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Budget cuts

CowboyUp61

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May 22, 2016
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Just saw where Brands agreed to 15% pay cut for the year as part of an overall cut. Y'all think this will be common as this goes forward, football stadiums 1/2 empty, etc? Seems like a big possibility this leads to cuts in sports overall. Opinions?
 
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Just saw where Brands agreed to 15% pay cut for the year as part of an overall cut. Y'all think this will be common as this goes forward, football stadiums 1/2 empty, etc? Seems like a big possibility this leads to cuts in sports overall. Opinions?

Yes. There’s no way around it. And sports are already being cut.

It will be incredibly difficult for athletic programs at non P5 conferences to keep their departments afloat.
 
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news (and I'm usually the eternal optimist). I too am concerned about the viability of sports, in the short and long term. I anticipate never-ending quarantines, masks, social distancing, even extreme reactions to flu and other viruses - people are now so terrified of any bacteria, germs and viruses that I don't see sports (or any other aspect of life - education, work, church, restaurants, concerts and festivals, tourism, travel, etc) ever returning to normal.
 
Those agree'd to pay cuts by the athletic dept were what was necessary, still anticipating regular attendance @ Kinnick and CHA for football, basketball, etc, for 2020-2021 season's. Since we know now this will not be the case, further and deeper cuts are forthcoming.
 
I live in Maine and what I'm hearing from friends who live in Pittsburgh is that college wrestling won't start till Jan. 2021. That's all I know and hear. Could be bullshit.
 
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I'm thinking of a scenario where people are going to sour on sports in general. You got the MLB and NBA where talks of players not even wanting to play, whether it's due to the virus or social justice, etc. If they don't play and people get a glimpse of what their life will be without having sports to watch, you could have a chance fans don't come back with the passion they once had. Then the gravy train is over.
 
I'm thinking of a scenario where people are going to sour on sports in general. You got the MLB and NBA where talks of players not even wanting to play, whether it's due to the virus or social justice, etc. If they don't play and people get a glimpse of what their life will be without having sports to watch, you could have a chance fans don't come back with the passion they once had. Then the gravy train is over.

The problem with MLB and NBA is the oversaturation, shove it down your throat for 7+ months....people get excited for opening weeks, then it dies down until the all-star break, then the playoffs is what everyone tunes in for.

Personally, i can't stand the NBA and don't watch it. MLB I will watch a game if its on, but won't go out of my way to watch every single Cubs game.

With college sports, specifically wrestling, is that there aren't that many competitions so you can look forward to the next one a week later and plan around it.

Iowa Wrestling however, will always have fans that are passionate and will support/come back when they can. What other fan base was trying to organize a viewing party at Carver Hawkeye for Final X?
 
Fifteen-percent does not seem like a deep, or painful cut. Iowa athletic department recently gave conditioning coach $1.2 million to walk. Really. So maybe.....! Admit I'm becoming more despondent and apprehensive about all NCAA athletics returning to 'normal' in the near term. Just don't see a clear path. One serendipitous event of the recent termoil, we will no longer need to stand for the Stars and Bars when we wrestle the Ole Miss Rebels!
 
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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news (and I'm usually the eternal optimist). I too am concerned about the viability of sports, in the short and long term. I anticipate never-ending quarantines, masks, social distancing, even extreme reactions to flu and other viruses - people are now so terrified of any bacteria, germs and viruses that I don't see sports (or any other aspect of life - education, work, church, restaurants, concerts and festivals, tourism, travel, etc) ever returning to normal.
Forever is a long time. I can only speak for myself, but once I get a safe reliable vaccine, or the infection rates drop to near zero, I'm going to get back out to watch some D1 wrestling.
 
I hope that I am dead wrong here, but the economics of prolonged economic shutdowns, especially D1 football, have great potential to RADICALLY change what we consider to be normal. There are at least 4 big threats, interrelated to various degrees, to what we have recognized as normal for NCAA sports right now...

