FSU #1 in RPI

Yea, doesn't mean much, but I'm gonna enjoy it.

Ranking the Top 25 facilities in college football for 2018

Great find by ACCFootballRX

https://247sports.com/ContentGallery/Ranking-the-Top-25-facilities-in-college-football-for-2018-112072412/#112072412_1

12. FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES "If you're not building, you're falling behind." All coaches have this mentality and former FSU coach Jimbo Fisher was no different. The Seminoles upgraded their current locker rooms at Doak Campbell in 2014 and has since added a swank player's lounge, but it wasn't enough for Fisher, who bolted for Texas A&M (Top 5 in this year's facility rankings) earlier this month. Florida State needs a football-only facility badly and that's in future plans.

Cord cutting accelerates as pay TV loses 1 million customers in largest-ever quarterly loss

Wonder what impact this has on ACC finances and ACC Network.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/11/07/cord-cutting-accelerates-1-m-customers-dropped-pay-tv-last-quarter/1919471002/

Scratch the theory that cord cutting might be decelerating.

Cable and satellite TV providers lost about 1.1 million subscribers during the July to September period, the largest quarterly loss ever – and the first time the industry lost more than 1 million subscribers in a quarter, according to media and telecommunications research firm MoffettNathanson.

That continues a worsening trend line for satellite TV providers. Two weeks ago, AT&T said DirecTV lost a net 297,000 subscribers during the quarter – 359,600 satellite subscribers departed, while it added 49,000 new subscribers to its streaming TV service DirecTV Now. Overall, AT&T has 25.15 million pay-TV customers; Directv, 19.6 million; U-Verse, 3.7 million; and DirecTV Now, 1.86 million.

Looking just at satellite TV departures, the industry lost 726,000 subscribers during the period. Telecom TV services, which includes AT&T's U-Verse and Verizon FiOS, lost 104,000 customers combined. 

Cable TV providers lost about 293,000 for the quarter, but its trends "are getting marginally better," MoffettNathanson suggests, as the industry lost 322,000 in the same period a year ago.

While Comcast lost the most video subscribers (106,000), it also added 363,000 broadband subscribers.

Slowing growth for DirecTV Now and Sling TV could suggest "price sensitivity" of broadband-delivered TV services may be "turning out to be greater than expected," after several of the services increased prices, the analysts said.

FSU basketball issue (hint FSU admin. PUT THE STUDENTS ON THE FLOOR).

This is an FSU crowd with FSU in the top 20 against it's biggest rival AT TIPOFF.

The seats behind the backboard (about 20 yards from them) were full.

When does FSU start to address this issue?  Ridiculous.

https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/prime-seats-left-empty-by-season-ticket-holders.238701/#post-4021059

ESPN embarrasses themselves again

https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/espn-apologized-to-sec-commissioner-greg-sankey-for-james-carvilles-gameday-conspiracy-theory-rant.html

https://deadspin.com/espn-apologizes-to-sec-commissioner-for-james-carville-1830202349

ESPN Apologizes To SEC Commissioner For James Carville Spouting Alabama Conspiracy Theories

Grabbing bite to eat ⁦@philsoysterbar⁩ and I see gutless ESPN cut in their show to bow down to the SEC. well I got documentary evidence they knew what they were gonna get on air but still can’t help but suck up to power. #GeauxTigers #speaktruthtopower #releasethetexts pic.twitter.com/G29ew5mf9K

— James Carville (@JamesCarville) November 3, 2018

FSU athletic endowment summary

https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/while-still-interim-in-title-coburn-puts-long-term-focus-on-fsu-finances.237223/page-2#post-4002494


Where is the endowment of all athletic scholarships in the list of new priorities, at or near the top I hope.

If you asked anyone on the Seminole Booster Board they would probably tell you its a major priority. Some may even say its a top priority. But the reality is these other projects -- indoor practice facility, football opps building, basketball arena, baseball stadium, repairs and painting of Doak, etc, etc, -- are considered urgent priorities too. More significantly, these facility projects are considered more urgent by the donors who have the choice of either donating to facilities or to scholarships. Most choose facilities.

If a donor writes a check for $1 million to the endowment, and the endowment earns 5 percent interest, that million gift will earn $50,000 each year to help fund scholarships costs.

If a donor writes a check for $1 million to a facility, all $1 million can be spent immediately to build that facility.

In order to fund the full cost of scholarships (in today's dollars), we would need to have about $250 million to generate $11.5 million annual cost of scholarships, assuming the endowment earns a 5 percent annual rate of return. We have about $70 million in the endowment right now, which spins off enough earnings to fund $3.5 million of the $11 million cost of scholarships. Remember, in 1985 when we first started raising endowed scholarship funds, scholarship costs were under $5 million so back then we only needed $100 million to fully endow scholarships. So we're chasing a goal that gets harder to catch every time FSU raises tuition or the cost of living ticks up.

We offer all donors the option of donating to scholarships or facilities and most donors who are giving cash today will opt for facilities. Those donors who are leaving "will" or "estate" gifts will often choose to direct their gift to the endowment.

Like many other universities who started building endowments 2 or 3 generations ago, our endowment will grow as those estate gifts are realized. Morbid but true. In addition, the endowment investment in CollegeTown has appreciated greatly as well as earned more than 5 percent return each year.

The tax base in that area has increased by 23 times since CT was built. When the time is right to sell CT, the net proceeds from the sale will be realized as profits to the endowment. That would increase the endowment by $25 million or more. 

Jerry Kutz

FSU forced to cut athletic budget

Who would of ever predicted.


https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/2018/11/01/fsu-interim-ad-coburn-addresses-budget-cuts/1830203002/


Florida State interim Athletics Director David Coburn has implemented a 4 percent reduction in what he described as “non-operating costs” within the athletics department. That reduction, Coburn said, is roughly $600,000 from FSU’s $106 million athletics budget.

Coburn said the need for cutbacks – in addition to an emphasis of generating new revenue streams – is important if FSU wants to be financially sound in the future.

In a 60-minute interview Tuesday with the Democrat and Warchant.com, Coburn admitted that tightening FSU’s financial belt won’t make his coaches happy. FSU – like its peers – is in the facilities business and continues to make upgrades to keep pace. However, Coburn says he must trim expenses in areas that make sense, such as in travel, bonuses and personnel.

Coburn said football's recruiting budget is not affected by the moves.

The ACC distributed an average of $26.6 million to each full-time member in 2016-17, according to its most recent tax documents. While that number figures to increase once the league’s ESPN-backed TV network launches in 2019, it’s still unclear how much money the network will generate as television and cable contracts are renewed.

The SEC is currently the per-team conference payout leader at roughly $40.9 million. The top Power 5 conference leaders are rounded out by the Big Ten ($34.8 million), Big 12 ($34.8 million), Pac-12 ($29 million) and ACC ($27 million), according to published reports.