Days after joining the SEC, Texas A&M football added 2 national titles and 2 conference titles
• 1919 (computer poll 50 years later) • 1927 (computer poll 85 years later) • 1997 (lost game to Nebraska 54-15) • 2010 (not even in Big 12 title game) pic.twitter.com/r9aFRomSAj
— Pick Six Previews (@PickSixPreviews) June 6, 2022
UM faculty — hit with pay cuts and over $100 million slashed from their retirement plans — fuming over $80 million deal for football coach #BecauseMiamihttps://t.co/d136qEmtBo
As University of Miami students and alumni celebrate the hiring of a new football coach who has been touted as the program’s savior, not everyone is doing cartwheels on the Coral Gables campus. Many UM professors and other faculty — forced to teach in person and accept compensation cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic — are fuming and say staff morale has plunged. Some members of the UM Faculty Senate view Mario Cristobal’s $80 million contract as only the latest sign of the administration’s disrespect for the academic staff at the private university. As part of deep pandemic cutbacks, the university had slashed more than $100 million in its matching contributions to faculty members’ retirement plans in the 2020-2021 academic year. Now, some faculty believe those cuts have helped bankroll lavish spending on athletics and construction projects and could hurt the school academically.
UM’s financial fortunes have dramatically improved in the past year, according to top administrators and university audits. With aggressive personnel reductions and escalating profits from UM’s sprawling healthcare system, audits available through May 31, 2021 show earnings of more than $400 million at the nonprofit school. Although the university agreed to reinstate its matching contributions to the faculty members’ 401(k) retirement plans for the new academic year starting June 1, 2021, the administration rejected their request to restore those same benefits that had been cut in the previous year.
“If as a football coach he can actually bring $100 million dollars in value to the university, and that can be somehow spread and used by the academic institution, that’s great,” said a faculty member, who also didn’t want to be identified. “But you would be hard pressed to really justify that.” Cristobal’s 10-year deal will pay him $80 million, an annual salary alone nearly five times more than Frenk’s total compensation package of $1.75 million, according to UM’s latest IRS tax return for the academic year ending May 31, 2019. UM must also pay $9 million to buy out the remainder of Cristobal’s Oregon contract and another $4 million to cover the balance of Diaz’s contract. UM has also agreed to spend an additional $8 million to bolster Cristobal’s assistant coaching staff. UM’S HEALTHCARE EARNINGS Although top UM administrators say that the funds for Cristobal’s contract and related expenses will come from the university’s general coffers, the reality is that the robust earnings from its expanding healthcare system is expected to foot much of that massive bill, according to sources familiar with the plan. Overall, the university’s healthcare system in the fiscal year ending in May 2021 showed record revenue of about $2.6 billion from its hospitals, medical clinics and joint operating deal with the publicly owned Jackson Memorial Hospital — or two-thirds of UM’s total operating revenue. The Coral Gables university underwent a dramatic rebound after the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the latter half of 2020, the school laid off dozens of workers and eliminated its matching contributions to the faculty’s 401(k) retirement plans. The frozen 401(k) contributions alone resulted in excess of $100 million in savings for the university in 2020, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article256465056.html#storylink=cpy
These are cuts FSU will have to make in the future or FSU will have get comfortable with being a mid level ACC football team. Leadership at FSU has settled on the latter. Fan base is not aware of the situation.
Clemson has made the difficult decision to discontinue the Men's Track and Field and Cross Country program at the conclusion of the 2020-21 athletic year.
the vast majority of sports programs on campus are losing money each year. In this particular year, men's basketball was the only other sport that generated more money than it spent -- to the tune of about $3.4 million. Baseball turns a profit in some seasons, but it actually lost $1.5 million that year.
The deficit for women's basketball was about $1.86 million; for soccer, it was $900,000; it was roughly $500,000 for men's golf and $400,000 for softball. Men's and women's track combined to lose about $2.5 million, while men's and women's swimming came out $1.5 million in the red, and men's and women's tennis were about $1 million in the hole.