1. Cancel culture - with star players, and/or whole teams, pledging to not participate/play until "xyz" demand is made, suddenly the whole college sports apparatus is vulnerable and fragile. If these actions work...expect more of them, perhaps even at critical times, like just before a big game, etc.

Even if demands are met and participants reengage and play the games, etc, large segments of the fanbases will tire of this noise and lose interest in pledging their dollars and time towards such a fickle pursuit...IMO.

2. Likeness compensation/payment of athletes - whether one agrees with this or not, any implementation of paying the athletes requires more money from a dwindling pot. Some schools can afford something here...many cannot.

3. Health considerations - there is no guarantee that we will have a vaccination for COVID...ever. Even if we do get a vaccine AND it works, now everyone's awareness about communicable diseases is all jacked up, don't be surprised to see an outsized reaction to the next flu/covid strain, etc. What is our criteria for shutting things down in the future, should they start back up that is?

4. Economics - simply, budgets everywhere are going to be under unprecedented strain and I think the "we'll just restart the economy" people are just now starting to see some of the real financial impacts from the reaction to COVID...and I think this is just getting started BTW.

Short version...NCAA D1 scholarship athletics may never look the same and one doesn't have to be a sage to see where any given non-revenue sport may end up somewhere down the road. I hope I am way wrong and everything goes back to normal soon...but I am seeing it going that way at this point.
 
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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news (and I'm usually the eternal optimist). I too am concerned about the viability of sports, in the short and long term. I anticipate never-ending quarantines, masks, social distancing, even extreme reactions to flu and other viruses - people are now so terrified of any bacteria, germs and viruses that I don't see sports (or any other aspect of life - education, work, church, restaurants, concerts and festivals, tourism, travel, etc) ever returning to normal.

If we get to that point, we will have far bigger problems than a lack of sports.

Those agree'd to pay cuts by the athletic dept were what was necessary, still anticipating regular attendance @ Kinnick and CHA for football, basketball, etc, for 2020-2021 season's. Since we know now this will not be the case, further and deeper cuts are forthcoming.

They are not anticipating regular attendance. They have capped football ticket sales at 30,000 fans short of capacity. Agree with the rest of your point, though.

Fifteen-percent does not seem like a deep, or painful cut. Iowa athletic department recently gave conditioning coach $1.2 million to walk. Really. So maybe.....! Admit I'm becoming more despondent and apprehensive about all NCAA athletics returning to 'normal' in the near term. Just don't see a clear path. One serendipitous event of the recent termoil, we will no longer need to stand for the Stars and Bars when we wrestle the Ole Miss Rebels!

Thought I don’t make their money, I do OK. And a 15% pay cut would really hurt. And as others have stated, this is probably just the start.


Forever is a long time. I can only speak for myself, but once I get a safe reliable vaccine, or the infection rates drop to near zero, I'm going to get back out to watch some D1 wrestling.

I think a vaccine at that level is a pipe dream. I know there is some optimism out there, but it feels aspirational to me. But what do I know? On the positive side, we continue to learn more about it and get better at treating it. I think that’s every bit as important.
 
I think a vaccine at that level is a pipe dream. I know there is some optimism out there, but it feels aspirational to me. But what do I know? On the positive side, we continue to learn more about it and get better at treating it. I think that’s every bit as important.
Of course you're absolutely right. I think that it IS aspirational, but hey, I need things to look forward to. :)
I also agree that the pay cuts are mostly nothing compared to the budget strains and social demands that will rock college sports. Long-term, paying college athletes is going to cause some problems, even for wrestling. I would not be surprised to see many schools drop football and non-revenue sports. I still believe that something sustainable for wrestling will rise out of the wreckage at some point well beyond this year, but it may be very different.
 
