Tag: FBS

Will Alabama have to pay the $3.5M for cancelled non conference games?

It might be easier to just pay the original contracted fee. But then again, maybe each of the three teams would be content with rescheduling

After the SEC made the decision at the end of July to play a conference-only schedule, one of the first questions that began being asked was, “what happens to the non-conference teams?”

It’s a question that begs to be answered, considering that many second-tier FBS schools and FCS schools rely on the financial revenue from matchups against teams like Alabama.

Alabama had scheduled home games against Georgia State on Sept. 12, Kent State on Sept. 26 and Tennessee-Martin on Nov. 14. Now that all three games have been cancelled, what happens now?

According to a report done by USA Today Sports, “Alabama signed contracts worth $1.3 million for the Georgia State game, $1.75 million for the Kent State game and $500,000 for the Tenn.-Martin game.”

For a school like Alabama, not playing the game doesn’t necessarily matter, but for a program like Kent State, the matchup against Alabama brings in almost 6% of its yearly revenue. When you think about it, that’s a lot.

To teams like the Crimson Tide, it’s normally just a “practice game,” while the smaller programs use the money to fund its athletic department.

Tennessee-Martin athletic Director Kurt McGuffin made the loss of the game clear,

“This news is regrettable but is a new reality. Losing a game of this magnitude is not only a disappointment for our players and fans, but also a reflection of the associated financial implications.”

So, what does Alabama do? Do they pay the contracted fees now, or simply reschedule the game for a later time?

According to Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne, that’s a decision currently being worked through.

“Details regarding the non-conference home games that were on our 2020 football schedule are being worked through,”

It’s all in the contract.

That’s what the decision will come down to.

Each of the three contracts Alabama has with Georgia State, Kent State, and Tennessee- Martin says this: “In the event of … prohibitory or governmental authority, including that of the Southeastern Conference or the National Collegiate Athletic Association, making it impossible or impractical to play the game, both parties shall be relieved of any and all obligations of this agreement.”

But if for some reason the SEC’s decision to cancel the non-conference games meant Alabama’s matchup cancellations were a breach of contract, it could be a hefty punishment for the Tide, including having to pay both Georgia State and Kent State one million dollars each, while also having to pay Tennessee-Martin $500,000.

If Alabama simply reschedules the games, the fees could possibly be avoided. And that’s exactly what Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork is hoping for. He has offered to reschedule Texas A&M’s matchups against Abilene Christian, North Texas and Fresno State.

Georgia State athletic director Charlie Cobb said in a statement to The Tuscaloosa News (courtesy of USA Today Sports) that:

“In 2017, the American Athletic Conference made a unilateral decision to cancel our game against Memphis within weeks of its scheduled date for their independent desire to play more conference games. To their credit, the cancellation fee was paid promptly, primarily recognizing the hardship this last-minute decision placed on us.

We expect Alabama to do likewise as they have significantly more resources than Memphis.”

So, what should Alabama do?

At the point, it might be the simpler thing to just pay the original contracted fee. But then again, maybe each of the three teams would be content with rescheduling.

It’s a decision that’s never easy to make.

And for smaller programs, the decision, whatever it may be, could have a huge and immediate impact on their future.

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Report: JUCO football will move to a spring season

Max Olson of The Athletic reported today that the National Junior College Athletic Association is expected to announce Monday that…

Max Olson of The Athletic reported today that the National Junior College Athletic Association is expected to announce Monday that it will be moving its football season to the spring.

The news comes after conferences including the Big Ten and Pac-12 announcing conference-only schedules for the fall season and the Ivy League cancelling their falls seasons entirely.

Though there is still time before the season is scheduled to kick off in early September, there are now more and more indications of the season being pushed back or not being able to happen at all.

You may remember before March Madness when the Ivy League cancelled their conference tournament days before other conferences were forced to do the same.

If that trend means anything, the likelihood of college football being cancelled this fall seems to be increasing every time news breaks about schedule changes and cancellations.

