value on the same terms and conditions that were offered to the other college or university within thirty (30) days of the execution of such other agreement.”
I find it hard to believe that’s the issue here. Michigan currently receives $3.8 million annually in cash payments and $4.4 million in equipment and apparel. Notre Dame’s new deal is reportedly $90 million over 10 years, or $9 million annually in cash and equipment/apparel. If Adidas wanted to stay in the college space, do you really think they wouldn’t bump up Michigan’s $8.2 million annual value in order to keep a major property like Notre Dame?
Tennessee’s new deal with Nike appears to be worth far less than Michigan’s deal (at a reported $34.6 million over 8 years), so Adidas could have matched or exceeded without issue.
It is possible the only story here is that Under Armour will allow Notre Dame the option to take some of its cash in the contract as Under Armour stock instead. It would be great timing for Notre Dame, as Under Armour’s stock hit an all-time high this week, rising 23 percent after releasing its better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings report.
And maybe Tennessee was just ready for a change. I don’t have any answers, but I do still have a lot of questions….
What do you think? Coincidence or not?
SportsBusiness Daily is reporting that each BCS Conference that holds a conference championship game saw an increase in attendance this year as compared to last year.
The following chart shows how much attendance increased (or decreased) this year as compared to the last two years:
| Conference | % Change from 2011-2012 | % Change from 2012-2013 | Absolute Change from ’12-’13 |
| SEC | 1.49% | 0.01% | 8 |
| ACC | -12.08% | 4.50% | 2916 |
| Big Ten | -35.68% | 59.97% | 24,742 |
| Pac-12 | -46.74% | 119.89% | 37,913 |
Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley and Gator Boosters Executive Director Phil Pharr recently sent a letter to Gator boosters about 2014 season tickets.
“Over the summer, we conducted an extensive, randomized survey of current and former season ticket-holders, as well as met with focus groups throughout the state. Many of you have expressed concern that Gator Boosters and the UAA have not been in tune to the issues facing our loyal fan base, and we have heard you. Based on this feedback, we began developing a plan this fall to address those concerns. Now, before we mail 2014 Gator football season ticket information in December, we want to make you aware of those major changes that we are implementing for our Gator Booster membership.”
The major news here is that there will be no increases in booster contribution levels for at least three years. In addition, payment plans can now be extended from four payments to six.
Desperate move by an athletic department with a 4-4 football team or proactive business move that will shore up the future?
I think it’s the latter. A great misconception about college athletics is that television money is the largest source of revenue for an athletic department. Wrong. It’s contributions.
Last fiscal year, Florida reported $46.1 million in contributions to the athletic department. That’s more than twice the $22.2 million Florida earned from its conference distribution, which included revenue from conference television deals, bowl earnings, March Madness payouts and more.
Based on contributions alone, Florida ranked second among public FBS schools to Texas A&M, which reported $53.4 million. However, due to the accounting differences from school to school, a better comparison is the revenue reported by schools for both ticket sales and contributions. Florida ($69.7 million) comes in fourth behind Texas ($100 million), Texas A&M ($88.4 million) and Michigan ($80.9 million) under that comparison.
To understand the importance of contributions linked to season tickets for football and basketball, consider that 82 percent, or $37.7 million, of Florida’s contributions last fiscal year were attributed to football and basketball.
In addition to freezing prices for boosters, Florida is also making other changes to encourage donors to remain loyal. First, some of the ways in which “Loyalty Points” are accrued are being modified. Instead of five priority points for each consecutive year of having football or basketball season tickets, season ticket holders can now earn 10 points for each consecutive year in each sport. In addition, the Gators are retroactively awarding “Loyalty Milestone Bonus Points” for each decade a booster has football or basketball season tickets.
Booster Loyalty Points will be increased for each consecutive year of having season tickets. Currently, a booster receives five priority points for each consecutive year of having football season tickets and five priority points for each consecutive year of having basketball season tickets. Effective for the 2014 football season and the 2014-15 basketball season, the UAA will increase Loyalty Points for each consecutive year to 10.
