ACC will break apart and Power 4 is going to happen. Sad the ACC refused to change....now they will go to worse situations where the change will happen for them anyway.
"The launch of an ACC network run in partnership with ESPN, which has been expected for 2017, will likely take longer than expected.
The cable giant has asked for the delay, according to Georgia Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson, who made the statement at last week’s Georgia Tech Athletic Association quarterly board meeting. Conversations between the league and network are ongoing. The conference and network have discussed partnering on a dedicated ACC channel at least five years
ACC commissioner John Swofford has long been in discussions with the ESPN regarding plans for an ACC channel. The launch appears ... read more
“(ESPN) had come back and said that in some of the other instances where (conference) networks have started, they lost considerable amounts of money in the first couple of years,” Peterson said. “What they’d like to do is delay the start for a couple years and do the necessary preparation.”
In exchange for a later start date, ESPN could make additional payments on top of the rights fees already paid to the conference, Peterson said. The conference signed an extension with ESPN in 2012 to continue their partnership through the 2026-27 academic year, a deal that was renegotiated with the addition of Notre Dame later that year and a grant of rights agreement in 2013. The league reportedly received $197.2 million in TV revenues in 2013-14. While the average distribution to full league members of $19.3 million distribution was considerable, it lagged behind the Big Ten ($26.4 million), Pac-12 ($21 million), SEC ($20.9 million) and Big 12 ($19.8 million).
It is a significant reason why the ACC and member schools are interested in their own network, similar to cable channels for the Big Ten and SEC. Both conferences have seen television revenues increase dramatically after the start of their networks. This past May, for instance, the SEC projected revenues of $31.2 million per school for the 2014-15 fiscal year, a 49 percent jump from the previous year due in no small part to the launch of the SEC Network in 2014.
Evidently, the request to delay from 2017 is a result of ESPN’s desire to properly time the launch of an ACC channel, wanting to ensure broad distribution with cable operators.
The Big Ten Network faced distribution challenges early on, as it was carried by a limited number of cable providers for the first year of its existence. Likewise, the Pac-12 Networks have had distribution issues of their own.
The SEC Network, with its conference’s rabid following, didn’t have the same troubles, as demands by fans to cable and satellite companies to add the network led to broad distribution from the network’s inception.
Perhaps the league’s strongest selling point to ESPN is its footprint, which extends almost the entire length of the Eastern seaboard and into the Midwest with Notre Dame. Two years ago, the league claimed the highest population (107 million) and most television households (38 million) within its footprint of any conference in the country, an area that includes major markets such as New York, Washington, Boston, Miami and Atlanta.
It probably helps, too, that Florida State and Clemson’s football teams have grown stronger in recent seasons and that the league’s basketball teams remain as powerful as ever.
Regardless, a channel dedicated to the ACC will have to wait a few more years."
Welcome to another fabulous season of ACC football — the league that always delivers . . . once basketball season starts.
Those who are paid to promote the ACC, and there are plenty of them, will point out that the ACC has four ranked teams (!!!) led by Clemson at No. 6 and Florida State at No. 9.
John Feinstein is a sports columnist for The Washington Post and also provides commentary for the Golf Channel and National Public Radio. View Archive
Duke and Pittsburgh also are in the top 25 this week.
Wow.
Now, let’s look a little closer at all the numbers. Clemson and Florida State have one combined victory over a top 25 team — Clemson’s win at home against Notre Dame in the midst of a monsoon. The Irish, who are a pseudo-ACC football team, also have built their record on the strength of wins against less-than-stellar teams. They haven’t beaten any team that is currently ranked and have played two road games: an escape against Virginia (2-4) and their sloppy loss at Clemson.
Florida State opened its season with wins over two powerhouses: Texas State and South Florida. Clemson played an equally tough early schedule, hosting Wofford and Appalachian State.
Regardless, they are the only two ACC teams that matter. Duke, Pittsburgh and North Carolina, all 5-1, have beaten exactly nobody. Duke has the ACC’s other win over a top 25 team at the time — a victory over Georgia Tech when the Yellow Jackets were still ranked on the basis of crushing Alcorn State and Tulane by a combined 134-16. Since then, playing real football teams, Georgia Tech is 0-5.
