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MAC takes beaten path to big bucks
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindea...thispage=1

Thursday, August 23, 2007
Elton Alexander
Plain Dealer Reporter

Quote: On the field, it doesn't do anybody good to get beat by 20 or 30 points. But it sure can pay well.

Nonconference games against the powers in college football -- Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, Nebraska and others -- help define the Mid-American Conference on the field. They also provide big paydays, which help MAC teams build indoor practice facilities and make stadium improvements so they can compete in the Division I-A football arms race.

Every MAC school has upgraded or has plans to upgrade facilities, and someone has to pay for it all.

Akron recently announced plans for a $55 million on-campus football stadium that is scheduled to open in 2009. The stadium will be financed by $30 million in fund-raising and $25 million in bonds, but three road games will boost the Zips' athletic budget and help fuel the football program: $375,000 for a Sept. 8 game at Ohio State; $150,000 for a Sept. 15 game at Indiana; and $325,000 for a Sept. 29 game at Connecticut.

Ball State will play Nebraska, Indiana and Illinois and reap $1.3 million.

Kent State will play Iowa State, Ohio State and Kentucky for $1.15 million. And that money already has been spent.

Northern Illinois will play Iowa, at Soldier Field in Chicago, and Wisconsin this season and reap $2 million.

"We're getting three-quarters of a million from Tennessee [next year]," Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak said. "Our Iowa game, we're going to make about $1.5 million. Iowa's making $1.5 million. If the net off that game was $1 million, Iowa would have gotten nothing. But it's a sellout.

"We raised $11 million for our new facility, which is a $15 million building. So we're committed to playing games like this to make money to help pay that building off. That's what we've got to do."

That's the financial reality.

On the field, MAC coaches understand what winning one or more of them can do for a team and the conference, and hope springs eternal MAC teams can upset their way into national recognition.

In 2003, the MAC surprised college football by knocking off a handful of Top 25 opponents: Marshall over No. 6 Kansas State; Toledo over No. 11 Pittsburgh; and Northern Illinois over No. 21 Alabama. And Bowling Green nearly pulled off an upset over Ohio State.

"It was several of us," said Novak, the former Mentor High School coach. ". . . The prestige of the whole league rose around the country."

The MAC hasn't had a weekend or a year like that since.

MAC presidents, administrators and coaches say they don't want to get caught up in an arms race. Yet slowly they are sucked in.

"It's hard to pass those things up when they're offered to you, thinking We might get it,' " Novak said. "For programs like ours to play Tennessee and Alabama, who would have thought we'd beat Alabama four years ago?"

But the reality is, more often than not, MAC teams are going to get beat. And then they are going to get paid.

I see no way around getting sucked into the "arms race." But, we are not really competing with the big boys, in all reality. We are simply competing with other non-BCS schools to set our institutions and our conference apart as one with good facilities for our niche.

With that said, it is not to say that some of us don't have as nice of facilities (or nicer) than some of the "haves" of the world, the middle to lower pack Big11 or Big12 schools.

Things like your new facility at NIU, Akrons proposed new stadium to go with their indoor facility, WMU's indoor facility, all help the conference and the perception of the MAC in the eyes of recruits and their parents.

Like it or not, the big "paycheck" games are a reality. I certainly don't mind, as long as ALL of your OOC games are not against the very top tier BCS schools. Getting one real tough challenge a season should be enough. Then get a few of the middle to lower level BCS games which still will pay more than games vs. non-BCS schools.

My Broncos have a tough go with games this year at WVU, Missouri and Iowa and hosting Indiana at Waldo. The payday will be nice but they will be hard pressed to win even one of them. If they were to win two, it would be a great accomplishment.

Found this image to go with the article. Interesting to say the least.

I can't help but feel that a sellout home crowd would be better for the program in the long run, but the MAC itself and many ADs prefer the quick and dirty route to a payday. It's the reason the MAC will never be anything more than it is right now.

Thanks for posting the graphic. I don't know that I agree with the "Miami @ Vanderbilt" game not being a potential upset.

I'm curious how Iowa State got Kent State to travel there for a measely $125,000 or Eastern Michigan and Miami traveling to Vanderbilt for next to nothing as well. Are Iowa State and Vanderbilt returning the favor by going back to your respective stadiums?

epasnoopy Wrote:I'm curious how Iowa State got Kent State to travel there for a measely $125,000 or Eastern Michigan and Miami traveling to Vanderbilt for next to nothing as well. Are Iowa State and Vanderbilt returning the favor by going back to your respective stadiums?

Miami and Vanderbilt is a Home & Home.
Current rumor is that Vanderbilt will open the season next year in Oxford.

Yes, ISU is coming to Kent.

epasnoopy Wrote:I'm curious how Iowa State got Kent State to travel there for a measely $125,000 or Eastern Michigan and Miami traveling to Vanderbilt for next to nothing as well. Are Iowa State and Vanderbilt returning the favor by going back to your respective stadiums?

yeah. isu is scheduled to come to our stadium in two years, i believe.

what i am curious about: why do we get almost twice as much to go to osu as akron does? our 2006 season?

personally happy to go to ames, but, hey, i have fam there!

