THE SEC NETWORK IS HERE!! NOW WHAT?
Finally! The way overdue arrival of a TV network that will sufficiently showcase the best college football conference in the world is soon to come to your living room.
The days of purchasing game tape and dvd’s on ebay are over. No longer will you be forced to watch 1985 Ohio State vs Michigan on ESPN classic to get your football fix in July. Get ready for 24-7/365, all SEC, all the time! The Big 10 and 12 conferences will have a hard time taking this lying down, but they will have no other choice.
This landmark, record setting 20 year media contract locks the SEC and ESPN together until 2034 and promises to broadcast 3 games a weekend starting in the 2014 season, or 45 football games total, which far outpaces any other conference.
For more FAQ’s check this link to the SECSports page story.
With the addition of large media market teams Missouri and Texas A&M, this deal is a no-brainer and really could have been done years ago, but the SEC has had an opportunity to learn from some the growing pains the Pac12 and Big10 networks have faced and should be uniquely positioned to dominate college football and all of college sports. In total more than 1000 SEC sporting events will be broadcast on the network.
As with all of the media rights contracts the SEC has negotiated there is equal sharing of revenues from the deal. Each year seemingly the dividends skyrocket. According to this USA Today article, this new SEC-ESPN network may be worth over $28 Million dollars to each member institution, on top of the ever increasing bowl payouts, SEC Championship Game, conference tournaments, and other sources of athletic funds.
With revenues and budgets approaching the level of high comedy what ramifications or consequenses will this have in recruiting or player stipends? Much of this remains to be seen, but one noted SEC head coach has made it known he stands behind the players that make the money.
“Ole ballcoach” Steve Spurrier at South Carolina was quoted as saying:
“As the commissioner and the presidents and the athletic directors all say, we are going to make a whole lot more money,” Spurrier told GoGamecocks.com, via Sports Illustrated. “My question is, ‘when are we going to start giving a little bit of it to the performers?’ Football and basketball players. It won’t do any good probably, but I’m going to still keep yelling for them. They bring in an awful lot of money for all of us.”
The recent dominiation of college football by the SouthEastern conference is unprecedented, and this most recent ESPN media deal is just the fruit of being the best of the best in a sport that generates billions of dollars nationwide. Sure, with increased money and attention comes a higher standard that fans will expect from their coaches. Will coaches seats get a little hotter? Will expectations increase beyond reason? Will fans become even more rabid for their favorite teams on gameday and even during the off season during recruiting?
The answer to all these questions is YES! And as a fan of SEC college football we love it!
(P.S. Note To Auburn: Don’t be the guy to ruin this party for everyone!)
Vanderbilt scrimmaged Saturday, and the Wildcat formation produced 121 rushing yards on 17 direct snaps. It was a good day overall and a positive practice, but that isn’t the biggest takeaway from a hazy morning in Nashville. James Franklin continues doing James Franklin things and found himself in the stands twice, both before and during the scrimmage.
First, Franklin ventured into the stands before the scrimmage even started and thanked fans for attending. Fan support is key and ultimately crucial for building a program.
Franklin ventured into the stands once more to give a young boy with an orange sweatshirt a black shirt to cover up the non-Vandy color.
His enthusiasm is contagious, and the number of fans who want to see him succeed is growing.
Franklin’s focused on making Vanderbilt a legitimate contender, or he would have jetted for another program with theoretically a ‘better’ chance of winning. But he’s obsessed with building a brand from ground zero and accomplishing what most thought was not possible: winning.
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It’s April, and that means the NFL Draft is only a mere 23 days away. Let’s take a look at some former SEC players and their NFL stock watch post combine and pro days.
Jarvis Jones, OLB, Georgia: Jones neglected to work out at the NFL Combine and just participate in Georgia’s pro day. But after a sluggish and lackluster pro day, NFL scouts and GMs are asking just how good Jarvis Jones really is. He ran a slow 4.92 40 and posted just 20 reps of 225 pounds. Still, despite 28 sacks and 44 tackles for loss in two seasons, some are asking whether his non-impressive workouts and former neck injury are a concern.
Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee: Patterson was once projected as a top ten pick and realistically the first receiver off the board, but scouts and the overall buzz surrounding Patterson seems to have cooled somewhat because of his ‘lack of major college experience and his unrefined route running’. He won’t escape the first round, though.
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Jackson State’s Proposed Football Facility is a Head Scratcher
Every school across the country regardless of division or affiliation has dreams of upgrading their facilities to enhance prospective students and to accommodate those on campus, giving their alumni, fans and students the best possible experience imaginable.
Jackson State University is no different than any other university in regards to this very dream and has those same ambitions of upgrading their facilities and for a long time the Athletic Department at JSU has talked of leaving historic Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson for a new football facility. Again-nothing wrong with having your own facility but when Jackson State unveiled a recent plan for a new football facility worth 200 million dollars I, like many had to re-read those figures.
Jackson State is an FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) School that has an enrollment of 8,760 students as of September 2012 and has an athletic budget of $2,304,793 per Forbes Magazine.
Jackson State like many FCS football teams look for games early in the season in football against FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams to make a pretty penny to help their athletic budgets operate. Recently Jackson State did just this as they traveled to Starkville to take on Mississippi State.
It’s typically is a win-win for both participants as the bigger school gets an easy victory and the smaller school gets a big payday to help their programs out financially as many FCS teams struggle to make ends meet, so keep that in mind.
Back to the new facility – Jackson State Vice President for institutional advancement David Hoard told the Jackson Clarion Ledger “(JSU president Carolyn Meyers) said to think big and we have thought big,” Hoard said. “We’re pleased to move forward with the plans for JSU’s new domed stadium.”
Hoard continued, “The project’s overall cost of $200 million, Hoard said, would be met, in part, by the use of “13 or 14 different options” to fund the stadium.
That’s right, you read that correctly. JSU is planning a domed football field/ multi facility that is worth 200 million dollars and will seat close to 50,000 people.
It is one thing to think big but another thing to think so far out of this world that it cannot be brought to fruition.
Let me say I do not know every avenue of the 13 or 14 possibilities of revenue Hoard is talking about because hey, anything is possible and he may very well have the money.
But, let me tell you what I do know. Jackson State better have a heck of a plan to finance this puppy because as recently as 2011 JSU faced severe budget numbers. You can read more about that here.
JSU did receive 900 thousand in NCAA aid to help with their facilities but that normally goes to cover an overall master plan and or university need for athletics.
Out of 122 FCS schools the average attendance in 2012 was 15,267 per football game. Jackson State averaged 14,462 which is below the national average. So why does a team that barely averages over 14,000 on football Saturdays need a stadium that is bigger than Southern Mississippi who is a FBS team albeit in a smaller conference?
Many have said, including Hoard this venue “will be able to attract major concerts (he mentioned Beyonce by name, for what that’s worth) to town.” And I am sure plans to bring other events would be in the picture as well for the greater Jackson Metro area. But- 50,000 seats in a dome? Keep in mind many Division One or FBS schools with way more money and revenue do not have football facilities like this.
Also know that of all the FCS programs only Tennessee State, Yale and Penn play in bigger venues than this and they are all at bigger venues like LP Field and Franklin Field.
Unless JSU has some serious money from some silent donors I would say this is the old “champaigne taste on a beer budget” syndrome.
In any business decision you have to play within your means and it just does not seem feasible for an FCS team to have a facility like this. Keep in mind not only an FCS team but a team in a conference “the SWAC” that does not even participate in the FCS playoffs.
This is not a case of me “hating” on Jackson State, it is simply me trying to be a voice of reason. I am all for expansion and growth but let’s be reasonable about it.
Another problem with this idea is putting this facility on the JSU campus. This would not be a problem if it were just a football facility but when you are talking about an all-purpose arena this has always been a sore subject in Jackson.
