And as many conference games as they want.



Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy


Conference USA will keep 8-game league schedule & allow schools to play as many nonconference games as they want, sources told
@Stadium
. Also, it could be possible for C-USA teams to play each other as "nonconference" opponents if schools need more games, sources said
3:40 PM · Jul 30, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

So the Sam Boyd Farewell game - LA Tech @ UNLV - is on.

(07-30-2020 06:46 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  So the Sam Boyd Farewell game - LA Tech @ UNLV - is on.

Maybe but we haven't heard from the MWC yet on their scheduling plans.

I would guess a lot of the G5 conferences are gonna hold off. They want to get the paydays from P5 schools still, and have less leverage to do so if they cancel themselves

The P5 all went internal. The B12 is the only one not to announce yet, but they are leaning that way. FCS schools are cancelling their seasons, which means so much for the buy home game. Almost certainly the American will also go internal. So what's the point of holding out?

Playing 8 conference games is sufficient, and avoids shutting down the year. I suspect almost all the non-con games will get cancelled.

(07-30-2020 10:27 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  The P5 all went internal. The B12 is the only one not to announce yet, but they are leaning that way. FCS schools are cancelling their seasons, which means so much for the buy home game. Almost certainly the American will also go internal. So what's the point of holding out?

Playing 8 conference games is sufficient, and avoids shutting down the year. I suspect almost all the non-con games will get cancelled.

From some stuff I've read, the buy game contracts could get messy.

Not a lawyer, but as best I understand:

The G5 school's goal would likely be to get some payout from the P5 school, be it future games on the schedule, a partial payout from the current deal, or some form of compensation, even if the game doesn't happen.

If the SEC goes conference only but CUSA allows OOC games, CUSA has some leverage to try and get SEC schools to pay out - if LSU is willing to fly out to South Carolina for a game how can they argue it's unsafe to play Louisiana Tech?

If CUSA also cancels OOC games they have no leverage to get any sort of a payout from the P5 schools, since cancelling the game was a mutual decision.

(07-30-2020 11:29 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(07-30-2020 10:27 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  The P5 all went internal. The B12 is the only one not to announce yet, but they are leaning that way. FCS schools are cancelling their seasons, which means so much for the buy home game. Almost certainly the American will also go internal. So what's the point of holding out?

Playing 8 conference games is sufficient, and avoids shutting down the year. I suspect almost all the non-con games will get cancelled.

From some stuff I've read, the buy game contracts could get messy.

Not a lawyer, but as best I understand:

The G5 school's goal would likely be to get some payout from the P5 school, be it future games on the schedule, a partial payout from the current deal, or some form of compensation, even if the game doesn't happen.

If the SEC goes conference only but CUSA allows OOC games, CUSA has some leverage to try and get SEC schools to pay out - if LSU is willing to fly out to South Carolina for a game how can they argue it's unsafe to play Louisiana Tech?

If CUSA also cancels OOC games they have no leverage to get any sort of a payout from the P5 schools, since cancelling the game was a mutual decision.

Once the other party announces their intent not to play—the CUSA schools are clear to look for a replacement without damaging their case (in fact, they are typically required to try to mitigate the damage caused by the cancellation). The real question—-Is the cancellation due to an act of God. I’m not sure cancelling a CUSA opponent due to Covid, but then playing SEC opponents under the same pandemic conditions is going to fly in court.

They are not going to get any money from the courts. And the CUSA schools, like every other conference, are following their own rules, which may or may not be consistent with those of the SEC or the American, or any other.

The conditions for being paid are no longer in place. There will likely be no fans. How do colleges think they will be allowed to have a large assembly when the pros (MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and NFL) are forced to play without fans? Another condition is a fixed date. But the season starts later and is flex scheduled in case of outbreaks. The situation is akin to a hurricane sweeping through and cancelling games on fixed dates. This will almost certainly be agreed by the courts. Further, CUSA and other G5 schools will be following their own protocols, different from those of the P5. They are sufficiently different that the SEC did not think it worth the while to keep the ACC rivalry games going, given the uncertainty of dates, the lack of fans and lack of surrounding alumni events --the entire point of the contests.

Force majeure clauses are in effect due to covid-19, allowing either party to cancel without repercussions.

It's a losing battle to go to court. There are tens of thousands of cancelled contracts due to covid-19. So get a number and stand in line.

(07-31-2020 02:08 AM)Stugray2 Wrote:  The conditions for being paid are no longer in place. There will likely be no fans.

The inability to sell tickets is important, because ticket sales are the reason a P5 school buys the game in the first place. They expect that the ticket sales and concessions will net them more money than the buy game fee and thus the home team will make a substantial profit on the game. So there's an argument that any compensation owed to the road team should be less than what they would have received if the home team didn't have zero or very limited fan capacity due to the pandemic.

Also, and maybe more importantly, if the home team offers to put them on the schedule in a future year for a nice payday, it wouldn't make much sense for the G5 or FCS team to go to court.

I like this move. It keeps them open for games against P5 if they can get them from the ACC or Big 12. They can also go regional with their OOC scheduling and play nearby SBC and AAC schools.

(07-30-2020 06:44 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  Conference USA will keep 8-game league schedule & allow schools to play as many nonconference games as they want, sources told
@Stadium
. Also, it could be possible for C-USA teams to play each other as "nonconference" opponents if schools need more games, sources said
3:40 PM · Jul 30, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

Laughable attempt to salvage some P5 buy-games, or else preserve lawsuit possibilities (if C-USA also cancelled all OOC games, their teams couldn't claim in court that the other side cancelled on them).

They will end up having to schedule each other as "OOC" games as a result.