Stanford is eliminating 11 varsity sports at conclusion of 2020-21 academic year: men’s & women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed & women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball & wrestling
Oklahoma’s athletic department announces budget cuts of approximately $13.7 million for 2020-21 fiscal year, including 10% salary reduction for all employees earning a salary of $1 million or more per year such as Lincoln Riley
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) June 30, 2020
Gary Barta will slash $15M from Iowa athletic spending in plan that assumes full football and basketball seasons https://t.co/T9GfLbBwmG via @hawkcentral
A year of belt tightening is ahead for Georgia Tech. With revenues from ticket sales projected to fall by 40%, the athletic department will have to pare spending that already has been frugal.
However, making the ends meet will require furloughs for staff across the department, including coaches. The salary budget will be cut by $3.2 million, from $32.5 million to $29.3 million, a 10% decrease. The reduction will be achieved through tiered furloughs and a “critical review of all positions,” according to a budget document.
The furlough program was authorized by the University System of Georgia’s board of regents for the state’s colleges and universities because of an expected drop in state revenues because of COVID-19.
The department will count on $32.5 million from the ACC, largely furnished by ESPN money for the ACC Network. Last year, in the network’s launch season, Tech received $29.2 million, which was under the projected $31.8 million in part because of the cancellation of the ACC men’s basketball tournament. So long as games are played this fall and winter, Tech and its ACC brethren will continue to receive the treasured television money.
To compensate for the losses in football ticket revenue, the department will scoop out 51% more money from its endowment funds — $14.7 million — than last year’s budget. For instance, Lewis said the department will draw 10% from its scholarship endowment fund, double the standard 5% withdrawal, adding another $2-2.5 million to the revenue side.
Here is a photo of an undetermined Georgia Tech home game during the 1918 college football season. That's when the sport was hit by the Spanish flu and the end of World War I. The photo was taken by a student, Thomas Carter. It was provided by Georgia Tech alumnus Andy McNeal. pic.twitter.com/jgVvgtlUbK
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-20/collapse-of-sports-brings-dire-scenarios-to-schools-like-clemson?srnd=premium For a snapshot of how U.S. universities are coping, look no further than Clemson -- the only school to participate in each of the past five College Football Playoffs -- where athletic officials are hoping for the best but also planning for the worst. At its most optimistic, Clemson sees a revenue drop of about $7.5 million, a manageable hit on a sports budget that grew to $132 million last year. From there, administrators turn to more dire possibilities: a partially disrupted college football season or, in the worst case, one that doesn’t happen at all.
Clemson’s fiscal year starts in the summer, as is typical of universities, so budgeting for the 2020-21 school year is in full swing. And for everyone in higher education, the pandemic’s impact is top of mind.
Clemson has seen its athletic budget soar 60% in the past five years. The money comes from four main revenue sources: ticket sales, donations, media rights, and licensing and marketing.
Roaring Tigers
Football success has filled Clemson's coffers
Source: Clemson University
Clemson’s “control budget” is built for a world where the virus outlook improves so much that football games are allowed to proceed as planned this fall. Even then, Neff said that scenario anticipates a 10% drop each in donations, ticket sales and marketing revenue. All told, it would be a $7.5 million hit.
From there, the school moves toward more drastic scenarios. A “sensitivity budget,” Neff said, might assume a 20% reduction in those main revenue sources, so a drop of around $15 million. Further down the road, the school will look at the larger loss scenarios if football can’t happen.
Schools around the country are weighing the same factors. The University of Minnesota this month released its projections for its athletic department, which is roughly the same size as Clemson’s. Minnesota’s estimates were a $10 million hit in the “best case,” $30 million in the “moderate” scenario and $75 million in the “severe.”