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Of course you're absolutely right. I think that it IS aspirational, but hey, I need things t look forward to. :)
I also agree that the pay cuts are mostly nothing compared to the budget strains and social demands that will rock college sports. Long-term, paying college athletes is going to cause some problems, even for wrestling. I would not be surprised to see many schools drop football and non-revenue sports. I still believe that something sustainable for wrestling will rise out of the wreckage at some point well beyond this year, but it may be very different.

I would think that most players who can be well compensated for their likeness will be at schools who can afford to pay them. I don’t see that causing programs to drop the sport; they probably just would use anyone’s likeness (and probably cause great players from small schools to transfer).
 
i thought the likeness thing would be coming from outside the purview of the school, so the school isn't paying the athletes, but they're allowed to go down to Randy Kuehl Honda and do a commercial for them and get paid $1000. am i mistaken in that context that the schools themselves aren't paying the athletes, but they are allowed to make money on their likeness.

now, does that mean the school can look at an athlete and say, You make $XXXXX money based on your likeness, so we will only give you XXXXX as a scholarship?
 
i thought the likeness thing would be coming from outside the purview of the school, so the school isn't paying the athletes, but they're allowed to go down to Randy Kuehl Honda and do a commercial for them and get paid $1000. am i mistaken in that context that the schools themselves aren't paying the athletes, but they are allowed to make money on their likeness.

now, does that mean the school can look at an athlete and say, You make $XXXXX money based on your likeness, so we will only give you XXXXX as a scholarship?

You are correct on the first part of the post. As to how the schools react; we shall see...
 
Not coincidentally, renewal forms were sent this afternoon for next year.

Good time to show our support for wrestling.
 
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Seems to me this whole COVID thing kind of put a damper on the let’s pay the college athletes plan?
 
I'm thinking of a scenario where people are going to sour on sports in general. You got the MLB and NBA where talks of players not even wanting to play, whether it's due to the virus or social justice, etc. If they don't play and people get a glimpse of what their life will be without having sports to watch, you could have a chance fans don't come back with the passion they once had. Then the gravy train is over.

Um, people have had a glimpse of what their life will be like without having sports to watch. Sure you may lose a few fans, but it seems the majority can't wait to get back to watching sports. And I think it's in the single digits of players not wanting to play, so I don't think that will be a major factor.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news (and I'm usually the eternal optimist). I too am concerned about the viability of sports, in the short and long term. I anticipate never-ending quarantines, masks, social distancing, even extreme reactions to flu and other viruses - people are now so terrified of any bacteria, germs and viruses that I don't see sports (or any other aspect of life - education, work, church, restaurants, concerts and festivals, tourism, travel, etc) ever returning to normal.

I originally thought this might be the case, and it may be for some people (and probably is true for my family), but after "just" 3 months, there is a large segment of the population that basically just went "eh, well time to try to get back to normal now," and that's of course without a vaccine or even without the "wave" really going down for that matter. If there is an effective vaccine or even a reduction to minimal cases for awhile, I think many people will come pretty close to forgetting about COVID-19 (not that I agree with that).
 
Seems to me this whole COVID thing kind of put a damper on the let’s pay the college athletes plan?
Not really. College athletes are using this to hold universities hostage over a number of things. One of those being talked about is we aren't gonna play if we aren't paid. It's getting ridiculous. Mostly the fb players but this shits gotta stop. Schools need to have a sack and say we'll see ya later then.
 
Interesting comment by A.D. Barta when announcing the 15% budget reduction to Iowa athletic program. The budget reduction(s) assumes programs/events will occur in their 'entirety', with fans in attendance. Interruptions or reductions in the season would lead to more 'significant' budget cuts. Obviously Barta understands the complexity of issues facing intercollegiate athletics and is preparing contingency plans.
 
Forever is a long time. I can only speak for myself, but once I get a safe reliable vaccine, or the infection rates drop to near zero, I'm going to get back out to watch some D1 wrestling.