(07-31-2020 12:40 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Once the other party announces their intent not to play—the CUSA schools are clear to look for a replacement without damaging their case (in fact, they are typically required to try to mitigate the damage caused by the cancellation). The real question is the cancellation due to an act of God. I’m not sure cancelling a CUSA opponent due to Covid, but then playing SEC opponents under the same pandemic conditions is going to fly in court.

The likely losing point in court for the pay-day teams is that the schools themselves didn't cancel the games, their conference did.

I'm not sure what USF was going to get for going to Texas, but if the Big 12 cancels all OOC games, I don't expect us to collect anything.

I don't think the G5 schools have great standing if it goes to court, but I wouldn't be shocked if some sort of deal is worked out for some of these games, even if it's just an agreement to schedule a future buy game at a higher price, or something.

Rumors on Texas boards is that the Big 12 will be doing a 9 plus 2. Texas could move up like ou did and play week 0 vs UTSA, then move up the UTEP game to week 2, which then gives them an additional week before heading to Manhattan to begin conference play.

UTEP and UTSA being in the UT system, they are following the same guidelines that UT is doing in Austin.

(07-31-2020 02:08 AM)Stugray2 Wrote:  They are not going to get any money from the courts. And the CUSA schools, like every other conference, are following their own rules, which may or may not be consistent with those of the SEC or the American, or any other.

The conditions for being paid are no longer in place. There will likely be no fans. How do colleges think they will be allowed to have a large assembly when the pros (MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and NFL) are forced to play without fans? Another condition is a fixed date. But the season starts later and is flex scheduled in case of outbreaks. The situation is akin to a hurricane sweeping through and cancelling games on fixed dates. This will almost certainly be agreed by the courts. Further, CUSA and other G5 schools will be following their own protocols, different from those of the P5. They are sufficiently different that the SEC did not think it worth the while to keep the ACC rivalry games going, given the uncertainty of dates, the lack of fans and lack of surrounding alumni events --the entire point of the contests.

Force majeure clauses are in effect due to covid-19, allowing either party to cancel without repercussions.

It's a losing battle to go to court. There are tens of thousands of cancelled contracts due to covid-19. So get a number and stand in line.

Does that excuse work if the road team cancels?

(07-31-2020 08:13 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-31-2020 12:40 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Once the other party announces their intent not to play—the CUSA schools are clear to look for a replacement without damaging their case (in fact, they are typically required to try to mitigate the damage caused by the cancellation). The real question is the cancellation due to an act of God. I’m not sure cancelling a CUSA opponent due to Covid, but then playing SEC opponents under the same pandemic conditions is going to fly in court.

The likely losing point in court for the pay-day teams is that the schools themselves didn't cancel the games, their conference did.

I'm not sure what USF was going to get for going to Texas, but if the Big 12 cancels all OOC games, I don't expect us to collect anything.

I suspect that schools losing games have a good case in court—but most will opt not to try that route in order to preserve relationships for the future. It may depend on how dire their financial situation is—-but many schools may not want to get a reputation as a litigious pain in the butt among body bag game buyers.

(07-31-2020 08:30 AM)Thiefery Wrote:  Rumors on Texas boards is that the Big 12 will be doing a 9 plus 2. Texas could move up like ou did and play week 0 vs UTSA, then move up the UTEP game to week 2, which then gives them an additional week before heading to Manhattan to begin conference play.

UTEP and UTSA being in the UT system, they are following the same guidelines that UT is doing in Austin.

I'm fairly certain that UTEP is not going to be antagonistic to any P5 team, especially the Texas flagship when it comes to scheduling issues brought about by covid issues. UTEP has a number of future fb games scheduled at Texas and will not want to jeopardize that relationship. UTEP has Texas Tech at home to start the season and if it's necessary I'd bet that UTEP will be happy to exchange that for a future date. There will be no court issues regarding those 2 games.

(07-30-2020 10:27 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  The P5 all went internal. The B12 is the only one not to announce yet, but they are leaning that way. FCS schools are cancelling their seasons, which means so much for the buy home game. Almost certainly the American will also go internal. So what's the point of holding out?

Playing 8 conference games is sufficient, and avoids shutting down the year. I suspect almost all the non-con games will get cancelled.

That’s not true. Each ACC school is scheduled to play one out of conference game at home. 11 games scheduled in Total. Not sure how many will be played, if any.

(07-31-2020 08:09 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-30-2020 06:44 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  Conference USA will keep 8-game league schedule & allow schools to play as many nonconference games as they want, sources told
@Stadium
. Also, it could be possible for C-USA teams to play each other as "nonconference" opponents if schools need more games, sources said
3:40 PM · Jul 30, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

Laughable attempt to salvage some P5 buy-games, or else preserve lawsuit possibilities (if C-USA also cancelled all OOC games, their teams couldn't claim in court that the other side cancelled on them).

They will end up having to schedule each other as "OOC" games as a result.

Wrong... since Kentucky and the SEC wimped out Louisville is expected to play Western Kentucky from CUSA

(07-31-2020 02:28 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(07-31-2020 02:08 AM)Stugray2 Wrote:  The conditions for being paid are no longer in place. There will likely be no fans.

The inability to sell tickets is important, because ticket sales are the reason a P5 school buys the game in the first place. They expect that the ticket sales and concessions will net them more money than the buy game fee and thus the home team will make a substantial profit on the game. So there's an argument that any compensation owed to the road team should be less than what they would have received if the home team didn't have zero or very limited fan capacity due to the pandemic.

Also, and maybe more importantly, if the home team offers to put them on the schedule in a future year for a nice payday, it wouldn't make much sense for the G5 or FCS team to go to court.

Yes. These will all just be moved to another season. It happens a lot without pandemics. Now some of the P5-P5 games will probably be permanently cancelled.