So if you are scoring at home, the ACC has faced top 25 teams from outside the conference eight times — counting Notre Dame as outside the conference. Its record in those games is a sterling 1-7.
And yet the winner of the Florida State-Clemson game on Nov. 7 undoubtedly will make it to the College Football Playoff unless it stumbles. Both schools do have to play teams from a real football conference, the Southeastern Conference, later in November. Clemson goes to South Carolina (3-4), which lost its coach this season; FSU travels to much-improved Florida. It might behoove ACC Commissioner John Swofford to show up in Death Valley Nov. 7 dressed in orange because the Tigers’ chances of going undefeated might be a good deal better than the Seminoles’.
Swofford has spent most of his tenure raiding the old Big East to try to make the ACC a real football conference. First he went after Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College. Back then, Miami and Virginia Tech were still important football teams. In fact, Virginia Tech won at least 10 games in its first eight ACC seasons, helped a good deal by playing against the bottom of the ACC every year.
But the Hokies have slid into mediocrity the last four falls. Their record since the start of 2011 is 25-21, including 3-4 this season, as they get ready to play Duke on Saturday. There’s no doubt that David Cutcliffe has done amazing work at Duke, but his team’s four wins this season against top-tier opponents (the fifth win was over North Carolina Central of the lower Football Championship Subdivision) have come against teams with a combined record of 9-18.
Miami had been one of the powers in college football, and Swofford undoubtedly thought Florida State-Miami would bring the ACC a rivalry worthy of national attention year in and year out. Not so much. The infamous “U” hasn’t won 10 games in a season since it joined the ACC, and it is possible Al Golden will become the third coach shown the door since 2006 when this season ends.
When Miami and Virginia Tech couldn’t deliver any big-game traction, Swofford went back to the Big East well, luring Syracuse, Pittsburgh and later Louisville to join the league. Those moves strengthened basketball, though not so much the league’s image: Syracuse is on NCAA probation, and Louisville is in the midst of a scandal involving strippers and basketball players and recruits.
All three fit in perfectly to the ACC as football teams, though: They’re all consistently mediocre.
Finally, Swofford made the ridiculous deal in which Notre Dame was allowed to join as a full ACC member in all sports — except the one that people care about. As one Notre Dame coach put it back then: “If I’m the ACC, my opening line in negotiations would be, ‘If you aren’t bringing the gold helmets, there’s no point in talking any further.’ ”
Notre Dame is occasionally bringing the gold helmets — playing five ACC teams a year, up from the past when it usually played three — while getting full status in the other sports and not having to face the dangers of a conference championship game in years when it’s good. The ACC also gave Notre Dame an excuse to drop Michigan and Michigan State. Instead, this year, the Irish will play Virginia and Wake Forest.
The bottom line: Through all the expansion and all the hype, the ACC is, at best, a two-team league. Florida State has returned to prominence the last four seasons and won a national championship two years ago, even though its best player was tainted by a series of off-field embarrassments. Clemson has won a lot of games under Dabo Swinney but is still waiting for the breakthrough win that will make it truly matter again. The Notre Dame win was nice, but the Irish aren’t great, and the game was at home.
A win, even at home, over Florida State would help. At least then the Tigers almost certainly would get a chance to see how they do against the big boys in the playoff.
Regardless of the outcome of that game, the ACC is a two-team, one-game-that-matters-each-year conference. Does it matter who wins the Coastal Division? Only to the team that does and gets to go to Charlotte and get hammered by Clemson or Florida State.
And yet the ACC will loudly trumpet that it has 10 bowl teams. It will tell us about its great nonconference record. It won’t mention the dearth of top 25 wins and the remarkably weak schedules played by most of its teams, Virginia being the notable exception.
The ACC desperately wants to believe that all is well. It desperately wants the emperor’s new clothes to be spectacular. The truth is, there’s very little to see.
