College Athletics and The Ring of Fire
posted by Scott Hood, 5/06/2008 02:51:00 AM
One of them – an older gentleman - called the afternoon sports talk show hosted by Jay Phillips and Duce Staley on 107.5 FM on Monday afternoon.
He said – if I recall correctly – that he had been a Gamecock Club member for 40 years. His contention was this: why should I have to pay more for tickets and other things (Gamecock Club dues, etc.) when USC can’t beat Clemson in football.
Phillips politely tried (at least in the beginning) to explain to him that the cost of doing business in the SEC (i.e. winning championships) was very expensive and USC had to catch up to the other schools it was mainly competing against – Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.
Of course, the whole SEC thing flew right over the caller’s head. He continued to argue that he shouldn’t be obligated to pay anything more out of his pocket until USC started beating Clemson in football.
As I listened, the phrase ‘living in the past’ entered my mind. The caller was clearly caught in a time warp. Not once did he mention USC beating any of its competitors in the SEC. In fact, I wondered if he even knew USC was in the SEC, No, it was all about Clemson.
While I realize the caller is probably in the minority when it comes to a lack of understanding of how modern college athletics works, it was still a little bit disturbing (and sad, actually) to hear a long-time USC fan essentially admit over the public airwaves that he wasn’t willing to pay the price for SEC success.
That’s fine, though, because it’s the caller’sright to say enough is enough and walk away.
Phillips had a clever expression to describe the mentality represented by the caller – they want SEC success at Conference USA prices.
During my ride to Lancaster for the Gamecock Club meeting, I called Phillips and we spoke for approximately 30 minutes about the call.
I had a suggestion – the next time someone like the gentleman on Monday calls into his school, simply ask them if they knew the total amount of money the USC athletic department was planning on spending over the next several years to upgrade the facilities in order to give the Gamecock athletic teams a better chance to win in the hyper-competitive SEC.
In case you didn’t know, here’s the figure: $200 million.
If that number shocks you, then you need to start paying closer attention. Also, welcome to the world of big-time college athletics.
And that was the figure we were given two years ago. Taking inflation into account, the figure might be even greater today. In fact, you can bet on it. By the time some of these facilities are actually built, the final cost might be substantially more than initially projected.
Here’s another good question for Phillips to ask: where does the caller think all that money is going to come from? The Legislature? Forget it. The City? No. Anyone in government? Heck, no.
The correct answer? The Gamecock fan base, of course. Wealthy donors first, followed by the multitudes of the less wealthy.
USC fans – no matter their age – have to understand there is a major arms race going on right now in college athletics when it comes to facilities. Some of USC’s competitors in the SEC have already constructed state-of-the-art facilities for their sports teams to compete in.
And they did so years ago.
But USC is just starting the process now. As a result, it has a lot of catching up to do.
But the reality of the SEC when it comes to football is this: the schools with the biggest budgets, the biggest stadiums and the best facilities are the ones that win consistently.
USC has the capability of joining that group, but it will take the Gamecock Nation digging a little deeper into its pocketbooks.
I sympathize with the caller a little bit because the age of innocence (if there ever was one) in college athletics has faded into history. As I’ve said before, there is very little difference today between pro sports and big-time college athletics.
The USC football team is, for all intents and purposes, a professional football franchise. The only difference is the players aren’t getting paid in the sense they don’t get a paycheck every week. Their scholarship serves as compensation for service rendered.
University athletic departments are multi-million enterprises. In fact, if you can envision USC athletic director Eric Hyman as the CEO of a $60 million corporation, you’re on the right track to understanding what Division I college athletics is all about.
College athletics is a business. Big business.
I’ll keep it simple: money rules.
There is no chicken-and-the-egg scenario here. The MONEY always comes first in big-time college athletics. Once the money is there, the facilities follow.
And then long-term success will flow.
Of course, that’s not guaranteed. But you have to jump through the first two hoops (money and facilities) before getting a crack at jumping through the third (long-term success).
When you get there, you just have to hope it’s not a ring of fire.
