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Old Dominion athletics faces drastic cost-cutting measures to remain financially solvent, study says

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Old Dominion athletics faces drastic cost-cutting measures to remain financially solvent, study says

excerpt:



...Among the other conclusions in the study are:

  • Joining Conference USA, which ODU did in 2013, has cost the school “a minimum of $2 million annually.” The study cites the departures of Memphis, Southern Methodist, Houston, Central Florida, Tulane and East Carolina as being damaging to the conference’s national profile.
  • C-USA, which is based near Dallas and has teams as far west as El Paso, Texas, estimates it will give $1 million less to member institutions this year than in years past.
  • The cancellation of the 2020 NCAA basketball tournament due to the coronavirus will result in the loss of $867 million, 60% of which is divided among member institutions. The impact will be especially jarring for mid-majors like ODU, which rely on that revenue each year.
  • Revenue from ticket sales, gifts and corporate sponsorships is projected to be reduced by a minimum of 20% in college athletics, which for ODU would be $1.5 million.
  • The NCAA’s recent decision to grant additional eligibility to athletes in spring sports who had their 2019-20 seasons cut short due to coronavirus concerns will cost ODU approximately $500,000.
  • Among the scenarios examined regarding the 2020 football season: the possibility of playing games before no fans; the possibility of a partial cancellation of the season; and the possibility of canceling of the entire season. “The cancellation of the football season would create a major shortfall in football ticket sales revenues, priority seat gift requirements, corporate sponsorships and potentially television and bowl revenues to … C-USA,” according to the study. “All schools must be prepared for partial or total interruption of the 2020 football season.”
  • ODU needed to reduce men’s athletic scholarship money by $250,000 to comply with Title IX, which requires judicious opportunities for female athletes.
 
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Doesn't get much more clear than that. This has been a steady and rapidly moving train coming straight at non P5 (or P6) programs for a while. Just about all of us knew this was coming. It was just a matter of when would a catalyzing event set the big changes in motion. You know, the action to start the proverbial dominoes to fall. The national shutdown over the virus looks like it just may be that catalyzing event.

It would be incredibly difficult for schools like MT to make it through those changes as a competitor on the big time D1 scene even if MT athletics were performing at a really high level with good support and big attendance. Without big support, success, and superior performance in MT athletics, it makes surviving the big changes in good shape nearly impossible. That is one of the big reasons the leadership tolerating mediocrity and worse has been so sickening. Sadly, the timing of the catalyst is awful for MT.

A possible bright spot in all of this might be that such a crisis just might get everyone in the G5 to set aside their pride for a while. G5 type schools & conferences might finally be desperate enough to realign G5 conferences that actually makes geographic and economic sense.

Even so, it seems the P5 (P6?) will eventually and probably inevitably break away to form something else with a semi-pro component. Whether it will be completely separate from the NCAA or something akin to a new-new D1-A, who knows at this point? Only time will tell. Whatever the case, I suspect MT will be a part of something much more akin or closer to the OVC rather than anything resembling the SEC, ACC, et al.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MT Glenn
Doesn't get much more clear than that. This has been a steady and rapidly moving train coming straight at non P5 (or P6) programs for a while. Just about all of us knew this was coming. It was just a matter of when would a catalyzing event set the big changes in motion. You know, the action to start the proverbial dominoes to fall. The national shutdown over the virus looks like it just may be that catalyzing event.

It would be incredibly difficult for schools like MT to make it through those changes as a competitor on the big time D1 scene even if MT athletics were performing at a really high level with good support and big attendance. Without big support, success, and superior performance in MT athletics, it makes surviving the big changes in good shape nearly impossible. That is one of the big reasons the leadership tolerating mediocrity and worse has been so sickening. Sadly, the timing of the catalyst is awful for MT.

A possible bright spot in all of this might be that such a crisis just might get everyone in the G5 to set aside their pride for a while. G5 type schools & conferences might finally be desperate enough to realign G5 conferences that actually makes geographic and economic sense.

Even so, it seems the P5 (P6?) will eventually and probably inevitably break away to form something else with a semi-pro component. Whether it will be completely separate from the NCAA or something akin to a new-new D1-A, who knows at this point? Only time will tell. Whatever the case, I suspect MT will be a part of something much more akin or closer to the OVC rather than anything resembling the SEC, ACC, et al.
Yes, I very well imagine a scenario in which the G5 has to finally work together to survive. Some of the travel mandated has been ridiculous.

In your scenario of the P5 moving to a semi pro league of sorts, I would imagine that comes with the bottom dwellers of those conferences being purged. That might actually help keep a conference like the CUSA and Sun Belt relevant.
 
Also, for all the reasons mentioned above, it is just more reason to suspect a football season will be played regardless of the health risk. The financial risks are much too heavy.

And that isn’t simply for small schools. Even at a place like UT (I live in East TN), football pays for every other sport. Losing 800,000 tickets sold would be dire.
 
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