This is a little dated (Sep 25, 2017) but Iowa Basketball retweeted it recently. As you will see, Delany received a $20M bonus in the offseason!! Are you kidding me? There are some interesting things brought up, including this:
And while ESPN’s public relations group will disagree, one has to wonder if the effects of the Big Ten’s jump to FOX are already being felt. Last weekend, Penn State’s trip to Iowa seemed like an easy pick for College Gameday, but the network instead opted to travel to New York City. Though this could be a stretch, one does wonder if Gameday would have went to Iowa City if the Big Ten had remained with ESPN. And considering the value of Gameday, that would be a big hit to Iowa and its national perception.
FOX seems to be spending a lot of time promoting its games on networks nobody watches or screwing up its promotions altogether. That’s a pretty substantial downgrade from the promotional machine that has College Gameday, especially when you add in the fact that the games, generally, aren’t broadcast as well.
For more proof, just look back at the matchup between Michigan and Purdue. Despite being FOX network’s first league Big Ten game of the new deal, FOX decided to bump it to Fox Business channel for a baseball game. FOX also bumped Maryland’s matchup with UCF for a NASCAR race. I don’t have anything against baseball or NASCAR and understand that games can go longer than planned, but shouldn’t FOX wants to make a statement about its coverage for its first few Big Ten games?
This leaves us with a pretty ugly picture about the Big Ten’s deal with FOX.
Through the first month of the deal, fans have already dealt with misguided promotions, bad camera angles, decreased production value, and multiple games on the FOX Business channel. Again, maybe this improves, but it’s been a rough go for what is easily one of the two biggest college conferences in the nation.
But what about the money?
The money’s got to be good, right?
As was detailed above, every Big Ten school is going to make a massive amount of money from this deal. Even the skeptics can’t deny this fact. For many, this is why the deal was signed. Most probably would prefer the games on ESPN or elsewhere, but most figured this was a sacrifice to make more money.
If you want an example of what that money has done so far, just think about this. Jim Delany received a $20 million dollar (!!!) bonus this offseason, despite the fact that Purdue’s football stadium still has visiting locker rooms without air conditioning.
That’s absolutely mind blowing. Delany is living like Scrooge McDuck while the student athletes (that make the Big Ten and Delany their money) are enduring 100 degree temperatures in a dated locker room. Under the current model, student athletes are never going to get compensated the same way as top-level administrators. But just seems inherently wrong.
College Tuition Compare estimated the average Big Ten tuition cost at $33,177 a year for out-of-state students in 2015-’16. I don’t pretend to know the exact amount a football scholarship costs for Big Ten programs, but based upon that number, Delany’s bonus this season could have paid for roughly 600 scholarships.
Hell, local YMCAs manage to have air conditioned locker rooms. What’s the point of signing a FOX deal that awards the Big Ten hundreds of millions of dollars if it can’t even give the student athletes the same facilities as a YMCA?
The answer?
To make sure Delany and other administrators pad their pocketbooks.
Perhaps things will change in the coming months and years with the Big Ten’s new FOX deal, but, so far, this looks like a deal that only serves the purpose of benefiting Delany and his fellow administrators. Fans have been subjected to an inferior product and student athletes are made to play in absurd conditions while Delany and his partners make off like bandits.
As long as college sports remain under the current system, there will always be inequity between the administrators and athletes, but it’s time the Big Ten front office stops throwing athletes and fans under the bus to benefit itself.
LINK: https://www.btpowerhouse.com/2017/9...t=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
And while ESPN’s public relations group will disagree, one has to wonder if the effects of the Big Ten’s jump to FOX are already being felt. Last weekend, Penn State’s trip to Iowa seemed like an easy pick for College Gameday, but the network instead opted to travel to New York City. Though this could be a stretch, one does wonder if Gameday would have went to Iowa City if the Big Ten had remained with ESPN. And considering the value of Gameday, that would be a big hit to Iowa and its national perception.
FOX seems to be spending a lot of time promoting its games on networks nobody watches or screwing up its promotions altogether. That’s a pretty substantial downgrade from the promotional machine that has College Gameday, especially when you add in the fact that the games, generally, aren’t broadcast as well.
For more proof, just look back at the matchup between Michigan and Purdue. Despite being FOX network’s first league Big Ten game of the new deal, FOX decided to bump it to Fox Business channel for a baseball game. FOX also bumped Maryland’s matchup with UCF for a NASCAR race. I don’t have anything against baseball or NASCAR and understand that games can go longer than planned, but shouldn’t FOX wants to make a statement about its coverage for its first few Big Ten games?
This leaves us with a pretty ugly picture about the Big Ten’s deal with FOX.
Through the first month of the deal, fans have already dealt with misguided promotions, bad camera angles, decreased production value, and multiple games on the FOX Business channel. Again, maybe this improves, but it’s been a rough go for what is easily one of the two biggest college conferences in the nation.
But what about the money?
The money’s got to be good, right?
As was detailed above, every Big Ten school is going to make a massive amount of money from this deal. Even the skeptics can’t deny this fact. For many, this is why the deal was signed. Most probably would prefer the games on ESPN or elsewhere, but most figured this was a sacrifice to make more money.
If you want an example of what that money has done so far, just think about this. Jim Delany received a $20 million dollar (!!!) bonus this offseason, despite the fact that Purdue’s football stadium still has visiting locker rooms without air conditioning.
That’s absolutely mind blowing. Delany is living like Scrooge McDuck while the student athletes (that make the Big Ten and Delany their money) are enduring 100 degree temperatures in a dated locker room. Under the current model, student athletes are never going to get compensated the same way as top-level administrators. But just seems inherently wrong.
College Tuition Compare estimated the average Big Ten tuition cost at $33,177 a year for out-of-state students in 2015-’16. I don’t pretend to know the exact amount a football scholarship costs for Big Ten programs, but based upon that number, Delany’s bonus this season could have paid for roughly 600 scholarships.
Hell, local YMCAs manage to have air conditioned locker rooms. What’s the point of signing a FOX deal that awards the Big Ten hundreds of millions of dollars if it can’t even give the student athletes the same facilities as a YMCA?
The answer?
To make sure Delany and other administrators pad their pocketbooks.
Perhaps things will change in the coming months and years with the Big Ten’s new FOX deal, but, so far, this looks like a deal that only serves the purpose of benefiting Delany and his fellow administrators. Fans have been subjected to an inferior product and student athletes are made to play in absurd conditions while Delany and his partners make off like bandits.
As long as college sports remain under the current system, there will always be inequity between the administrators and athletes, but it’s time the Big Ten front office stops throwing athletes and fans under the bus to benefit itself.
LINK: https://www.btpowerhouse.com/2017/9...t=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Last edited:
