Distributions

[MT01]

For those that said (including some of you who came after me pretty hard 😄) that it was all bunk and didn't believe we would receive extra money for staying in C-USA, well the numbers are in.

C-USA distributed $8.3M to MT for the FY ending in '22. wkcc was second at $4.35M.

By comparison, we received distributions of $1.9M the year prior.

 

[RaiderDeez]

Forgive my ignorance, but help me understand why we would receive more than Western, given both of our long tenures in C-USA at this point.

 

[Sommy]

Now can they use the money wisely to be ready for the next round of realignment. Facilities and hire a marketing firm !

I was looking at the AAC teams again last night and that really should be our peer group. We can debate competition level, but that conference is similar to what MT "should be". Most teams are around major cities in their area, a step below Power 5, but should be able to draw interest because of geographical location.

 

[DisgruntledAlum]

Forgive my ignorance, but help me understand why we would receive more than Western, given both of our long tenures in C-USA at this point.

I'm curious about that myself.

 

[MidTennMtneer]

I've actually looked in to it myself and can't figure out the difference either. FIU, LaT, and UTEP took in same as WKU, between 4.0-4.9m. All the schools that left were under a million. But we were significantly higher.

Those numbers are for 2021 and we were in Bahamas that year with an extremely low payout. CUSA bylaws give the school the first $100k in tickets (which for off mainland is null) and then rest is split among members. So nothing there. Same for NCAA credits which are split over several years. So idk why we were double the other holdovers.

 

[mtfblue]

I've actually looked in to it myself and can't figure out the difference either. FIU, LaT, and UTEP took in same as WKU, between 4.0-4.9m. All the schools that left were under a million. But we were significantly higher.

Those numbers are for 2021 and we were in Bahamas that year with an extremely low payout. CUSA bylaws give the school the first $100k in tickets (which for off mainland is null) and then rest is split among members. So nothing there. Same for NCAA credits which are split over several years. So idk why we were double the other holdovers.

maybe uneven revenue for the team that has earned credits in the tournament. We would be the only team left, that has been the last 7 years.

 

[MT01]

maybe uneven revenue for the team that has earned credits in the tournament. We would be the only team left, that has been the last 7 years.

This is likely the primary reason. C-USA has never really released specifics on how it divvy's out its payouts, but there is a historical perspective of the higher performing schools receiving higher distributions. The NCAA Tournament is likely one factor. Placement in the college football extended rankings or bowl success being another. TV revenue is split equally so it's not that. There's also additional payout provided to help cover the costs of participation in championships including conference and NCAA. Given we keep having the higher Director's Cup ranking it's logical that MT would have the higher payout both in terms of performance and also to cover the costs of competing in NCAA Championship events. These are likely the key factors.

But if you're one of the other schools I'm sure there's a bit of interest in whether MT got a kickback for not leaving.

 

[SpaceRaider]

Great, I assume that we now can afford the buyout for underperforming head coaches with near to infinity contracts that our leadership were foolish in granting with no justification.

 

[MTLynn]

Great, I assume that we now can afford the buyout for underperforming head coaches with near to infinity contracts that our leadership were foolish in granting with no justification.

You presume that the foolish leadership wants to buy out underperforming head coaches.

Mediocre is the requirement for the school "leadership"

 

[SpaceRaider]

For those that said (including some of you who came after me pretty hard 😄) that it was all bunk and didn't believe we would receive extra money for staying in C-USA, well the numbers are in.

C-USA distributed $8.3M to MT for the FY ending in '22. wkcc was second at $4.35M.

By comparison, we received distributions of $1.9M the year prior.

CUSA Distributions Before Teams Leave to new conference

$8,317,221 - MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
$4,953,227 - WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY
$4,559,922 - UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
$4,249,077 - FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
$4,042,185 - LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY
$1,311,454 - MARSHALL UNIVERSITY
$915,095 - UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
$830,243 - OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY
$740,311 - UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO
$637,179 - UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
$482,476 - FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
$418,930 - UNC CHARLOTTE
$422,482 - UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
$332,878 - RICE UNIVERSITY

Conference U S A, Full Filing - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica

Since 2013, the IRS has released data culled from millions of nonprofit tax filings. Use this database to find organizations and see details like their executive compensation, revenue and expenses, as well as download tax filings going back as far as 2001.

projects.propublica.org

 

[SpaceRaider]

You presume that the foolish leadership wants to buy out underperforming head coaches.