A vaccine is a great thought, but I hope healthcare and governments in general look at this in the future state. The world has always been at risk for new viruses, now we can just transmit them faster with global travel. Covid-19 still a concern, but hopefully a wake up call a quicker response by everyone in the world on identification, communication, and containment. People will still live their lives, sports will continue, acceptable casualty rates will be a norm.

I would like see the death rates during this time, with the lockdown and other extended measures, I would think driving fatalities, and other such deaths are down overall. I guarantee there is going to be a birth boom in 7 months.
 
There will be several vaccines in the next year and more will become available as time goes by. Astronomical amounts of money are being spent to find a solution.

Pay cuts are based on percentage of salary. Lisa Bluder, Brands, Ferentz and McCaffery were required to take 10% they chose to take 15%. They could take the cut or donate the 15% back to the athletic department.
Rough estimates annual base pay
Ferentz 2.75 mil
McCaffery 2.8 mil
Bluder 650k
Brands 310k

I am optimistic things will return to normal after this year.
 
There will be several vaccines in the next year and more will become available as time goes by. Astronomical amounts of money are being spent to find a solution.

Pay cuts are based on percentage of salary. Lisa Bluder, Brands, Ferentz and McCaffery were required to take 10% they chose to take 15%. They could take the cut or donate the 15% back to the athletic department.
Rough estimates annual base pay
Ferentz 2.75 mil
McCaffery 2.8 mil
Bluder 650k
Brands 310k

I am optimistic things will return to normal after this year.
I am optimistic things will return to normal after Nov. 4.
 
Positive Coronavirus test keep appearing at NCAA sites (football) throughout country. This does not bode well for upcoming season. And a new swine virus seems on the move in China (Generation-4 H1N1). Iowa has numerous pork production operations, and many pork processing facilities. Is Floyd of Rosedale safe?
floyd-of-rosedale-cover_8d6540df-fdc5-4ecc-b4f7-2d51d3c5c7ed_900x.png
 
I hope that I am dead wrong here, but the economics of prolonged economic shutdowns, especially D1 football, have great potential to RADICALLY change what we consider to be normal. There are at least 4 big threats, interrelated to various degrees, to what we have recognized as normal for NCAA sports right now...

1. Cancel culture - with star players, and/or whole teams, pledging to not participate/play until "xyz" demand is made, suddenly the whole college sports apparatus is vulnerable and fragile. If these actions work...expect more of them, perhaps even at critical times, like just before a big game, etc.

Even if demands are met and participants reengage and play the games, etc, large segments of the fanbases will tire of this noise and lose interest in pledging their dollars and time towards such a fickle pursuit...IMO.

2. Likeness compensation/payment of athletes - whether one agrees with this or not, any implementation of paying the athletes requires more money from a dwindling pot. Some schools can afford something here...many cannot.

3. Health considerations - there is no guarantee that we will have a vaccination for COVID...ever. Even if we do get a vaccine AND it works, now everyone's awareness about communicable diseases is all jacked up, don't be surprised to see an outsized reaction to the next flu/covid strain, etc. What is our criteria for shutting things down in the future, should they start back up that is?

4. Economics - simply, budgets everywhere are going to be under unprecedented strain and I think the "we'll just restart the economy" people are just now starting to see some of the real financial impacts from the reaction to COVID...and I think this is just getting started BTW.

Short version...NCAA D1 scholarship athletics may never look the same and one doesn't have to be a sage to see where any given non-revenue sport may end up somewhere down the road. I hope I am way wrong and everything goes back to normal soon...but I am seeing it going that way at this point.

good post! What effect will the increase of online and remote learning degrees have on traditional brick and mortar universities? Boom? Maybe, cuts in investments in new classrooms and offices could help struggling budgets. Bust? Maybe, unrented dorms and apartments, fewer parking permits, food service retail could cause further budget issues.
 
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good post! What effect will the increase of online and remote learning degrees have on traditional brick and mortar universities? Boom? Maybe, cuts in investments in new classrooms and offices could help struggling budgets. Bust? Maybe, unrented dorms and apartments, fewer parking permits, food service retail could cause further budget issues.