Here’s what Olson had to say about JUCO football and its decision to move to a spring season:

The National Junior College Athletic Association is expected to announce Monday that it will move to a spring football season, two head coaches told The Athletic. Teams would play up to eight games with preseason practices beginning on March 1 and the regular season beginning at the end of March and extending through the end of May.

NJCAA president and CEO Dr. Christopher Parker and the NJCAA’s presidential advisory council announced their recommendation to move the majority of its sports to spring seasons on Thursday. The NJCAA board of regents will meet Monday to determine the official plan. Parker confirmed to The Athletic that an eight-game spring football schedule is “the direction it would be heading in.”

“We would like to play football this fall,” Parker said. “But I think from a national perspective, moving it is probably the right decision holistically.”

The recruiting impact of this news aside, there seems to be higher and higher chance each day that there will be no Wisconsin football this fall let alone none all year.

How this may affect the NFL draft, player eligibility and the NFL dreams of players around the country is an issue far-off in the distance. But if the NJCAA is logistically able to play a spring season it would not be surprising if FBS conferences followed suit and found a way to play the 2020-21 season.

Ivy League cancels fall sports, could FBS conferences follow suit?

It was reported on Wednesday that the Ivy League has decided to cancel all fall sports.

Discouraging news continues to flow in regarding fall sports this year due to the current landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the State Fair of Texas was canceled for the first time since World War II. How this may impact the classic Red River Rivalry game is yet to be seen as this is a fluid situation. However, both the Texas and Oklahoma athletic directors have voiced their optimism that the game will be played as scheduled.

On top of that, it was reported on Wednesday that the Ivy League, part of the FCS, has canceled all fall sports. CBS insider Jon Rothstein stated via Twitter that the conference will not entertain any sports until the beginning of next year.

While this isn’t necessarily an indication of what is to come for the FBS, it’s certainly worth noting. What could potentially save the Power Five conferences in terms of allowing them to play football this fall is the financial strain.

The FBS and FCS are quite different in terms of the national spotlight. The main indicator between the two is how a final winner is determined. The FBS hosts a four-team College Football Playoff while the FCS hosts a 24-team playoff for the NCAA D-1 Football Championship. FCS teams can only have 63 players on scholarship, while FBS teams can have 85.

The Ivy League has the freedom to make such a decision since they’re built on their educational superiority, while the FBS could suffer substantially. However, it’s still too early to determine what the FBS will consider.

There are several avenues to explore such as moving the college football season to the spring, shortening the schedule to conference opponents only, limiting fan attendance, etc.

Regardless of which route is ultimately taken, the public’s health and safety measures should be the ultimate priority.

Report: A majority of FBS athletic directors believe there will be a 2020 football season

The 2020 NFL Draft has passed as we now enter the “will we have a season?” phase of this unusual offseason. In positive news in terms of…

The 2020 NFL Draft has passed as we now enter the “will we have a season?” phase of this unusual offseason.

In positive news in terms of the likelihood of games being played in the fall, some states are beginning to open their economy as early as next week. In more negative news, though, some universities have started plans to conduct their fall semesters entirely online in an attempt to try to avoid the mass-migration of thousands of students coming back to campus.

Athletic directors nationwide, despite whatever news is coming out about the colleges and their fall plans, remain optimistic that the 2020 college football season will be played.

The verdict came from when Stadium’s Brett McMurphy conducted a survey last week of all FBS athletic directors, asking them whether the 2020 college football season will take place and if so, what it would look like.

The survey was sent out to all 130 FBS athletic directors, 114 of whom responded.

The results of the survey show 99 percent of ADs believing that the season will take place in some form, with 24 percent believing it will start as scheduled in September, 20 percent thinking a conference-only schedule starting in October or November, 41 percent predicting a 12-game schedule starting in November, three percent looking at a conference-only schedule starting in the spring and 11 percent thinking about a 12-game schedule starting during the spring semester.