Looking to let your tickets go? There will be a three-month window from January 2014 to March 2014 where boosters can transfer their tickets to anyone, even if they’re not family (which is the current rule). Also, the cost of transferring tickets has been decreased.
Hold on to your tickets, however, and you will be awarded opportunities to attend a football practice in 2014 that is not open to the general public.
Alabama Women’s Basketball has announced a new booster club: the Crimson Tide Center Court. A quick look at Alabama women’s basketball’s financials seemingly underscores the need for such a booster club. For fiscal year 2012, the program reported no donations. Ticket sales, conference distributions, licensing, sports camps and other revenues totaled $493,743 for the program, but that wasn’t even enough to cover the $529,072 the athletic department had to send to the university to cover the tuition, room and board of the women’s basketball student athletes, forget paying coaching salaries, travel, equipment, game day and other expenses. At the end of the day, Alabama women’s basketball operated at a deficit of $2.4 million.
Alabama’s situation is not unlike most women’s basketball programs in the country. Although Alabama’s basketball program went 13-18 last season, even the most successful teams on the court struggle with donor support. UConn women’s basketball reported $389,033 in contributions on its financial disclosures. Although higher than UConn men’s basketball ($218,324), it paled in comparison to football’s $2.7 million in donations. Like Alabama, women’s basketball at UConn finished the year at a deficit: $1.3 million.
Louisville, who’s women’s basketball program played for the title against UConn last season, reported women’s basketball donations at $193,074. Nowhere close to the $20.4 million the men’s basketball program brought in – although, it should be noted that no basketball program in the country, men’s or women’s, comes close to Louisville men’s basketball in that department. Louisville women’s basketball joined Alabama and UConn in finishing the year at a financial deficit of $2.3 million.
Football and men’s basketball donations are bolstered by donations required for the right to purchase season tickets, which can be a lofty sum when tickets are in demand. In fact, as I detail in my book Saturday Millionaires, donations to the top football and basketball programs can sometimes be twice as much as television revenue, mistakenly believed by many to be the largest source of revenue for athletic departments.
Women’s basketball, along with every other sport a school sponsors, simply doesn’t have that revenue source. As you can see below, donations to women’s basketball in the SEC are either non-existent or extremely low compared to donations to men’s basketball and football.
| University | Contributions to Women’s Basketball | Contributions to Men’s Basketball | Contributions to Football | |
| Alabama | $0 | $645,136 | $18,679,937 | |
| Arkansas | $0 | $3,660,681 | $17,370,567 | |
| Auburn | $237,692 | $2,046,352 | $27,051,405 | |
| Florida | $0 | $1,791,862 | $35,871,054 | |
| Georgia | $26,386 | $721,265 | $26,944,091 | |
| Kentucky | $0 | $0 | $0 | * |
| Louisiana State | $168,856 | $2,815,161 | $22,376,287 | |
| Mississippi | $153,821 | $1,144,588 | $3,105,908 | |
| Mississippi State | $6,010 | $30,175 | $0 | ** |
| Missouri | $31,848 | $885,080 | $1,293,282 | |
| South Carolina | $0 | $184,544 | $9,746,213 | |
| Tennessee | $2,070,124 | $1,235,289 | $12,499,404 | |
| Texas A&M | $39,127 | $1,284,743 | $8,303,578 | |
| Vanderbilt | – | – | – | *** |
Source: NCAA financial disclosures filed by each university
* Kentucky does not break down contributions by sport on its report
** I’ve asked Mississippi State about this in the past, and they don’t move money over from their booster club for football unless they need the additional revenue
*** Vanderbilt is not subject to open records requests because it is a private university
A couple of caveats on the chart above. First, the amount shown for football donations isn’t necessarily all of the money donated for football in a year, it’s simply the amount the athletic department accepted for the year. Let me explain. Most athletic departments receive donations through a fund-raising entity. If a donation was earmarked for football, but taking in that revenue and spending it on the football program would throw financials out of whack for Title IX purposes, the fund-raising entity will put that money aside for the future.
Here’s an explanation straight from my book, Saturday Millionaires:
The Office of Civil Rights has previously offered this interpretation with regards to boosters or other donors who donate funds for specified sports: “a school cannot use earmarked funds as an economic justification for discrimination.”
