So . . . C-USA gets how much of UAB's March Madness share? All of it?
So . . . C-USA gets how much of UAB's March Madness share? All of it?
Louisiana Tech University
Flagship of the University of Louisiana System
Very little.
For example, Tech's revenues in those areas for 20-21 were $1.87 million in a 14-school CUSA. The projection for next year was likely similar and would have been what USM would have received in CUSA had the league remained stable and stayed at 14 schools.
On the other hand, the Cajuns, for example, received $2.43 million in a 12-school Sun Belt where NCAA money was shared. The 10 football-playing members also shared in CFP money. With the Belt going to 14 football playing members, if each school shared in those distributions equally next year, the distribution per school would be approximately $1.86 million. I am assuming the 4 new members will receive slightly less.
This is likely where the $1.75 million number comes from.
What isn't being factored in is that most NCAA revenue distributions to conferences are based on the number of members in the conference. So 2022-2023 revenues from those NCAA funds will be for just 11 members, not 14 as they should have been. And given that most of those fund amounts increase from year to year, the amount that should have been paid by each school should have increased from what it will have withheld from this year's distributions. And each school should have paid an amount that approximates what C-USA would have received from the NCAA in 2022-23 for that school's membership under the existing by-laws.
One big example is sports sponsorship. Grants-in-aid funds (2/3 of the sports sponsorship component) are distributed based on scholarships offered by each school in this manner (from the 2022 NCAA revenue distribution plan):
First 50 grants-in-aid are worth $250 each.
Next 50 grants-in-aid are worth $500 each.
Next 50 grants-in-aid are worth $2,500 each.
Grants-in-aid above 150 are worth $5,000 each.
Schools offering 150 scholarships would have $162,500 going to its conference. Schools offering 250 scholarships would have $662,500 going to its conference.
Every school leaving C-USA isn't equal in grants-in-aid that it can offer, so a one-size-fits-all settlement payment was not an equitable solution. ODU sponsors sports with NCAA scholarship limits of 247.4 total excluding men's and women's sailing. Marshall offers sports with a 224.0 maximum. USM offers sports that allow a max of 222.3 scholarships. For comparison, Tech offers sports that have an NCAA maximum 210.8 scholarships.
Last edited by FriscoDawg; 06-30-2022 at 12:58 PM.
I seem to remember that when all this started, someone (can't remember who) stated that a newspaper was going to file a Freedom of Information inquiry to get to the bottom of all of it. I guess that didn't happen?
As someone who works in the public sector, this is infuriating.
I routinely receive FOI requests -- at least once a month. And when I get one, that stops everything else I'm doing. Nothing else happens until the FOI is complete. There are very few exceptions to the law, and they are all specific and limited in scope. And after 20+ years in govt, there have been exactly 2 times I've had to withhold information from an FOI request: once I redacted some employees' SSNs from a document, and another time I redacted the location of a sensitive archeological site.
But how is CUSA even a party to a FOI suit? As an intervenor? It's not a public agency. More likely, somebody sent a request to one of the public schools and was denied. Which raises the question ... why not just send your request to a different institution (or have a friend in that state request it)?
Something doesn't add up here ...
Double check me, but ... I think Rice & Liberty may the only exceptions.
Everyone else who is a current, departing, or incoming member is a public school. Right?
This sounds like a loaded gun...
If the confidential information contained in the Confidential Settlement Agreement were to be disclosed, it could negatively impact C-USA’s ability to retain its current members through the next academic terms and to recruit and obtain new ones.
If these requests depend on state rules, I hope every CUSA reporter makes a request in each individual state to make this info public.
And now we have our answer.
The Golden Eagles gave up this year's Belt distribution to get out of CUSA one year early. $1.75 million. McMurphy's information from several months ago was correct.
I suspect part of the deal was that both sides would try to keep it private.
USM wanted to keep the baseball tournament in Hattiesburg at Pete Taylor Park (aka The Love Shack East) and were willing to pay for it.