In terms of how these forecasts have changed, 14 percent of the ADs who responded are more optimistic about the season’s chances than they were last month and 18 percent said their stance has become less optimistic.

McMurphy’s article continues to find answers to questions including when the season would start if August 29 is not possible, whether it would be possible to split the season between the fall and spring semesters, whether an 8-game or 9-game in-conference schedule is feasible and how the current situation will affect the finances of the sport and the colleges involved.

In total, the article recognized the variables at play if the season was forced to be moved back, including players getting ready to enter the NFL, the length of the possible break before the 2021 season and how the schedule would relate to the recruiting calendar.

From the survey responses and quotes included in the piece, it’s clear that ADs are committed to work around whatever logistical issues that will arise in order to have the season take place.

“We have to do everything we can to get 12 games in,” a Group of Five AD said.

One of the biggest reasons for this sentiment is the drastic economic effect not having a season would have.

“There’s too much money at stake, it impacts too many people,” a Power Five AD said. “If there’s no football, we will have bigger issues. This will be worse than the Great Depression and make the 1930s look like a cakewalk.”

This sentiment was also shared by a Power Five AD who said “We must play football, or college athletics will shrink before our eyes. The reality is, no matter what we end up with, there will not be a perfect solution.”

The season is scheduled to kick off four months from now. Given how much the world is changing on a day-to-day basis, it’s impossible to accurately forecast what is to come when the summer concludes and the season is scheduled to start.

From McMurphy’s survey and corresponding article, though, it’s clear that people around the college football world are committed to finding the best possible solution for the sport, for everyone’s health and for the future of college athletics.

 

 

 

 

 

What a possible playoff expansion could mean for the Badgers

WatchStadium.com reporter Brett McMurphy reported yesterday that in a recent Stadium survey, 88 percent of FBS athletic directors are…

WatchStadium.com reporter Brett McMurphy reported yesterday that in a recent Stadium survey 88 percent of FBS athletic directors are in favor of an expanded College Football Playoff when the current deal expires in five years.

Of the 130 athletic directors in the FBS, 112 of them responded to the survey. The numbers broken down show 72 percent of the respondents want the playoff expanded to eight teams, 5 percent want six teams, 8 percent want 16 teams and 3 percent want a different expansion. Broken down further, 83 percent of Power Five athletic directors are in favor of an expansion compared to 91 percent of non-Power Five athletic directors.

This playoff expansion would obviously come with out-of-conference schedule complications and an overall schedule change in terms of when the playoff games need to be played.

Logistics aside, here’s how the possible expansion would affect the Wisconsin Badgers.

The College Football Playoff was introduced in 2014-15 with Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State as the first participants.

Since its inception the Badgers obviously haven’t made the cut for the four-team playoff. They have over the last four years, however, finished the season with a top-10 ranking twice and have been ranked within the top-eight at some point during each season.

After McMurphy’s report, Stadium tweeted what the playoff would have looked like during the last four years had it included eight teams.

As you can see the Badgers would have been the No. 6 seed in the playoff in 2017 with their 12-1 record at the time and would have narrowly missed the cut in both 2016 and 2019.

What does this all mean?

Given the Badgers recent dominance of the Big Ten West division and lack of real challenges in their out-of-conference schedule (though that may change with their matchups in the coming years against Notre Dame and Alabama), this change in the number of playoff teams would almost ensure the Badgers’ place in the running for the playoff year in and year out.

Specifically, if head coach Paul Chryst’s team builds upon the success they’ve achieved in recent years and they continue to succeed against schools including Iowa and Minnesota, this change would be a great one for the Badgers as they continue to search for the school’s first national championship.

College football attendance down again in 2019. What’s the problem?

FBS attendance decreased again in 2019, continuing a now six-year trend.

FBS attendance decreased again in 2019, continuing a now six-year trend. The top division of college football experienced its lowest ticket sales since 1996, according to CBS Sports.

It’s the eighth time in nine years that fan attendance has dropped.