Fund dollars Goal - $17,643,000 Raised - $15,777,140
Fund members Goal - 18.760 Current - 12,963
"Following an impressive 2014 Annual Fund year that saw membership and dollars grow to a level not seen in years, Seminole Boosters, Inc. has set aggressive goals for the 2015 Annual Fund performance to continue the upward trend. With 5 months remaining in the 2015 campaign and the new athletic and academic year about to get started, we are pleased with our current results but need your help to reach our goals in support of Florida State Athletics as one of the premier programs in the nation.
If you were a 2014 member and have already renewed we thank you for your support and ask that you refer a friend, neighbor, family member or any Nole you can find that wants to support the success of our Seminoles.
If you were a 2014 member that has not yet renewed, please do so now and help us reach and exceed our 2015 goals."
From Jerry Kutz :
"Construction update So far on schedule and on budget. Knock on wood. Elevator towers rise a couple of feet every day and believe this or not the sub-structure of the 4th floor has been put in place and they will pour concrete by next week . (see FSUClubSeats.com for construction photo updates). That fourth floor will be 82 feet wide and around 600 feet long when complete, some 40,000 feet. The demo of the stands in that area will begin the day after the season ends which is only 1 month away. The infilll for kitchens and storage will begin in the meantime. We're having more-frequent meetings now on the finishing touches rather than the structural... its coming into clearer focus every day and is going to be exceptional among all clubs.
Improvements to rest of stadium We spent about $3 to $4 million of the Champions Club bond issue on structural repairs to Doak this summer, fixing foundations and support beams and welding patches in the deck where it had rusted through. In November we'll begin the process of lifting all the bleachers and sandblasting the deck top and bottom and applying three coats of a polymer to preserve it for 10 years, then putting the bleachers back in time for the season. This phase of the project will be $9 to $10 million dollars. All of this money (about $12-$15 million) will be funded by the bond issue and paid by the revenue generated by champions club seat sales so that's a benefit to those who don't buy club seats and what makes it a charitable donation for those who are buying the club seats.
Champions Club will make the stadium feel more intimate and louder too. The Champions Club brings the upper 2/3 of the south endzone 24 feet closer to the field and constructs a large roof more than 25 feet above the terraces that is sure to hold sound better and make the bowl feel more closed in.
Scoreboards and audio An additional project, outside of the Champions Club generated projects, is a plan to replace the ancient scoreboards on the North and South ends of the stadium and replace them with larger HD boards. We hired a national stadium consultant to look at the boards as well as an enhanced audio system and ribbon boards to create an even better gameday experience. We have good, better and best pricing on all of that and have to find a way to fund it. This could be funded by changes to the ticket priority policy which we will propose to the Athletic Board (faculty, staff, students, citizens) in November. Its been 10 years since we adjusted ticket priority policies and donor levels (we skipped the 5 year adjustment in 2011 because of the economy) and in that time scholarship costs have risen by $4 million a year. We would propose changes that would be earmarked for athletic needs (scholarship increase and athletic costs) with some of the revenue generated being used to enhance the fan experience too. Those funds would provide us the money needed to fund the boards and audio system over 10 or so years. So the season ticket holders and Boosters being affected by any increase in the policy would enjoy the boards and audio enhancements in 2016 in return. They'll also notice a freshly painted deck but that, again, will be funded by the Champions Club."
Seminole Boosters, Inc., is in the middle of a $250 million Champions Campaign, which is a part of the University’s $1 Billion Raise the Torch: The Campaign for Florida State. In this third of three installments on key initiatives in the campaign with "Eyes to the Future," the Democrat details the Boosters' task of generating annual operating revenue for the athletics budget and of updating its ticket priority policy.
Florida State’s season ticket holders provide a consistent and crucial stream of revenue for the athletic department.
They want to find the best seat for their dollar, enjoy exclusive access and amenities, feel comfortable and cheer on winning teams.
Their loyalty also helps Seminole Boosters, Inc., the fund-raising arm of the athletic department, fund the cost of athletics, support the well-being of student-athletes and contribute to campus needs.