Jackson has a stigma and image problem and until city officials and constituents alike clean up this image you are not going to get a decent attendance numbers to an arena in the Jackson area. This is one of the many reasons the Mississippi Braves settled in Rankin County and albeit a baseball facility for the Atlanta Braves it only cost 33.3 million.
Not only would Jackson State have to do some major work to get that thing on campus but then you must ask where are you going to park everyone and what about traffic control?
The Jackson Police Department is known to botch most events in the city when it comes to traffic control and if you do not believe me ask any fan that went to the Saints – Colts preseason game a few years ago or try going to a concert at the Jackson Coliseum. The Coliseum is a very small venue and JPD cannot even make the traffic there efficient, much less fifty thousand off Gallatin Street.
All this is about being responsible and smart and this is just not smart on JSU’s part.
If JSU wants a plan to follow why not look at the two most recent participants in the FCS Championship game?
North Dakota State as recently as 1990 built a 25,000 + (Concerts) facility for 48 million.
Likewise, Sam Houston State opened a new stadium around the same time for a little less of the cost to seat 14,000.
Nobody is trying to hold Jackson State back on being progressive but, when you are talking about a fifty thousand seat domed facility that seventy five million of the financing will come from Mississippi tax payers and the rest of the funds could “possibly” come from thirteen or fourteen other sources and your throwing this in downtown Jackson?
It sure sounds like a pipe dream to me - considering the recent budget struggles and need for funding from the NCAA to help keep operations up and running, or “let’s build this and we will worry about the financing later” because we just want it, type of scenario.
What Jackson State needs to do is go back to the drawing board, realize you are not a football power house nor do you have the fans to support such a venue, nor does the metro area carry this kind of support for a facility of this magnitude, especially in downtown Jackson, MS. You can build a new arena for half the price and half the size.
Just ask North Dakota State, they did it and they actually even participate in the FCS playoffs so there are more pointers you could take from them as well.
TOM CRUISE ACTUALLY LOST THE 2012 EGGBOWL!!!!
Many of you were at the Egg Bowl this year between the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University so you are aware of the outcome.
No doubt many of you MSU fans had to be scratching your head in wonder, as to why this MSU team only got 24 yards rushing against a very young Ole Miss team with a new first year coach and only around 60 healthy scholarship players.
Would you believe there was a guest offensive coordinator by the name of Tom Cruise?
The MSU offense struggled in 2012 after being exposed by midget phenom coach Nick Saban at Alabama and MSU head coach Dan Mullen’s coaching staff has been frought this year with scandal and turnover. Losing wide receivers coach Angelo Mirando in the middle of a recruiting scandal, corner backs coach Melvin Smith bailed on the bulldogs for a lateral move to Auburn and defensive coordinator Chris Wilson left to join the SEC East bulldogs, Georgia.
Limping into the eggbowl, losing 3 out of the previous 4 games, Dan Mullen apparently felt his team needed a spark from a close friend that he knew shared similar goals and a unique faith.
Various emotional reations as Tom Cruise unsuccessfully leads MS State into battle.
It is unclear how long Dan Mullen have been friends but after this information was leaked to @gridironrumors, there is no doubt there is an eternal bond between the two men; a bond strong enough for the experienced coach to turn his team’s fate over to the once popular movie star.
According to sources, Tom Cruise took the assignment seriously and prepared for the role as hard as he does for any of his many Hollywood roles.
Cruise is known to completely emerse himself in the culture of his varied roles so he can subconsciously respond with the correct lingo, essentially transforming himself into a F16 fighter pilot or Samurai warrior.
Of course, there is a serious difference between knowing the lingo and actually flying an F16, just as there is in correctly calling plays appropriate for the defense they faced as the Rebels demolished the Tom Cruise led dogs 41-27.
No one was more disappointed than Coach Cruise himself as he took it as a personal setback and one that he plans to rectify over the next 6 months when he returns on the field to coach the dogs.
Mississippi State Head Coach Dan Mullen while unhappy with the outcome still believes Tom Cruise is the next SEC offensive genius.
Katie Holmes reaction to Tom Cruise’s foray into college football coaching: “Meh….”