Agreed. Much of what we have come to recognize as normal on college campuses is under threat at this time. In particular for a school like Iowa that relies on many out of state students, paying a much higher annual price BTW, the move towards online learning that is fashionable now...things could change A LOT in the coming years.
 
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Forever is a long time. I can only speak for myself, but once I get a safe reliable vaccine, or the infection rates drop to near zero, I'm going to get back out to watch some D1 wrestling.

My fear is the next one down the pipe. Any potential pandemic and the media will be drumming the panic porn 24x7, and our wussified populous will demand we shut down because we have set the precedent that death is unacceptable.

And there will always be a potential pandemic. I honestly fear I may not see normalized life in my lifetime.
 
I hope that I am dead wrong here, but the economics of prolonged economic shutdowns, especially D1 football, have great potential to RADICALLY change what we consider to be normal. There are at least 4 big threats, interrelated to various degrees, to what we have recognized as normal for NCAA sports right now...

1. Cancel culture - with star players, and/or whole teams, pledging to not participate/play until "xyz" demand is made, suddenly the whole college sports apparatus is vulnerable and fragile. If these actions work...expect more of them, perhaps even at critical times, like just before a big game, etc.

Even if demands are met and participants reengage and play the games, etc, large segments of the fanbases will tire of this noise and lose interest in pledging their dollars and time towards such a fickle pursuit...IMO.

2. Likeness compensation/payment of athletes - whether one agrees with this or not, any implementation of paying the athletes requires more money from a dwindling pot. Some schools can afford something here...many cannot.

3. Health considerations - there is no guarantee that we will have a vaccination for COVID...ever. Even if we do get a vaccine AND it works, now everyone's awareness about communicable diseases is all jacked up, don't be surprised to see an outsized reaction to the next flu/covid strain, etc. What is our criteria for shutting things down in the future, should they start back up that is?

4. Economics - simply, budgets everywhere are going to be under unprecedented strain and I think the "we'll just restart the economy" people are just now starting to see some of the real financial impacts from the reaction to COVID...and I think this is just getting started BTW.

Short version...NCAA D1 scholarship athletics may never look the same and one doesn't have to be a sage to see where any given non-revenue sport may end up somewhere down the road. I hope I am way wrong and everything goes back to normal soon...but I am seeing it going that way at this point.
I agree with your overall conclusion that things are really going to change, but I think your first 3 reasons are a bit strange.

This is going to be an almost 100% economic impact. School budgets are being slashed across the board. The first things to go are going to be extracurricular activities that don't make a profit. Most sports fall under this category. Unfortunately, that's how it should be. These are academic institutions. Athletics are an added bonus, but the academics will always be more important.
 
There will be several vaccines in the next year and more will become available as time goes by. Astronomical amounts of money are being spent to find a solution.

Pay cuts are based on percentage of salary. Lisa Bluder, Brands, Ferentz and McCaffery were required to take 10% they chose to take 15%. They could take the cut or donate the 15% back to the athletic department.
Rough estimates annual base pay
Ferentz 2.75 mil
McCaffery 2.8 mil
Bluder 650k
Brands 310k

I am optimistic things will return to normal after this year.

If there were fifty Iowa’s we could be optimistic. But if only half a dozen teams are left standing, it’s all over.
 
I agree with your overall conclusion that things are really going to change, but I think your first 3 reasons are a bit strange.

This is going to be an almost 100% economic impact. School budgets are being slashed across the board. The first things to go are going to be extracurricular activities that don't make a profit. Most sports fall under this category. Unfortunately, that's how it should be. These are academic institutions. Athletics are an added bonus, but the academics will always be more important.
They all interrelate to one another. One could certainly argue about the relative importance of the items I listed, but all of them IMO will play a part. Fewer fans in the stands, particularly for FB >>> fewer $$'s in the athletic department >>> more cuts.
 