In the past decade, the sports media landscape has evolved at a breakneck pace. High-definition highlights are posted on social media mere seconds after each play’s conclusion. Top tier collegiate athletic conferences now have their own television networks available their regional cable packages.

TV ratings for college football broadcasts are increasing. So are ticket prices.

If you’re a graduate of the University of Georgia who lives in New York City, you can pay for a premium cable package to include the non-regional SEC Network, or, ya know, go to one of the bars aligned with the UGA Alumni Association.

If you’re a Penn State alumnus who lives in San Diego, you can fork over a little extra money every fall toward the Big Ten Network and catch all the games not shown on FOX Sports affiliates.

Are you a Texas Longhorn in Atlanta? Or in Omaha? Possibly Honolulu?Your team has an entire television channel provided by ESPN. Until last month, you could even download it on a PlayStation.

It turns out that a small viewing fee, not matter the medium, may be more alluring to fans as opposed to a multi-hour flight, expensive admission, expensive lodging, and a second voyage back.

Given so many viewing options, fans seem more willing to host their tailgates (no matter how elaborate) from the comfort of home.

How did the SEC change?

Of the Power Five conferences, the Southeastern Conference experienced the largest decline from 2018 to 2019. Cumulative attendance for all fourteen teams dropped 1.7 percentage points. It was the SEC’s lowest average attendance since 2000.

However, the conference still dwarfed the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12 in overall conference attendance, exceeding runner up Big Ten by 7,658 fans per game.

That might have something to do with college football nearly approaching a religious status in the southeast, but it probably has something to do with the fact that half of the continent’s ten largest (non-racing) sports venues belong the SEC schools.

How did the other four conferences change?

Only one P5 conference saw an increase in attendance. The Big 12 increased by .1% and came in at third in total attendance behind the SEC and Big Ten.

The Big 10, second-best in average attendance, regressed 0.5% from 2018 to 2019, its lowest since 1993.

The ACC dropped 1.2% over the span. It was the conference’s most dismal attendance record in 20 years.

The Pac-12 rides the P5 caboose, dipping .8 in fan presence to achieve its lowest mark since 1978.

What else causes lower attendance?

Time is money, and making a pilgrimage to your team’s Mecca costs both.

First of all, I acknowledge this is anecdotal:

I have friends who attended SEC schools in the central time zone. For folks living on eastern standard time, noon kickoffs are already miserable if over an hour’s worth of travel is necessary.

For all of the SEC West, those early kickoffs are at 11:00 a.m. My friends at Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Arkansas did not particularly care for them.

I sat in classes with former Georgia players who mentioned their hatred of those early warm ups. I lived with members of the Redcoat Marching Band who lamented arising at 4:30 on a Saturday morning just to be able to find parking at the intramural fields for pre-game rehearsal.

Now, if you will, imagine being an LSU graduate who lives in Houston, Texas. Alabama is visiting Death Valley, but it’s a 2:30 p.m. local kickoff broadcast nationally as CBS’s SEC Game of the Week. Your journey to Baton Rouge will last four hours without traffic (totally impossible as I-10 is miserable at all hours of all days).

Would you rather?

1. Leave work early on Friday to check into an overpriced and ostensibly overbooked hotel?

2. Leave town before 7:00 a.m. to fight traffic and ensure your arrival before kickoff?

3. Stay at home, watch your alma mater host your most hated rival in high definition, and spend a quarter of the money you saved to secure culinary and alcoholic provisions for your favorite people?

What can be improved?

Our planet’s population has more than tripled since the first live televised American football contests (both college and professional) in 1939.

Proportionately, there are more existing graduates and related fans of these “football schools” than existed prior to the broadcasts. Thus there are far more dedicated fanatics for each home team than any one stadium could possibly accommodate.

An alumni base growing steadily will increase demand over limited stadium seats.

Whether through stadium expansion, discounted hot dog prices, or the permission of much-awaited beer sales, your local state college wants you at their stadium on Saturdays.

There’s enough space for you if you have at least $500 to spend.