In other words, the school can honor the sport-specific designation for such donated funds, but it still must comply with the proportionality requirement. It cannot dedicate those funds to football, throwing the proportionality out of whack, and then say they had to do so because the funds were earmarked. The excess funds that cannot be applied simply have to be put aside for the future, or they can be applied and revenue from other sources can be moved out of football in order to maintain compliance.
Bottom line: just because it looks like your school is receiving the most donations for football from the chart above doesn’t mean it’s true.
As you can clearly see, however, women’s basketball is a long way from raking in the kind of money men’s basketball and football can generate from donations. Will booster clubs geared specifically toward women’s basketball, like the Crimson Tide Center Court club change that? It’s unlikely, but they can certainly help generate some excitement for the program and bring fans together with the team. In the end, I would imagine that’s Alabama’s goal, especially given that Alabama women’s basketball is getting a new coach this year. A coach who will make a reported $400,000 a year – 81% of the program’s total revenue.
If you have more interest in the Crimson Tide Center Court, here are some additional details… Continue reading
On September 10, 2016, Bristol Motor Speedway will attempt to stage the “Biggest College Football Game Ever” as it hosts the Virginia Tech Hokies and the University of Tennessee Volunteers.
Transformed into a college football stadium, Bristol Motor Speedway will be capable of seating approximately 150,000 fans. If the speedway was filled to capacity, it would eclipse the previous two largest-attended college football games: 120,000 fans at Notre Dame vs. Southern California at Soldier Field in 1927 and 115,109 fans at Michigan vs. Notre Dame at Michigan Stadium this season.
It would take the average crowd for both Tennessee and Virginia Tech home games combined to hit the 150,000 mark. Last season, Tennessee ranked #8 in attendance amongst FBS schools with an average attendance of 89,965, and Virginia Tech ranked 25th with an average of 65,632.
“To be able to play in front of a crowd that is the largest to ever see a college football game is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech head coach. “With the great fan support that Virginia Tech and the University of Tennessee have, it should be a great atmosphere.”
Tennessee is equally as optimistic about the potential to make this, “The Biggest College Football Game Ever.”
“This is an unprecedented opportunity for our football program to play in front of the largest crowd in the history of college football,” said Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics for University of Tennessee, Dave Hart. “Bristol Motor Speedway will be perhaps the most unique venue to ever host a college football game. Tennessee students, faculty, alumni, and fans will look forward to being a part of this great event.”
The evolution from speedway to college football stadium will need to take place over a short period of time, because Bristol will host a NASCAR race the August preceding the Battle at Bristol. Here are some key facts about the transformation provided by Bristol Motor Speedway:
You can find more details about the event and sign up for ticket and event information at BattleatBristol.com.
UPDATE: The Richmond Times-Dispatch is reporting each team will receive $4 million as long as they sell at least 40,000 tickets, with escalators that could raise that amount to $4.5 million.
Kristi A. Dosh is an attorney and founder of BusinessofCollegeSports.com. Her latest book on the business of college football, Saturday Millionaires, is available now. Visit SaturdayMillionaires.com for retailers and a sneak peak at the first chapter! Follow her on Twitter: @SportsBizMiss.
I wanted to provide some brief thoughts on several hot topics in college sports today, so here we go:
College Football Super-Division
Back in February, I provided some analysis and predictions about the future of the NCAA. Specifically I discussed the idea of four BCS super- conferences, the possible separation of those schools from the NCAA, and the possible creation of a new football division for the BCS schools. The jury is still out on super-conferences (though things have stabilized for now with all but the SEC schools granting their television rights to their conferences), and defecting from the NCAA still doesn’t seem to have much momentum. However the idea of a new football division is picking up steam.
The BCS schools, through the voice of their conference commissioners, are saying enough. Their aggravated tone and sense of urgency leaps off the page. No longer will they allow the simple majority of the “have-nots” to out vote them at every turn, on every initiative, and on anything they can’t or don’t want to pay for (stipends anyone?). A fourth division is coming to an NCAA school near you, and it could be sooner rather than later. Even the college athletics watchdog Knight Commission came out over the summer with a recommendation that the division be considered.