Bang Burger Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:I'm curious how Iowa State got Kent State to travel there for a measely $125,000 or Eastern Michigan and Miami traveling to Vanderbilt for next to nothing as well. Are Iowa State and Vanderbilt returning the favor by going back to your respective stadiums?

Miami and Vanderbilt is a Home & Home.
Current rumor is that Vanderbilt will open the season next year in Oxford.

axeme Wrote:Yes, ISU is coming to Kent.

Ok, now i understand why the payouts were so low now. If these were one-and-done deals i would have expected Kent State and Miami to demand a lot more money for their payout.

The Miami isn't an upset because Miami beating Vandy wouldn't be an upset. Ditto Akron over UConn.

By the way they wouldn't be upsets if it was something that you could see happening. The idea of checking which game could be an upset is idiotic. They all could be! That is the nature of sports.

NIU's payout for the Soldier Field game is equal to or more than 17 of the 31 bowl games. Plus, we don't have to split it with the conference like we would with a bowl game.

I don't get how they determine exposure in the graphic. I mean, why is a trip to Colorado considered a gain in exposure, but not a trip to Missouri?

Wow, talk about a misleading graphic. At least 15 of the 33 games on that chart are part of home-and-home or 2-for-1 deals, by my count. By definition, those are the exact opposite of "paycheck" games.

And the use of the NIU-Iowa game at Soldier Field as an example of a payout game is ludicrous. NIU took a major financial risk with that, and is getting a huge payout because *their own fans* snapped up 26,000+ tickets at $55 a pop. How in the hell is that a "paycheck" game?

Furthermore, the notion that non-BCS teams should somehow be ashamed for taking a huge payday and giving their kids the opportunity to play an elite program in a famed environment is beyond insulting. No one's telling the cellar-dwelling BCS programs of the world to give back the *millions* of dollars in TV and BCS revenue they get from their respective conferences each year, even though those teams are sponging off of the success of another program much more than any non-conference team could. But let a MAC team cash a $600,000 paycheck for one road game, and all of a sudden it's a mini-scandal.

some of those amounts look too low. Somehow, I don't see WMU going to Mizzout for $200k. Travel would eat most of that money up.

The article is typical Alexander trying to make the MAC look Bush League, but the graphic is actually nice reporting. I do think KSU could upset Kentucky however.

The graphic is kinda goofy, really. As pointed out above, many games listed are part of a home and home or 2-1 deal. Kansas game is a return after Toledo hosting them last season. Purdue is part of a 2-1 deal, the first game of the series. And since Toledo is hosting, how is there a $225K payout to Toledo?! UT is going to get their money game next season with Michigan at the Big House, with no return date (at least not that we know of). The OSU game in Cleveland will be a huge payday, but as the host team, doesn't meet the criteria. And we'll have to return to Columbus twice for the pleasure, albeit with some nice paydays. For the most part, Mike O'Brien has shunned one-and-done deals with big money and focused on getting return visits instead.

I don't know that Elton has all of his #s correct, per his norm, and I don't think he was accurate on which games were home for MAC teams. Elton does not like MAC football and especially cannot stand Toledo in any sport. His small MAC portion of the Plain Dealer's College Football Section today was not very good or at all in-depth. Surprisingly, he changed his MAC champ pick from Temple to Ball St. Perhaps Huron Dave educated him on that pick up in Detroit last month? In my conversation with him he does not feel WMU will be much over 0.500 this year - he is in the very small minority on that pick.

Cleveland Nick Wrote:I don't know that Elton has all of his #s correct, per his norm, and I don't think he was accurate on which games were home for MAC teams. Elton does not like MAC football and especially cannot stand Toledo in any sport. His small MAC portion of the Plain Dealer's College Football Section today was not very good or at all in-depth. Surprisingly, he changed his MAC champ pick from Temple to Ball St. Perhaps Huron Dave educated him on that pick up in Detroit last month? In my conversation with him he does not feel WMU will be much over 0.500 this year - he is in the very small minority on that pick.

He had picked Temple to win? He must REALLY not think much of the MAC. I mean to pick Temple is just

BTW, I didn't realize Akron plays UConn. I may have to try to go-and I won't be cheering for the Huskies in that one!

I think these money games are win-win-win games for the MAC. Money, exposure and a shot at taking down a BCS team.

Ohio getting $500k to play top 10 school Va Tech. Buffalo $575k to play Penn State and Ball State $725k to play Nebraska and in the Ohio State games for Kent State and Akron and the massive haul for Northern Illinois in games with Iowa and Wisconsin. These are like bowl games at these paydays. That is a lot of cash coming into the MAC. MAC gets top dollar for its non-copnference games.