With today's prediction that the P5 schools are eliminating(potentially) OOC football games this fall... that means UNI would drop off Iowa's schedule and the $$$ would be lost for the Panther program.

I fear there's a VERY real chance UNI wrestling won't survive.:(
 
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My fear is the next one down the pipe. Any potential pandemic and the media will be drumming the panic porn 24x7, and our wussified populous will demand we shut down because we have set the precedent that death is unacceptable.

And there will always be a potential pandemic. I honestly fear I may not see normalized life in my lifetime.
There always HAS been a potential pandemic. The problem is that this one is so contagious and relatively lethal compared to the normal diseases that sweep the country, and the hospitals fill up with Covid patients. Maybe just as important as a vaccine are better affordable therapies, so that your doctor can call in a scrip, and then you can beat this virus at home in just a few days.
The question is not whether death is acceptable to us. We've shown with tobacco, highway speed limits, fast food, and a few other things that some level of premature death is acceptable in this country, speaking as a guy who likes onion rings and going 85 down the interstate. At least with those things, I get to make a choice.
 
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There always HAS been a potential pandemic. The problem is that this one is so contagious and relatively lethal compared to the normal diseases that sweep the country, and the hospitals fill up with Covid patients. Maybe just as important as a vaccine are better affordable therapies, so that your doctor can call in a scrip, and then you can beat this virus at home in just a few days.
The question is not whether death is acceptable to us. We've shown with tobacco, highway speed limits, fast food, and a few other things that some level of premature death is acceptable in this country, speaking as a guy who likes onion rings and going 85 down the interstate. At least with those things, I get to make a choice.

The only reason the death rates haven't been higher is that we did not overwhelm hospitals ICU's. That is quickly changing in several states. In San Antonio they have 11% of staffed beds available and 48% of ventilators. Large population centers will be hit hardest, rural America will survive mostly unscathed, people with no health coverage will be the biggest victims. So with mis-assigned deaths and not assigned deaths, the death rate will be variable within population densities. The rate will never be acceptable for some, but there is only so much to be done. All we can do is take the best preventative measure and carry on. Hopefully those measure become second nature and life resumes as we knew it.
 
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The only reason the death rates haven't been higher is that we did not overwhelm hospitals ICU's. That is quickly changing in several states. In San Antonio they have 11% of staffed beds available and 48% of ventilators. Large population centers will be hit hardest, rural America will survive mostly unscathed, people with no health coverage will be the biggest victims. So with mis-assigned deaths and not assigned deaths, the death rate will be variable within population densities. The rate will never be acceptable for some, but there is only so much to be done. All we can do is take the best preventative measure and carry on. Hopefully those measure become second nature and life resumes as we knew it.
Hospitals usually run with about 98% capacity. That is one of the ways they make money. We are already seeing the average hospital stay down to about 3-5 days as opposed to the earlier predictions of 14 days. I agree though that at some point in time we have to agree to move on and accept what comes our way. What that is going to look like, I have no real idea. I live in a medium sized town 125 K in the middle of corn fields. In our county we have had (last I heard) 13 deaths with 11 of them being in a Long Term Care (LTC) facility. It seems like a lot of hoohaa about nothing to me, but I am not in a big city nor has it affected my life - in that I do not know anyone who has died from it. I did have an 80+ year old aunt with dementia contract the virus, but she recovered nicely.
It is going to be an interesting ride from here on out.
 
Here it was terrible in Mid-April, but getting better since then until about a week ago. With the opening up, we're starting to see some increases. I wouldn't call it a surge yet, but almost everyone "masks up" in busy public spaces around here. We thought that we had it bad here in April, but I'm shocked with Florida, Texas, and Arizona over the last couple of weeks.
Personally, I'd like to see a plan for producing abundant PPE and pharmaceuticals back in this country again ongoing and not just for this pandemic.
 
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