SEC plus-one model means non-conference opponents will likely sue
With the SEC’s decision to go with a conference-only format, North Texas’ game at Texas A&M on Sept. 12 is off, which translates into a $1.25 million hit to the UNT budget.
That $1.25 million is the amount A&M was set to pay UNT for that one game.
The SEC’s decision to eliminate its non-conference games and go with a plus-one format means all of the opponents who were scheduled to play the likes of Auburn, Texas A&M, Alabama etc. will not be receiving the six to seven figure checks for their road appearances.
In the first three weeks, SEC teams were scheduled to play the following opponents: Eastern Michigan, Texas-San Antonio, Nevada, Alcorn, Eastern Washington, New Mexico, Central Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, Charlotte, Abilene Christian, Mercer, East Tennessee State, Southeast Missouri, East Carolina, North Texas, Georgia State, South Alabama, Kent State, Furman and Rice.
Those schools are going to want their money. The paydays that come with take those losses in those games cover expenses far beyond football for all of those departments.
Expect this will go to the lawyers.
While the athletic directors will likely say these cancellations are as a result of an “act of God,” they lose that footing when they replace opponents with another. Power 5 conference athletic director is aware they are likely going to have to cut a check to opponents whose games were scrapped.
However flawed the system is, it’s what is in place. Places like North Texas and so many others are going to feel this in ways that will affect families all over the United States.
The ACC, Big 10 and SEC’s decision to go with reduced schedules means more than half of the 14-team Conference USA will lose a guarantee payout game.
Facing a potential massive financial hit this fall, UNT is not drawing up contingency plans to drop a sport from its athletic department. Others likely will have no choice.
A sizable portion of the annual budgets at places like North Texas, Florida Atlantic, Alabama-Birmingham and dozens of other athletic departments come from these “guarantee” games, like the one UNT just lost to A&M.
The potential effect of the cancellation of football and potentially men’s basketball threatens the fragile model that supports hundreds of jobs and scholarships at places far beyond the Pac-12 or SEC.
It is partly why so many athletic directors are proceeding with having a football coronavirus season, even mangled and abbreviated.
“The number of opportunities that could be eliminated for young people because we don’t know how long we will be managing through this, I really don’t want to think about it,” UNT athletic director Wren Baker said. “We could be in this scenario a year from now.”
That’s a good way to ruin a(nother) week.
“No one wants to cut a scholarship, but if you look at the revenue coming in,” Baker said, not quite finishing the sentence.
He doesn’t need to.
“We have the minimum number of sports, so we can’t alter it by NCAA requirement,” Baker said. “We cannot sponsor fewer sports. It is important that we offer a full complement of sports. A reduction would be the last thing we’d want to do. There has been no discussion about eliminating sports.
“You never say never, but we anticipate being able to continue on without that.”
There is a reason for that.
When I asked Baker how all of the schools plan to play through a pandemic, he was as honest anyone can be in this situation.
The answer is no one exactly knows. There is no guidebook. The reasons to do it are cash, jobs and scholarships.
“I do think we can implement social distancing and wearing masks at games, and encourage people who are in the high risk groups not to participate this year, then the mindset is let’s see if we can make this work,” he said.
North Texas is in a decent spot to try. It’s slated to start its fall practice the first week of August, and the Mean Green’s schedule is mostly intact.
Changes, however, are inevitable.
UNT is fortunate because its first five games are in Texas. It has two games outside of the state all season: at Middle Tennessee on Oct. 17 and at UAB on Nov. 14.
Baker said the school is looking at models that permit 50% capacity at Apogee Stadium, although it’s expected that percentage is going to go down.
At this point, Baker and the rest are simply trying to hold on, to preserve what’s there, and to avoid dropping a single sport or reduce a scholarship opportunity.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 10:58 AM.
