Scheduling - Peer Benchmarking
[/align]The art of scheduling
By Thomas Sherrill thomas.sherrill@wataugademocrat.com
On Sept 1., when App State teams head to State College, Pa., to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference, the agreement not only presents an opportunity for the team to pull off an upset, but it brings the ASU athletics department $1.2 million.
The following week, Sept. 8, when App State travels to UNC Charlotte to play the 49ers of Conference USA, the Mountaineers receive no monetary consideration for the game. As part of the two-game agreement, UNC Charlotte also receives no monetary compensation when they travel to Boone in 2019.
Sept. 22 will see Gardner-Webb, a team from the Football Championship Subdivision, visit Boone. The contest will be an opportunity game for the Bulldogs, who will receive $280,000 for making the two-plus-hour drive up the mountain.
Along with financial compensation differences, the games have different terms and conditions for tickets. At Penn State, ASU receives 300 complimentary tickets and 3,000 consignment tickets. At UNC Charlotte, ASU receives 350 complimentary tickets and a to-be-determined number of consignment tickets, which are the same conditions for the 49ers’ trip to Boone in 2019. In hosting Gardner-Webb, the Bulldogs will receive 300 complimentary tickets and 200 consignment tickets.
Complimentary tickets are given to a visiting team free of charge and if sold, the visiting team can keep the profit unless otherwise stipulated in the contract. Consignment tickets are those in which the proceeds go back to the home team, including potentially paying the difference in unsold tickets.
Marching band terms also differ in each contract. Penn State will allow all ASU band members free of charge and will provide field-level seating, if ASU chooses to send its marching band. In the ASU/UNC Charlotte contract, no considerations are made for band members for either game. For Gardner-Webb, up to 150 band members are allowed for free. Any band members over 150 will be taken out of the Gardner-Webb complimentary ticket allotment.
[b]Scheduling multiple types of non-conference games and series is part of an ongoing effort by ASU to schedule games that are of regional and national interest, while keeping six home games in Boone per season.
“The process of solidifying future football schedules is never ending,” said ASU spokesperson Joey Jones. “We strive to reach agreements with some of the premier programs in the country and give our fans the exciting match-ups they deserve while also trying to put our football program in the best position to compete for championships.”
These deals can provide millions of dollars to an athletics program directly and millions more to a community indirectly. According to a study done by the ASU Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, ASU football has a $54 million annual economic impact on the Boone area, which includes 640 jobs and almost $20 million in earnings.
Scheduling games against “power conference” teams can help balance a department’s budget, as ASU Athletics Director Doug Gillin told the ASU Board of Trustees Athletics Committee in March.
For a program such as App State, they sit one classification above their former home, the FCS, yet they are in the same subdivision as the “power conference” teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference and Pac-12 Conference. Many of the “power conference” teams, such as 2018 opener Penn State, can fill a stadium with over 100,000 people.
These games, which can bring a wealth of emotion and pride to millions across the country, are outlined in contracts that many times have less paperwork than what is normally required when buying a car.
For instance, ASU’s agreement with Texas A&M for a game in College Station, Texas, in 2022 — which nets App State its biggest guarantee game payment at $1.5 million — is only two pages long. Most contracts obtained by the Watauga Democrat range from four to nine pages.
While guarantee game contracts such as Penn State in 2018, Wisconsin in 2020 ($1.25 million to ASU), Texas A&M in 2021 and Clemson in 2024 ($1.25 million to ASU) are straightforward, games involving three or four games involve more complex arrangements for ASU.
North Carolina series
App State and the Tar Heels of North Carolina of the Atlantic Coast Conference are scheduled to play a three-game series, with 2019 and 2023 games in Chapel Hill and 2022 in Boone. The Mountaineers will receive $300,000 for the trip in 2019 and $850,000 in 2023, while North Carolina gets $200,000 in 2022.
In 2019 and 2023, App State will receive 2,500 complimentary tickets and 1,000 consignment tickets. The Tar Heels get 500 complimentary tickets and 3,000 consignment tickets in 2022.
In all three games of the series, any band member, up to 350 allowed, must have their ticket come from the consignment tickets and paid at full price.
