Day 4 From The SEC Meetings In Destin
posted by Scott Hood, Friday, May 29, 2009
11:00 - The final day of the SEC spring meetings have arrived. We're back at the luxurious Hiltin at Sandestin hotel where Commissioner Mike Slive will conduct the last few meetings here. The Athletic Directors began meeting at 9 a.m. ET and will continue until 1 p.m. The Presidens are also meeting from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is a "General Business Session" from 1 to 2 p.m. After that, Mike Slive will meet with the media for a final press conference at approx. 2 p.m. That's when Slive should release the financial payout information. As I reported yesterday, USC should expect to receive about $12 million from the conference. That should be one of the largest payouts since they played two Thursday night games last season. Next season, the payouts will escalate to about $17 milion with the new TV deal.
11:30 - I just spoke with Tony Barnhart of the AJC/CBS and we went over the tentative CBS schedule for the 2009 season. CBS is scheduled to show a doubleheader on Oct. 10 at 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. The prime time game should be Florida at LSU. What I found intersting was his comment about the 3:30 p.m. slot. He said right now CBS executives are looking at the Ole Miss-Alabama game with the hope both teams will be undefeated on that date. Of course, Ole Miss plays at USC on Thur. Sept. 24 so the Gamecocks will have a lot to say about whether the Rebels are unbeaten when Oct. 10 rolls around. By the way, USC hosts Kentucky on that date, which would appear to be a good candidate for the 12:30 ESPN syndicated game or ESPN/ESPN2. Of course, it will be on TV somewhere since all conference games will be shown on either CBS or one of the ESPN channels starting in 2009. The other DH is Sat. 11/14 and TB said Florida-USC should get consideration for either the 12 noon or 3:30 slots but that it was too early to say.
1:30 - The athletic directors have emerged from their morning meetings and we had an opportunity to speak with Eric Hyman. He said that the AD's support a cap on the number of football prospects a school could sign annually. The question is what will the final number be. Right now, it appears the number will be 30, which is still five more than the maximum number of players a school can bring in. Also, there appears to be little support for an early signing period. Most of the AD's are opposed since the proposed early date would fall somewhere in December when final exams are going on. It would also mean recruiting during the season would intensify and possibly distract the coaches from the games. Most the coaches seem to support an early signing date, but it looks like they'll lose on that issue. Also, there appears to be mixed feeling on increasing the number of GA's who can actually coach on the field from 2 to 4. In this era of cost containment, some ADS's are concerned about the proliferation of support personnel.
3:30 - We just finished with Commissioner Mike Slive's press conference marking the end of the SEC's spring meeting. A couple of things. First, the league reported a record distribution of $132.5 million to the 12 schools, an average of $11.1 million per school. That figure is expected to inflate considerably next season with the new TV contract with CBS and ESPN. The conference does not announce the payouts to individual schools, but considering USC received extra money for playing the two Thursday night games in 2008, that would push the Gamwecocks towards the $12 million figure. Also, in somewhat of a surprise, the league presidents approved limiting SEC football teams to no more than 28 signees annually. We had been told that the league and coaches would settle at 30, but the presidents felt the lower number was better. By the way, that rule is effective immediately, so it will impact the 2010 signing class.
That entry marks the end of my blogging for the SEC meetings. I will have an article on the site shortly getting into additional detail about the above topics.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
We've reached the final day of the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Fla.
11:00 - The final day of the SEC spring meetings have arrived. We're back at the luxurious Hiltin at Sandestin hotel where Commissioner Mike Slive will conduct the last few meetings here. The Athletic Directors began meeting at 9 a.m. ET and will continue until 1 p.m. The Presidens are also meeting from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is a "General Business Session" from 1 to 2 p.m. After that, Mike Slive will meet with the media for a final press conference at approx. 2 p.m. That's when Slive should release the financial payout information. As I reported yesterday, USC should expect to receive about $12 million from the conference. That should be one of the largest payouts since they played two Thursday night games last season. Next season, the payouts will escalate to about $17 milion with the new TV deal.
11:30 - I just spoke with Tony Barnhart of the AJC/CBS and we went over the tentative CBS schedule for the 2009 season. CBS is scheduled to show a doubleheader on Oct. 10 at 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. The prime time game should be Florida at LSU. What I found intersting was his comment about the 3:30 p.m. slot. He said right now CBS executives are looking at the Ole Miss-Alabama game with the hope both teams will be undefeated on that date. Of course, Ole Miss plays at USC on Thur. Sept. 24 so the Gamecocks will have a lot to say about whether the Rebels are unbeaten when Oct. 10 rolls around. By the way, USC hosts Kentucky on that date, which would appear to be a good candidate for the 12:30 ESPN syndicated game or ESPN/ESPN2. Of course, it will be on TV somewhere since all conference games will be shown on either CBS or one of the ESPN channels starting in 2009. The other DH is Sat. 11/14 and TB said Florida-USC should get consideration for either the 12 noon or 3:30 slots but that it was too early to say.
1:30 - The athletic directors have emerged from their morning meetings and we had an opportunity to speak with Eric Hyman. He said that the AD's support a cap on the number of football prospects a school could sign annually. The question is what will the final number be. Right now, it appears the number will be 30, which is still five more than the maximum number of players a school can bring in. Also, there appears to be little support for an early signing period. Most of the AD's are opposed since the proposed early date would fall somewhere in December when final exams are going on. It would also mean recruiting during the season would intensify and possibly distract the coaches from the games. Most the coaches seem to support an early signing date, but it looks like they'll lose on that issue. Also, there appears to be mixed feeling on increasing the number of GA's who can actually coach on the field from 2 to 4. In this era of cost containment, some ADS's are concerned about the proliferation of support personnel.
3:30 - We just finished with Commissioner Mike Slive's press conference marking the end of the SEC's spring meeting. A couple of things. First, the league reported a record distribution of $132.5 million to the 12 schools, an average of $11.1 million per school. That figure is expected to inflate considerably next season with the new TV contract with CBS and ESPN. The conference does not announce the payouts to individual schools, but considering USC received extra money for playing the two Thursday night games in 2008, that would push the Gamwecocks towards the $12 million figure. Also, in somewhat of a surprise, the league presidents approved limiting SEC football teams to no more than 28 signees annually. We had been told that the league and coaches would settle at 30, but the presidents felt the lower number was better. By the way, that rule is effective immediately, so it will impact the 2010 signing class.
That entry marks the end of my blogging for the SEC meetings. I will have an article on the site shortly getting into additional detail about the above topics.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.