“A good, strong athletics program, boosters and season-ticket holders really promotes a good, strong FSU,” said season-ticket holder Grant Mehlich, a 2003 FSU graduate and president of GCM Insurance & Risk Management in Tampa.
“A lot of emphasis is on football but, boy, there is so much that we support in all sorts of sports. Therefore, you are supporting all of the men’s and women’s student-athletes.”
The support of Seminole fans comes from around the state of Florida, and beyond.
Considering that 65 percent of Seminole season ticket holders live more than 150 miles from Tallahassee, their “cost of attendance” is also factored into their purchasing decision.
Seminole Boosters and FSU’s athletics department are working diligently to fund the fans’ appetite for excellence and recognize their dedication by fielding competitive teams and making sure their game experience is satisfying.
The organizations also want to make sure tickets are affordable to suit the needs of fans.
The Boosters generate close to $45 million each year from various sources to fund athletics scholarships, facilities and operations. One important component of those fund raising efforts is the $17.3 million Annual Fund, which is comprised of eight different membership levels ranging from $60 to $25,000.
It rewards donors with ticket and parking benefits via a priority policy for football and basketball – 62 percent of Seminole Boosters’ 18,000 members use the season ticket priority benefits.
The policy currently sets minimum contribution requirements for priority parking and tickets and has been an important tool for generating operating funds for athletics.
In 2014, approximately 11,340 football season ticket holders generated $13.56 million in ticket revenue with $14.2 million in booster contributions tied to those season tickets as part of the ticket priority policy requirements.
Potential change
While FSU’s ticket policy has worked extremely well over nearly 40 years, it must be adjusted periodically to keep up with inflation and the program’s competitive needs.
Seminole Boosters has studied the policy, and the policies of other schools, and plans to meet with the FSU Athletic Board in September to review their findings. It will ask the Board to approve adjustments to FSU's ticket priority policy beginning with the 2016 football season.
It could be the first adjustment since 2006, when each membership level was increased by 8-percent and the maximum number of tickets each donor level could purchase in priority seating areas of the stadium was decreased.
The only other across-the-board increase since the policy was created in 1976 occurred in 2001 (10-percent and reduced the number of seats any one donor could purchase). Sensitive to the economy, Seminole Boosters delayed discussions for a planned five-year adjustment in 2011.
Another five years have passed and the cost of athletics has increased even more as the program has raised its national ambition for all sports. It also seeks to provide its student-athletes and coaches with more resources, including the “cost of attendance stipend” recently approved by the NCAA.
The Seminoles fund 246.2 scholarships – the maximum allowable for their 20 men’s and women’s sports – with about 500 student-athletes receiving some portion of the athletic scholarship aid. The cost of the stipend for FSU, beyond the cost of a scholarship, is nearly $2 million per year.
While Athletic Director Stan Wilcox implemented a 2-percent budget cut to help offset that line item, athletic costs are projected to continue to rise in the years to come.
Andy Miller, president and CEO of Seminole Boosters, said he’s proud of supporters who want Seminole coaches and student-athletes to have the resources to achieve excellence. He also applauded Wilcox’s steps to be frugal with the budget.
Miller further explained he wanted donors and supporters to know the Boosters have created additional streams of operating revenue for athletics to minimize how often and how much the organization asks fans to contribute.
“Royalties from affinity programs, licensing, CollegeTown Phase 1 and Phase 2 and now the Champions Club all generate revenue for the operating budget so that we can be thoughtful of our supporters and only ask when it is needed to achieve our athletic goals,” Miller said.
“Any time we ask the athletic board for approval to adjust the FSU ticket policy, it must be need based. It must be mindful of the market demographics and the great distance between Doak and where our fans live. Our policy must balance what we ask with what benefits the donor enjoys. And it must improve the fan experience.”
Seminole Booster Senior Vice President Jerry Kutz, who has managed the ticket priority policy since 2000 and Vice President Ben Zierden, who managed FSU’s ticket operations for more than a decade before joining Seminole Boosters in 2014, were assigned the task of studying FSU’s policy against other programs.
