How are SWAC and MEAC athletics going to survive all this? They operate on a shoestring during the best of times.

(04-21-2020 06:57 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  How are SWAC and MEAC athletics going to survive all this? They operate on a shoestring during the best of times.

Don’t have any info on the SWAC, but several teams in the MEAC were already teetering on the financial brink before this virus struck. I have heard speculation that the MEAC, as we have known it anyway, might cease to exist in the fairly near future.

I guess, right now, the only program whose survival I'm really worried about is ours. Our attendance has been awful the last few years. Most of those, who attend regularly, are senior citizens. How many of those will come out to games before there is a vaccine? How many will buy season tickets when they go on sale this summer? The SWAC is reliant on "money games", not attendance. If a regular season, with a full slate of games is held, they will probably be fine (i.e. I'm thinking about basketball- no idea what happens to them financially if football season is cancelled).

There is already a lot of talk about schools asking the NCAA about waivers for minimum number of sports and the idea of dropping many nonrevenue sports programs. Without football, many schools will not have the money to pay for nonrevenue sports.

And if they drop sports, they will get imbalanced on the Title regulations between male/female scholarship numbers, which could bring up legal issues.

(04-21-2020 10:43 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  And if they drop sports, they will get imbalanced on the Title regulations between male/female scholarship numbers, which could bring up legal issues.

Good point. That would make dropping sports very tricky, even with NCAA approval. The NCAA has no authority over Title IX compliance. I guess, just like what happened previously at Little Rock when Men’s Tennis got the axe under Peterson, more Men’s non-revenue sports would be the most at risk.

(04-21-2020 10:06 AM)mjs Wrote:  I guess, right now, the only program whose survival I'm really worried about is ours. Our attendance has been awful the last few years. Most of those, who attend regularly, are senior citizens. How many of those will come out to games before there is a vaccine? How many will buy season tickets when they go on sale this summer? The SWAC is reliant on "money games", not attendance. If a regular season, with a full slate of games is held, they will probably be fine (i.e. I'm thinking about basketball- no idea what happens to them financially if football season is cancelled).

There is already a lot of talk about schools asking the NCAA about waivers for minimum number of sports and the idea of dropping many nonrevenue sports programs. Without football, many schools will not have the money to pay for nonrevenue sports.

Actually, all those money basketball games that the SWAC basketball teams play go more toward funding their football programs than their basketball.

Don’t know how reliant our program is on ticket revenue from basketball, but it has to be pretty important. It might mean more being bought road games for us at a time that those are even getting harder to get because most power 5 leagues are going to 20 game conference schedules.

Getting to see quality home non-conference games may be pretty rare going forward.

However, when this is over even a lot of the higher-level schools are not going to be exactly rolling in dough, which means they will be less eager to pay for wins, and may be more willing to swap.

I would be very curious to see how Fayetteville's overall sports budget is affected by the virus.

(04-21-2020 02:45 PM)PTJR Wrote:  Don’t know how reliant our program is on ticket revenue from basketball, but it has to be pretty important.

I can't imagine any of the other sports being hugely in the black.

(04-21-2020 02:54 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  However, when this is over even a lot of the higher-level schools are not going to be exactly rolling in dough, which means they will be less eager to pay for wins, and may be more willing to swap.

My guess is that once this thing is really over and fans feel comfortable about crowds again, just the opposite will happen. Not only are the guarantees paid for basketball a drop in the bucket in their budgets, they will be wanting the big gates that come with home games!

Here's hoping.

ESPN has a note that Louisville and Boise State are having to furlough staff.