What does a fourth division mean? Well, it depends. Most importantly in my view, it restores some sanity to all Division I football programs and athletic departments. The idea that schools in the Sun Belt or MAC are on playing the same game as those in the SEC or Pac-12 is ridiculous. What’s worse, pressuring those schools, administrators, donors/alumni, coaches and athletes to compete with BCS level schools both on the field and in the financial arms race is unrealistic and harmful.
Penn State
The NCAA did something right this week by granting back some of Penn State’s scholarships taken away in the wake of the Sandusky debacle. It simply had no business wading into criminal matters that it does not legislate; and while this certainly doesn’t make what it did to Penn State right, it provides hope there is at least some clear thinking going on today in Indianapolis.
O’Bannon
As I’m writing this post, news is breaking that the O’Bannon plaintiffs have settled their dispute with two of the three defendants in the case, EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC). It appears EA Sports will no longer produce its college football game, though the terms of the settlement were not yet disclosed. This of course still leaves the NCAA as the lone defendant, and the case against it will presumably continue.
Those of you who have been following the Ed O’Bannon case probably know we’ve been waiting for the big ruling regarding whether or not the plaintiffs will be certified as a class (dramatically upping the stakes). The hearing on this issue occurred in June, and since then we’ve seen several procedural tactics but nothing too critical to the ultimate outcome of the case.
This week we’ve also seen the NCAA beef up its legal team, as well comment they are prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court. This isn’t too surprising at this point in the proceedings; and it will be interesting to see if the tough talk continues if/when the plaintiffs are certified as a class.
Follow Daniel on Twitter @DanielHare and at collegesportsbriefs.com.
They did it again! The Southeastern Conference proved once more that they are the conference to beat with the announcement of the SEC Network. As many know the new network had been silently in the works for a while, and as SEC Commissioner Mike Slive put it today, “Goodbye Project X, and hello SEC Network.” Slive was joined by President of ESPN, John Skipper, to announce that come August 2014 the new network will make its grand debut.
SEC partnered with ESPN for a 20-year agreement extending through 2034, the longest agreement in sports. “The SEC Network will provide an unparalleled fan experience of top quality SEC content presented across the television network and its accompanying digital platforms,” Slive said.
“We will increase the exposure for all 14 of our institutions, and we will showcase the incredible student-athletes in our league.”
The new multiplatform network will air SEC content 24 hours a day and seven days a week, including over 1,000 live events its first year, 450 televised and 550 shown digitally. It will also show 45 live SEC football games annually (including three per week) and more than 100 men’s basketball games, 60 women’s basketball games, 75 baseball games and other events from the league’s 21 sports. Not just that, but programming will also consist of studio shows, original content such as SEC Storied, spring football games, signing day and pro days coverage.
The SEC is following in the footsteps of other conferences with networks such as the Big 10 and Pac-12 but is doing it with a little more finesse. What makes this deal so unique from the others (besides ESPN’s name being attached) is that the league partnered with its primary rights holder, ultimately allowing more movement through the distributors. “This is not a regional network,” Skipper said. “This is a national network.”
“We’re confident this is a new and unique opportunity, nothing like this has been done before,” Skipper said. “[T]he level of distribution we’ll have at the beginning, the quality of the production, the amount of the games that we’ll have, the sort of integration with digital platforms, is taking this to a whole new level”
AT&T U-Verse, the fastest growing television provider in the U.S., has been secured as the networks first national distributor.
CBS will continue to have the first pick of SEC games each week, but will no longer have an exclusive window at 3:30 p.m. as it has in past years. After CBS chooses its game, the decision on what will air on SEC Network versus other ESPN platforms will be made by a “content board.”
Slive declined to answer any questions on the financial details when asked about specifics of ownership percentages but did say, “both ESPN and SEC are happy.”
ESPN affiliate sales and marketing will oversee the network’s day-to-day operations. The network will originate from ESPN’s Charlotte, N.C., offices with additional staff located at the company’s Bristol, Connecticut headquarters. Staff announcements and additional details will be made in the coming months.
Follow Mackenzie on Twitter @KenzieThirkill