They set these goals for any new adjustments:
* Generate the revenue necessary to meet the program’s budgetary needs.
* Be as fair as possible to as many season ticket holders as possible.
* Reward loyalty yet inspire new contributors
* Be sensitive to the FSU market and not just to peer schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference.
* Provide the resources to help fund fan-friendly improvements to Doak, including funding a new scoreboard and paint and repairs to the stadium.
“The one thing that our fans need to be aware of when we talk about ticket priority and making any incremental changes there, part of that is not just going towards helping to increase the operating budget for athletics, it’s also to help with the amenities for the fans who are coming to the stadium,” Wilcox said.
Displaced fans
While FSU may have the most displaced fan base in college football, with 65 percent having to make long trips to Tallahassee an expensive proposition, fans always seem to find their way into Doak Campbell Stadium.
They helped the Seminoles place 14th nationally last season in average home attendance at 82,111 (seven sold-out home games.). That average led the ACC in front of Clemson (81,752/15th) and was two spots behind Florida (85,834).
Tallahassee season-ticket holder Jeri Damasiewicz has attended 207 consecutive Seminole games, home and away, since 1999. Jeri and husband Mike – neither attended FSU – are also season ticket holders for basketball and baseball and attend other sports as well.
“We try to support as much as we can because these are real kids,” said Jeri, whose father was a 1958 graduate of FSU. “We’ve found a lot of satisfaction in supporting athletics and getting to know the people involved.”
All season ticket accounts require a Seminole Booster membership contribution of at least $60, which is tax deductible. FSU’s current ticket priority policy requires season ticket holders who wish to purchase more tickets in higher priority areas to give at higher membership levels.
Current published minimum donation requirements in the policy actually fall below the average minimum requirements across the ACC and SEC when comparing comparable seat locations, according to Seminole Boosters.
Many college football programs emulated FSU’s policy for years, but recently have adopted a method that sets minimum per seat requirements by section of the stadium.
Seminole Boosters is considering proposing that approach to the FSU Athletics Board when it meets in September.
“We believe it’s a method our fans will find very equitable and easy to understand,” Zierden said. “And it will generate the revenue to meet the department’s needs.”
Preparing for the future
Generating new revenue for the athletics budget accomplishes one of the three goals of the $250 million Champions Campaign for athletics and will count towards the university’s $1 Billion Raise the Torch: The Campaign for Florida State.
Of course, adjustment to the ticket policy will not be well received by all.
“I get where some people would be a little upset seeing any kind of increases - people never like paying more,” Mehlich said.
“But I think in this instance, from my personal opinion, people don’t mind paying a little bit more if they know it’s going for a great cause. Anytime we say we are going to support a student-athlete, that’s a great cause.”
Seminole Boosters and athletics have provided FSU’s student-athletes with an extensive array of new facilities and construction is already underway to refurbish Doak Campbell Stadium and provide more fan-friendly amenities.
Fisher has returned the Seminoles to the national stage, winning a national title in 2013 and going 29-1 in their last 30 games. FSU is a perennial Top 15 in the Leirfield Director’s Cup for comprehensive excellence.
And, with eyes to the future, Seminole Boosters and the athletic department are determined to take the steps necessary to fund winning programs to drive demand for tickets and a consistent stream of revenue long into the future.
I know I know....you don't buy the conspiracy but you don't see ESPN make mistakes for their SEC product that portray them in a negative light....do you?
Florida State supporters donated more than $100 million to the university’s Raise the Torch campaign since last July, placing the drive at more than 70 percent of its goal.
The university is trying to raise $1 billion before the campaign ends in June 2018. As of Oct. 4, the Foundation says it has $718,901,243 in gifts and pledges, Tom Jennings, vice president for university advancement, told university board of trustees members on Friday.
The amount needed to reach the $1 billion goal is: $281,098,757. The campaign timeline is July 2010-June 2018.
Jennings gave trustees an update during their meeting at the Alumni Center on West Tennessee Street.