Unfortunately, there’s still a few South Carolina fans out there who still don’t get it.
One of them – an older gentleman - called the afternoon sports talk show hosted by Jay Phillips and Duce Staley on 107.5 FM on Monday afternoon.
He said – if I recall correctly – that he had been a Gamecock Club member for 40 years. His contention was this: why should I have to pay more for tickets and other things (Gamecock Club dues, etc.) when USC can’t beat Clemson in football.
Phillips politely tried (at least in the beginning) to explain to him that the cost of doing business in the SEC (i.e. winning championships) was very expensive and USC had to catch up to the other schools it was mainly competing against – Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.
Of course, the whole SEC thing flew right over the caller’s head. He continued to argue that he shouldn’t be obligated to pay anything more out of his pocket until USC started beating Clemson in football.
As I listened, the phrase ‘living in the past’ entered my mind. The caller was clearly caught in a time warp. Not once did he mention USC beating any of its competitors in the SEC. In fact, I wondered if he even knew USC was in the SEC, No, it was all about Clemson.
While I realize the caller is probably in the minority when it comes to a lack of understanding of how modern college athletics works, it was still a little bit disturbing (and sad, actually) to hear a long-time USC fan essentially admit over the public airwaves that he wasn’t willing to pay the price for SEC success.
That’s fine, though, because it’s the caller’sright to say enough is enough and walk away.
Phillips had a clever expression to describe the mentality represented by the caller – they want SEC success at Conference USA prices.
During my ride to Lancaster for the Gamecock Club meeting, I called Phillips and we spoke for approximately 30 minutes about the call.
I had a suggestion – the next time someone like the gentleman on Monday calls into his school, simply ask them if they knew the total amount of money the USC athletic department was planning on spending over the next several years to upgrade the facilities in order to give the Gamecock athletic teams a better chance to win in the hyper-competitive SEC.
In case you didn’t know, here’s the figure: $200 million.
If that number shocks you, then you need to start paying closer attention. Also, welcome to the world of big-time college athletics.
And that was the figure we were given two years ago. Taking inflation into account, the figure might be even greater today. In fact, you can bet on it. By the time some of these facilities are actually built, the final cost might be substantially more than initially projected.
Here’s another good question for Phillips to ask: where does the caller think all that money is going to come from? The Legislature? Forget it. The City? No. Anyone in government? Heck, no.
The correct answer? The Gamecock fan base, of course. Wealthy donors first, followed by the multitudes of the less wealthy.
USC fans – no matter their age – have to understand there is a major arms race going on right now in college athletics when it comes to facilities. Some of USC’s competitors in the SEC have already constructed state-of-the-art facilities for their sports teams to compete in.
And they did so years ago.
But USC is just starting the process now. As a result, it has a lot of catching up to do.
But the reality of the SEC when it comes to football is this: the schools with the biggest budgets, the biggest stadiums and the best facilities are the ones that win consistently.
USC has the capability of joining that group, but it will take the Gamecock Nation digging a little deeper into its pocketbooks.
I sympathize with the caller a little bit because the age of innocence (if there ever was one) in college athletics has faded into history. As I’ve said before, there is very little difference today between pro sports and big-time college athletics.
The USC football team is, for all intents and purposes, a professional football franchise. The only difference is the players aren’t getting paid in the sense they don’t get a paycheck every week. Their scholarship serves as compensation for service rendered.
University athletic departments are multi-million enterprises. In fact, if you can envision USC athletic director Eric Hyman as the CEO of a $60 million corporation, you’re on the right track to understanding what Division I college athletics is all about.
College athletics is a business. Big business.
I’ll keep it simple: money rules.
There is no chicken-and-the-egg scenario here. The MONEY always comes first in big-time college athletics. Once the money is there, the facilities follow.
And then long-term success will flow.
Of course, that’s not guaranteed. But you have to jump through the first two hoops (money and facilities) before getting a crack at jumping through the third (long-term success).
When you get there, you just have to hope it’s not a ring of fire.
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