Mediocre is the requirement for the school "leadership"

Nah. I just want to never hear anyone plead poverty as the #1 reason we can't dismiss anyone again.

 

[MT01]

By the way, this number could be even higher for this past year ending in '23 (which we won't know for another year), because this $8.3M distribution still distributed some funds to the other nine members. Revenue from USM, Marshall, and ODU will completely be eliminated (which is nearly $3M) and the other six that left for the AAC aren't going to get to split any of those revenues the five that remained. Plus we had just as good of a year overall as an athletics dept. Could be over $10M.

 

[DisgruntledAlum]

Granted, it is from a Liberty site.

 

[MidTennMtneer]

Granted, it is from a Liberty site.

View embedded media

Kind of annoyed me our upgrades weren't mentioned. But it made me look in to JSU's. Wow. How cool would it be to have a dorm room window overlooking the field. They've already started moving dirt too.

Growing University to Add New Housing and Dining Facilities - Jax State News

 

[DisgruntledAlum]

Kind of annoyed me our upgrades weren't mentioned. But it made me look in to JSU's. Wow. How cool would it be to have a dorm room window overlooking the field. They've already started moving dirt too.

Growing University to Add New Housing and Dining Facilities - Jax State News

I looked at the article, it is nice.

 

[MTFAN61]

Jacksonville, Alabama population approximately 13,000 residents. University enrollment approximately 9,500.
Murfreesboro, Tennessee population as of 2023, approximately 166,000 residents. University enrollment approximately 20,000.
Look forward to end of year football attendance comparisons. Personally putting my money on JSU.

 

[mtfblue]

Kind of annoyed me our upgrades weren't mentioned. But it made me look in to JSU's. Wow. How cool would it be to have a dorm room window overlooking the field. They've already started moving dirt too.

Growing University to Add New Housing and Dining Facilities - Jax State News

That Jax St project got revamped due to cost. They are only doing the ops building now. The press box side is already dorms.

 

[blue rai]

Looks to me like our little flirtation with the MAC paid some BIG dividend………

 

[blue rai]

You almost have to feel a little bad for FAU. They come within one basket of playing for the National Championship and walk away with less than 500k. Talk about leaving some money on the table!

 

[SpaceRaider]

You almost have to feel a little bad for FAU.

Nope.

 

[MTFAN61]

I get the "Nope". If there was ever considered a poorly timed run to the NCAA Final Four, FAU was the one team in history that achieved that last March. If they wanted the money they could've just stayed. BTW I just read the article FAU no longer wants to be known by their 3 letter acronym FAU, strictly Florida Atlantic. I wanted to think that's getting a little big for there pants, but then rethought it. Many of us much rather be Middle Tennessee as compared to MTSU. Attention: FA....I mean Florida Atlantic president please give our president a call & explain your reasoning. For some reason there's one person around here who likes the name MTSU, but unfortunately that one person is our president. Ugh...

 

[ewglenn]

The FAU was just dropping it from their logos. They will still be referred to as FAU.

 

[MTLynn]

I don't know if 7-wood likes the name MTSU or if he is told to like it.

 

[mtfblue]

You almost have to feel a little bad for FAU. They come within one basket of playing for the National Championship and walk away with less than 500k. Talk about leaving some money on the table!

that money FAU made is a few years away so they will get 0 dollars

 

[MidTennMtneer]

that money FAU made is a few years away so they will get 0 dollars

I wonder what the conference by-laws are for that? Those leaving of course get squat but I wonder if the newbies are pro-rated, get zero, or what.

 

[RaiderDoug]

Cool that we're bringing in cash.

We going to do anything important with it, or will the tennis courts get a paint job and then the rest will disappear like vapor?

 

[DisgruntledAlum]

Cool that we're bringing in cash.

We going to do anything important with it, or will the tennis courts get a paint job and then the rest will disappear like vapor?

Give Stock another unearned raise.

 

[Noogaraider1]

Honestly this is really encouraging. CFB is increasingly a money contingent environment.

What they need to do is put a big chunk into NIL and get some dang studs.