The $100 million is the second largest amount raised in a single year in FSU’s fundraising history, Jennings said. In 2008, it raised $129.2 million that included money matched by the state.
Jennings credited ambitious efforts by President John Thrasher, as well as work done by the university’s foundation. It is planning several ways to publicly recognize the donors.
The university publicly launched the campaign last October. By that time, the university already had raised $630 million since its "soft kickoff" in 2010.
Following the FSU BOT meeting, the Seminole Boosters board of directors on Friday night presented the George Langford Award to trustee Allan Bense and to Albert and Judy Dunlap at the University Center. The Langford Award is given to individuals for their leadership and major financial contributions toward FSU and its athletic program.
In other news, trustees:
Got up update from AKA Strategy, the consulting firm assisting FSU with developing its strategic plan. A near-final document could be ready as early as March, with a final adoption June.
Learned that the search for a provost/vice president for academic affairs was closing in. By next week, eight to 10 candidates were expected to be identified for interviews. That field would be narrowed to the finalists who would be brought to campus for interviews, with a job offer made by late November. (Interim Provost Sally McRorie has submitted her application).
Approved by consent, discontinuing the following degree programs: Masters/PhD in research and evaluation methods. The offerings have been absorbed by the Educational Leadership and Policy degree. Bachelor and master degrees in American & Florida Studies. The program was suspended in fall 2011 and there is no current enrollment. Master's and Ph.D program in chemical science, which has been suspended since the fall of 2103. Advanced masters, communication science and disorders.
Were told that FSU had reached an agreement with Enterprise/ National rental car agencies through a state contract that would make rental cars available soon at the Call Street Parking Garage.
Contact Democrat senior writer Byron Dobson at bdobson@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @byrondobson.
"Jimbo Fisher was livid over the missed horse collar on Dalvin Cook against Louisville, but that anger was likely compounded by four or five others over the last year or so, many with the officials looking right at them."
Jimbo Fisher has now coached 75 games as head coach at FSU and is 64-11 in them. That makes him tied with Pete Carroll at USC for the second most victories in his first 75 games since 1996 (1st is Chris Peterson w/ 69 and Urban Meyer is in 3rd w/ 63)
Danfoss Turbocor plans to expand after local officials signed off on the company’s request to take advantage of a purchase option empowering the company to buy its building in Innovation Park.
Nearly a decade ago, the city and the Leon County Research and Development Authority assembled a lucrative package to recruit the manufacturing company to Tallahassee for a 20-year lease, making it the largest incentive package in the city’s history at the time.
The authority provided 9.2 acres of land. The city pitched in nearly $1.6 million cash for relocation costs and a $4.8-million loan toward the construction of the 65,000 square-foot building, now appraised at $3.6 million. Danfoss Turbocor, which has paid the city back in full, was tasked to create 150 jobs within the first five years. By its fourth year, the company created 168 jobs with an average salary of $63,739.
“They have over delivered on their commitments,” Mayor Andrew Gillum said of the company that builds high-efficiency compressors. "It’s not just about the company succeeding. This is about developing the manufacturing sector in Tallahassee."
It also embodies partnerships local government, the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County encourage.
“All of us agree that diversifying Tallahassee's economy is priority one,” Gillum said. “The best way to do that is by bringing high-tech, skilled manufacturing to our community. And that’s exactly what Danfoss Tuborcor represents. The future economy of Tallahassee hinges on the success of companies like Danfoss Tuborcor.”
As part of the partnership, the city and the authority were required to sign off on the purchase option in the lease agreement. The authority approved the request in August; the city followed suit on Wednesday.
The decision sets the stage for the company to build an additional 50,000 square-foot Application Development Center, which is slated to bolster more jobs. Details are slated to be released in the near future.
“They are proof of what we have been talking about in the last few years,” Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier, immediate past chairman of the Leon County Research and Development Authority.
“A stronger connection between our businesses and researchers will help companies grow and create all types of jobs for all types of skill levels." Contact TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com or follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter.
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