(04-14-2020 06:48 PM)cschierh Wrote: Joel Nielsen posted a newsletter today that gave some hints on what's ahead for KSU and MAC athletics.
Basically there are going to be budget cuts and schedule changes, among other this.
Here's the good stuff from the newsletter:
"As athletic departments plan and prepare for the road ahead, many in our industry have said, 'College sports as we know it will never be the same.'
"While I tend to agree, it doesn't mean that college sports won't still be able to provide the opportunities and entertainment it's been providing for over a century.
"Keeping that in mind, athletic departments will face difficult decisions in figuring out how to operate with less money. Staff sizing, travel restrictions, schedule modifications, and other budget reductions are logical options.
"Those decisions even become more difficult if the pandemic affects our Fall sports. There is also uncertainty as to when the economy will be 'reopened' and how quickly it will rebound. That will affect fundraising, corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, merchandise sales, etc.
"At the direction of the MAC President's Council, and under the leadership of Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, the conference has been working on modifications to schedules, championships and other items.
"The recommendations will be reviewed and discussed over the next couple of weeks, and then shared with our students, staff and supporters."
Link to the full letter
The University of Arizona, a far richer school than Kent State, is projecting a $7.5 million shortfall in athletic revenue. It is freezing all athletic spending, hiring and raises. Cuts in salaries, programs and scholarships are possible. (The situation was announced in a memo that was leaked to USA Today.)
Cincinnati announced Wednesday it was eliminating men's soccer team as a cost-cutting measure.
Earlier Wisconsin said that even though the NCAA had granted current seniors in spring sports an extra year of eligibility, it wouldn't be able to afford scholarships for them.
Tough times ahead -- for sports and the rest of us.
First ... a couple of things that would be EQUITABLE for all sports.
1) To start I would expect coaches and athletic admins to be taking a 5-10 percent pay cut to start things off across the board.
2) Over the next four years I would cut back one scholarship for every 10 a sport gives out. Basketball (13 per year), for example, would lose 5 scholarships over a 4-year period.
Football and probably hockey would lose 35 scholarships (over 4 years) ... now before the FB wonks start screaming, lets not forget no other sport gets the scholarship benefits FB already gets in the form of blue shirts and gray shirts, not to mention the ability for true freshmen to play up to four games, and still maintain freshman eligibility for the following year.
I would argue baseball and certainly m/w basketball would feel the sting of their scholarship losses much more than FB/hockey.
Women's basketball (15 per year) would lose 6 scholarships, and so on. That would be about 30 scholarships per year at an estimated cost of $20,000 That's $600,000 a year already, not counting the NCAA-mandated stipends those athletes were getting which add up to probably another $100,000 or more combined.
3) I would cut back on new uniform purchases to every other year for all sports. Most teams have so many uniforms it's tough to say which ones are actually 'official.' I have no clue how much a set of unis coast per team, but I'm guessing this could save anywhere from $150,000 to $250,000.
Combined with coach/admin salary cuts you're talking roughly $1-mil a year already. But there's more.
4) Each sport play as many away 'buy' games or home/home as possible, building the coffers for each sport with the extra cash.
Why ...
I guaran-damn-tee you the MAC is going to start talking about playing 22 league games in BB and baseball in the guise of 'cost containment' along with cutting back on teams being eligible for MAC Tournament play in multiple sports.
The above cuts into that argument. This is a parity driven league in practically all primary sports. The MAC traditionally celebrates that fact ... so why cut it, particularly when (for example) cutting first round MAC Tournament home games (m/w BB), or cutting one round of Base/soft tournament play, or one round of m/w golf tournament play certainly won't add up to a combined $1-mill. savings above?
Also, I would suggest the MAC come up with a 'cap' budget for every sport, for everybody, at least for the next four years. And then revisit.
The key here is to be equitable and fair for all ... which includes trying to maintain as much of the status quo as possible, even while making financial adjustments.
FINALLY (whew) I would hope the MAC schools would not raise any ticket prices for any sport at least over the next two years.
end of rant!!!