Referee selection is also stipulated by the contract. For the first two games, the visiting team (ASU in 2019, UNC in 2022) selects the on-field officials, while the home team in 2023, UNC, picks the refs. Replay officials will be selected by the home team in all three games.
The penalty for one side cancelling any one game of the series is $1 million.
East Carolina series
In a span of six years, Appalachian State and the American Athletic Conference’s East Carolina will play four times. The first of those games will be at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium on Sept. 4, 2021. App State will be the home team in the 74,000-seat home of the Carolina Panthers.
The game, presented by Charlotte Sports Events (d/b/a Charlotte Sports Foundation), will see ASU operate the facility rent-free as part of the Belk College Kickoff, an annual game on Labor Day weekend. The 2018 edition will feature West Virginia and Tennessee.
As part of ASU’s contract with CSE, ASU will receive all net revenue from the sale of tickets and sponsorships for the Belk College Kickoff, minus 4,554 specific seats sold by CSE. ASU is responsible for all game operating expenses, and concession money raised will stay with the concessionaires.
According to the contract between ASU and ECU in the section for the Belk College Kickoff, ECU receives 400 complimentary tickets, plus “the visiting team (ECU) shall add the game to its season-ticket package for season 2021-2022 and shall retain the first $100,000 raised in revenue on the sale of those tickets. After the first $100,000, the visiting team (ECU) shall pay the home team (ASU) 50 percent of the revenue raised.” Also, ECU is to pay ASU 75 percent of “all single-game tickets sold through its ticketing office” for the Belk College Kickoff.
Ticket prices will be determined later upon agreement by the two teams. If no agreement can be reached, prices will be $115 for club one level seats, $125 for club two level seats, $90 for lower level seats and $65 for upper level seats.
For the remaining three games — 2023 in Boone; 2024 and 2026 in Greenville — the home team will pay the visiting team $200,000 for each game.
The 2023 game in Boone was originally scheduled for 2025, but was moved so ASU could schedule the South Carolina series. According to the contract addendum, there is no financial penalty for moving the game since it was a mutual decision by both parties.
For the three campus-site games, the visiting team will receive 400 complimentary tickets, 2,000 consigned tickets and can have up to 300 band members admitted free of charge. The home team for each game picks all the officials.
South Carolina series
The three-game series between App State and the Southeastern Conference’s South Carolina has different terms for each game. For the 2019 game in Columbia, S.C., the Mountaineers receive $900,000, plus 2,500 tickets for sale, of which ASU keeps the proceeds.
The 2025 game in Boone and 2027 game in Columbia are part of an addendum to the contract. The Gamecocks don’t receive any financial compensation for the trip to Boone, but shall get 600 complimentary tickets and 3,000 consignment tickets. The Mountaineers get $400,000 for the 2027 game, plus 2,500 tickets to sell and keep the proceeds.
The penalty for one side cancelling is $1.5 million per game.
All three games will have SEC refs, per the contract.
Contract extras
App State's future non-conference scheduling
2018
• Sept. 1 at Penn State
• Sept. 8 at Charlotte
• Sept. 15 vs. SOUTHERN MISS
• Sept. 22 vs. GARDNER-WEBB
2019
• Aug. 31 vs. EAST TENNESSEE STATE
• Sept. 7 vs. CHARLOTTE
• Sept. 21 at North Carolina
• Nov. 9 at South Carolina
2020
• Sept. 12 at Wake Forest
• Sept. 19 at Wisconsin
• Sept. 26 vs. MASSACHUSETTS
2021
• Sept. 4 vs. EAST CAROLINA (Bank of America Stadium - Charlotte, N.C.)
• Sept. 11 at Miami (Fla.)
• Sept. 18 vs. ELON
• Sept. 25 vs. MARSHALL
2022
• Sept. 3 vs. NORTH CAROLINA
• Sept. 10 at Texas A&M
• Sept. 17 at Marshall
• Sept. 24 vs. AKRON
2023
• Sept. 9 at North Carolina
• Sept. 16 vs. EAST CAROLINA
• Sept. 23 at Wyoming
2024
• Aug. 31 vs. EAST TENNESSEE STATE
• Sept. 7 at Clemson
• Sept. 14 at East Carolina
2025
• Sept. 20 vs. SOUTH CAROLINA
2026
• Sept. 5 at East Carolina
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Scheduling - Peer Benchmarking
