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It's all about the money .....


Conference USA revenues reportedly more than $60 million


Daily Mail sportswriter

Marshall Athletic Director Bob "Kayo" Marcum couldn't confirm the Conference USA revenue figures.
At least, not exactly.

But Marcum did say that monetary figures reported by the Orlando Sentinel recently "sounds reasonable."

According to the Orlando newspaper, Central Florida officials received a letter from C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky detailing the league's television and NCAA Tournament revenues.

The revenues reportedly are scheduled to be in excess of $60 million from 2005-06 through 2009-10. That money will be split between Conference USA's 12 members, which will include Marshall when the Herd joins the league for all sports in 2005.

"I can't confirm the letter," said Marcum.

"I haven't seen that letter. I didn't receive that type of letter. But all those numbers sound right."

The breakdown of the $60 million, includes $40 million from television and $20 million from the NCAA Tournament and Conference USA's agreement with departing members Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette and DePaul.

The agreement reportedly is that C-USA will keep the NCAA Tournament revenue to cover any television losses.

League members expect to reap between $500,000 and $1 million per year in revenue-sharing from Conference USA.

"The revenue-sharing sounds in the ballpark," said Marcum. "Of course, that number can certainly change based on success."

According to the letter from Banowsky, C-USA is scheduled to receive $47.5 million for football and $22.1 million in basketball through 2008-09.

"We already had most of those figures in place," said Marcum. "All those numbers jive with what we've been told."

Conference USA also said it loses $1.5 million each year that it does not hold a conference championship football game.

That's why C-USA recently added Marshall, UCF, Tulsa, SMU and Rice to existing members Memphis, East Carolina, Southern Miss, Alabama-Birmingham, Houston, Texas Christian and Tulane to give the league 12 schools by 2005.

Good luck after that.

I'd be quite skeptical of that report... Marquette ain't voluntarily giving up their revenue from their Final Four run.

Those figures also assume the TV contract won't be cut... guess what, it will.

I would contend that if KSU were ranked in the top 25 like BG, NIU, and MU that Dix would be packed. However, 1 winning season every decade and 1 conference championship and bowl berth in something like 70+ years of football leads to apathy.

That said, if KSU wants to spend the money to field the team, then who cares who shows up. I for one have never been to an NCAA golf meet, but there is no doubt that Ben Curtis is the poster boy for the success of KSU athletics and non-revenue sports in general. We got as much run for the British Open as we did for the NCAA Elite 8 appearance, if not more.

Vandelay Wrote:Look at UCF getting few fans to speak of. Is that because of the MAC, or because they are losing? Obviously, the latter.

UCF is a poor example in this argument. In 2002, we averaged 17,268 with a 7-5 record. This year we're averaging 22,026 and we're 3-8 to date.

and I expect higher attendance with Coach K gone.

Papa Lou BSU Wrote:Those figures also assume the TV contract won't be cut... guess what, it will.

IMO , losing Louisville & Cincy shouldn't affect the C-USA FB TV Contract ,
now it might the BB contract since the two are BB schools ..

Football TV contract money? Football is a net money-loser for C-USA. Take out the hoops TV and tourney revenues, and the league is in the red.

And yes, losing Louisville, Cincinnati and USF will indeed hurt the TV contract, as will losing TCU.

Don't forget the Milwaukee and Chicago markets with Depaul and Marquette leaving as well, with TCU next in line (possibly with Houston).

[quote="SAHerdFan"] I was off the mark. There will be six MAC teams falling below the 15,000 mark when the regular season concludes: Ball State (14,710), Akron (13,812), Central Michigan (13,683), Eastern Michigan (11,260), Kent State (10,546) and Buffalo (9,414, the only four-digit figure in I-A).

That

I don't have the article on me, but I do recall the Orlando Slantinel mentioning that the numbers include the estimated 20% reduction in contract money that's expected from the loss of Louy/Cincy/USF.

It's pure and simple -- C-USA is a better all sports conference from the school's perspective. I'm not talking about talent, I'm talking about money/exposure/location/all sports. Those factors are what will bring the school additional talent (god knows we need it). The closest thing we have to a "rivalry" in this conference is marshall (granted, it will never be one if we can't win against them). With MU out of the MAC, I hardly see a competitive (read: in terms of cash/attendance/exposure) reason to stay.

We said it when we came in, and everyone got all pissy -- the MAC was a stepping stone for us to get to a better situation. Sure, we said some other idiotic things, but that was just Coach K trying to promote himself (bad publicity is still publicity). "Sorry."

C-USA ain't the promise land, but UCF athletics will be 1000% better off there than football only, or even all sports, in the MAC. I just find it extremely humorous that MAC fans accuse us of being arrogant without reason, but yet somehow claim that their conference is a quality situation. Pot, meet kettle.

Dodo, your are kidding right.

One good year, you finally win the east and you are talking like you guys are going to be a dynasty.

Once Bens gone, you will be back to middle of the east. Marshall is the only team that has shown it can reload every year. If Marshall stayed, they would surely continue to dominate the East and the conference.

Herdon Wrote:Dodo, your are kidding right.

One good year, you finally win the east and you are talking like you guys are going to be a dynasty.

Once Bens gone, you will be back to middle of the east. Marshall is the only team that has shown it can reload every year. If Marshall stayed, they would surely continue to dominate the East and the conference.

Do you think before you post? How did Marshall's reloading work out for them this year? The sanctions are hitting and you won't be "reloading " again for years. Luckily, you are stepping down in competition next season.

rulethirty Wrote:I don't have the article on me, but I do recall the Orlando Slantinel mentioning that the numbers include the estimated 20% reduction in contract money that's expected from the loss of Louy/Cincy/USF.

The Sentinel did not really say this. It was never clear whether the numbers being thrown around in that little article accounted for lost revenue. My take is that those numbers did not include lost television money. But it's just a take. The article was not clear as far as I could see.

Herdon Wrote:Dodo, your are kidding right.

One good year, you finally win the east and you are talking like you guys are going to be a dynasty.

Once Bens gone, you will be back to middle of the east. Marshall is the only team that has shown it can reload every year. If Marshall stayed, they would surely continue to dominate the East and the conference.

I said it would be tougher, not impossible. The conference, overall, is much stronger than it ever has been, and I don't think you'll be able to recruit enough props to make up for the scholarship reductions (no smack intended).

And, sure, we'll lose something by losing, arguably, the best QB in the nation. However, we've got plenty of talent at the QB position, our receivers are awesome, and our defense is very tough. We are young and have depth at every position.