Maryland to Receive Huge Travel Subsidy as Part of B1G Package
Though the specifics of the deal have not been published, the Baltimore Sun claims the Terps will receive somewhere between $20-30 million dollars to help with costs associated with transporting their athletes to places like Iowa (1200 miles) and Nebraska (900 miles). Specific to their budget:
Maryland's team travel budget for 2012-13 is about $3 million, the athletic department said in response to a Baltimore Sun request. Based on information available before team schedules come out, the projected figure for 2014-15 — once the school is in the Big Ten — is $6 million.
Interestingly, Rutgers apparently isn't receiving such a carrot and doesn't appear to be too salty about it according to AD Tim Pernetti:
"I don't think it's so much about subsidies. We were comfortable from the beginning that the revenues are going to equitably address the travel situation. With certain sports like football, we charter-traveled to every game, so football will really look the same. Basketball, there will be some more [travel], but nonconference scheduling will balance that out."
Comments
I trust Big Jim D but if true I'm liking the addition of Maryland even less.
Question: if Maryland gets 20 to 30 more what does NC, GT or FSU get?
I also find it hard to believe they would look at the current cost of travel and offer them 10x more when 2x covers the expense.
Fitzbuck
Toledo - Ohio's right armpit
"A troll by any other name is still a troll".
I may be wrong but I assume that the 20-30 million will be a one time deal and not every year to help Maryland get their foot in the door and help soften the blow of their huge ACC exit fee.
Like you said, it makes no sense to give them 10x more than they need every year. I assume that amount will be spread out over multiple years.
That was my reading of the story as well. A one time payment is not to bad IMO. If it was a yearly payout then that would be ridiculous as 30 million would cover half their expenses for the department as whole.
I was thinking along the same lines as the two of you, although it could be such a thing that they're paying the "subsidy" over the course of 10 years, say at $2-3 million per year, to give the school time to "transition" back to fiscal stability pending the huge BTN payouts they are about to receive, as well as giving the Terps time to recover should they fail in challenging the $50 million ACC
ransomextortionbuyout.Yep I'm in agreement with all of you on your interpretation. My bad.
I still don't like it but I'm also not as intelligent as the parties involved that made this deal
Fitzbuck
Toledo - Ohio's right armpit
"A troll by any other name is still a troll".
Yeah, on paper I'm not a huge fan of "subsidies" in this context, but given Rutgers' almost sanguine reaction to it, maybe the other schools don't think it's that big of a deal. Ultimately it's the college presidents who run the B1G, and I'd say they would have signed off on something that big - the pull of the TV market and Maryland's academic prestige may have been seen as worth bailing them out financially in the short run.
Maryland's athletic department is darn near broke. They cut a bunch of sports recently, and it was starting to become an open question as to if they would even be able to continue football. They need every dollar they can get.
this is not the case with UNC, GT, or FSU.
its a good trade- Maryland gets bridged over for a bit and the B1G gets a foothold in the DC market.
You 'splained it accurately.
Terps sports have been hit hard the past couple years, the susbsidy will keep them stable until they solidify the major programs.
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
What has happened that has them in such a bad financial situation?
They're Maryland....yep no further explanation needed.
If I had to guess football and basketball weren't generating enough money to pay for all of the other sports. Low attendance for home games (because its a pro town and the team isn't very good) lack of bowl revenue, etc. It adds up quickly.
Fitzbuck
Toledo - Ohio's right armpit
"A troll by any other name is still a troll".
Last July, the school cut seven sports to help shore up a budget slated to post a $4 million deficit for the current fiscal year, and projected to hit $17 million by 2017:
Thanks for clearing that up.
Fitzbuck
Toledo - Ohio's right armpit
"A troll by any other name is still a troll".
If I remember it correctly from the press conferences the school won't take government money and use them for the athletic department, like Rutgers does.
Who in the hell negotiated THAT part of the deal for Maryland......did they bring in the guy from Pawn Stars? Ohio State should think about hiring him......
Fat finger down vote, sorry!
Does Iowa or Minnesota get comped for their games to Maryland.
I would also say that this pretty much guarantees the new divisions are going to use some logic and go with an East/West split. While they would probably be traveling a lot for basketball it would reduce some travel cost in football.
Well, maybe now the B1G has opened itself up to some sort of travel metric where each school gets a little cash depending on miles traveled for conference play. I don't see this as a bad thing at all.
Seeing how Rutgers didn't get the same deal, I'm thinking that Maryland got it because of their huge exit fee from the ACC.
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)