The Revenue Pie
The Clemson Tigers make most of their revenue from four sources
Source: Clemson University
The athletic department also has about $70 million in reserve, which can help offset some damage but won’t be the sole line of defense. Insurance policies, covering losses such as game cancellations, are generally held at the conference level.
In our recent conversation with #USC AD Mike Bohn we asked him about the #Pac12's financial struggles and if going independent or joining another conference would be possibilities. He said, "Everything is on the table." Read about it here: https://t.co/qUtWtpVNaApic.twitter.com/KKE7bAREtU
ACC doesn't have much longer to last. "Greg Sankey announced that approximately $651 MILLION of total revenue was divided among the 14 universities of the SEC for the 2018-19 fiscal year (up from $627.1 million distributed in 2017-18. That's $44.6 million per school. Wow."
"$44.6 million per school BEFORE the CBS package increases in value by 6X when it goes to ESPN."
UGA McGill Society : 1050 people who give 25K over a 5 year period and IS NOT related to football season tickets Silver Circle: apx 38 people who give 1Mill over a 5 yr period (200k per yr)
Fundraising is probably the best its ever been. We started the Unconquered Campaign January 1, 2018 to raise $100 million in 5 years for facilities and scholarships. Less than 23 months into a 60 month campaign and we are over 80 million. Its been amazing to see, I remember the campaign to raise 15 million for IPF. It was a huge fundraising project just 8 +- years ago and we did it, now look what we are doing. Andy hiring Mike and Greg to manage fundraisers and upping stewardship with Kari and Blake was a heck of a move, the fundraisers now have 2 partners to help them with everything and help to steward their gifts.
Season tickets and annual fund goes up and down with wins and losses, that part is down and I dont have the numbers. We need all fans to help, join Boosters today. Lets talk, I'm always available. Jwarren@fsu.edu
The SEC has a new football distinction:
It's the first college conference in which all of the football head coaches are making at least $3 million in the same season. The average total pay at the 14 schools is $4.95 million. https://t.co/E0sptMyhXZpic.twitter.com/AYfWRdwrsw
Pro SEC media did the exact same thing to FSU in 2014 that is happening to Clemson now. The ACC doesn't think this has anything to do with them. They are wrong. They were wrong to leave FSU to fend for themselves in 2014 and are wrong for doing the same with Clemson today. A reigning national champion who is undefeated and the pro SEC media is working hard to knock them down. Wake up ACC, you need to have your network fight for you, not against you.
Flip the script:
• 2018 Title, Alabama blows out Clemson by 28
• Alabama opens 2019 season #1
• Alabama 6-0, with one-point win over a Top 30-40 team (let’s say SCAR)
On Friday, the Clemson Board of Trustees met to approve concept design of Memorial Stadium upgrades. It was unanimously approved.
— Renovations are expected to be completed by Summer 2021 and cost $68.7 million. Construction is expected to begin December 2020. Next step is hiring an architect. — The current main video board in the east is 65 feet wide by 25 feet tall (1,625 sq. ft.) and was installed in 2010. A new board is proposed at 126 feet wide by 57 feet tall (7,166 sq. ft.), or nearly five times the surface area. Included would be a new sound system and LED stadium lighting.
— The bottom of the new video board will be approximately 20 feet above ground, opening a 365-day view connecting the stadium and Scroll of Honor Memorial.
— New structures in the east will add nearly 2,500 lower deck seats and enclose that end of the stadium.
— A reconfiguration of the concourse level will allow for a new club area with more than 700 outdoor seats and accompanying indoor space comparable to the current Younts South Club. — A club on field level in the west will offer a new premium experience. The 240 seats on field level connect to a club underneath a reconfigured first level of the WestZone.
— The gameday locker room will be renovated and expanded to nearly 8,000 sq. ft. for the 120 student-athletes and coaches. The field level space will be reconfigured with a new equipment room, training room and club.
— A new Tiger Walk development and reorientation highlight enhancements to Lot 5.
