This blog is set up for the HHP 126, HHP 157, HHP 420, and HHP 428 courses along with other Sports Students as a way to communicate with fellow classmates and faculty members
Texas athletics generates $200.7 million in revenue, $22.1 million profit in 2019-20 fiscal year
Early portion of the pandemic brought down revenue totals in basketball, baseball, but Texas football covered that with $105 million profit for 2019
Spring sports were affected the most - baseball's revenue dropped by 2/3rds
Both basketball teams saw revenue fall by more than 20%
COVID-19 didn't completely stop the Texas athletic department, but new figures shed light on how the pandemic had an impact on the Longhorns' bottom line.
UT athletics still turned an eye-popping $22.1 million profit for the 2019-20 athletic year, according to audited figures. However, the total revenue dropped more than $23 million down to $200.8 million for the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31 — approximately a 10% drop from the 2018-19 athletic year.
Yes, Texas makes a lot of money, but the Horns spend a lot, too. The athletic department spent $178.7 million in expenses for things such as scholarships ($11.8 million), head coaches' salaries and benefits ($20.5 million) and team travel ($7.5 million).
The audited figures obtained by the American-Statesman through an open records request show the Longhorns took financial hits in men's and women's basketball and baseball. All three major sports were cut short once the pandemic took hold in March 2020.
Still, UT athletic director Chris Del Conte guided the financial behemoth well into the black on the strength of $146.8 million in football revenue, department-wide salary cuts, layoffs and belt-tightening across the board.
"It's been a trying and difficult time for us all, but I'm proud of our entire team's effort to put us in the best possible position to be successful," Del Conte told the Statesman.
The annual audit by Austin accounting firm Maxwell, Locke & Ritter lays bare just how important football is to the entire UT operation.
The Longhorns played a full 12-game season in 2019 and won the Alamo Bowl. The school took in $44.1 million in ticket revenue for 2019, almost a $2 million jump the year coming off a Sugar Bowl victory at the end of the 2018 season.
Texas fans made $33.6 million in football donations, and football generated $26.6 million through licensing and sponsorships. Thanks to Longhorn Network's annual $15 million check, UT took in $20.6 million in media rights, according to the report.
The report also singles out one donor for a $6.5 million cash contribution that accounts for "approximately 13% of all contributions received by the Department." Texas athletics showed a total of $49,357,250 in donations for the 2019-20 fiscal year.
The UT athletic department is a self-sustaining operation. No public money is used for any aspect of UT athletics.
All in, Texas had $146.8 million in football revenue against $41.8 million in expenses.
That surplus — $104,923,030 to be exact — is what funds the rest of the athletic department. Football, men's basketball and baseball are typically the only three Longhorns sports that turn a profit.
But the pandemic cut the basketball season short. The Big 12 wound up canceling the men's and women's tournaments in Kansas City, Mo., and both NCAA Tournaments also were canceled. That resulted in lost revenue to the conference, which splits the money with its members.
UT men's basketball finished the 2019-20 athletic year taking in only $13.5 million compared to $16.7 the previous fiscal year. Women's basketball brought in $2.1 million compared to $2.5 million the year before.
Baseball saw a huge drop. Ticket revenue saw a dramatic drop since the majority of the season was canceled. The Horns took in $451,076 in baseball ticket revenue during the 2020 season. The previous year, that number was $1.5 million.
Overall, the baseball program brought in $6.1 million during the 2019 season. With the pandemic canceling everything, the Horns made only $2.9 million in baseball revenue in 2020.
Softball also saw a similar decline, going from $1.3 million in 2019 down to $935,547 in 2020.
UT announced at the time that 274 athletic department employees would see pay cuts and 11 staffers would be temporarily furloughed with benefits. Another 35 were laid off and 35 more vacant positions would go unfilled. At the time, UT budgeted for 390 athletic department employees. The moves were designed to save $54.3 million overall.
Del Conte hoped that the department's 26 coaches would agree to temporary salary reductions. However, some balked and demanded no reductions at all. Technically, no coach had to give up pay since the terms were contractually agreed upon.
Del Conte later said the money would be deferred, and those who accepted the temporarily reduction would eventually be made whole.
The athletic department continued an annual contribution back to the school. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, UT athletics sent $5 million to administrators.
The Longhorns still carry a substantial debt load. UT athletics still owes $174.9 million to creditors, and debt service payments are scheduled through 2044. The school used long-term debt to fund the first major expansion of Royal-Memorial Stadium earlier this decade.
Texas has an $8.7 million principal payment and $7.3 in interest due for the 2021-22 fiscal year, according to the report. University of Texas general obligation municipal bonds carry a "AAA" rating, the highest possible.
It's unclear how these numbers will look going forward considering the pandemic isn't over yet and the 2020 football season started at the beginning of the current fiscal year.
Football ticket renewals happen in the spring. Some ticket money for the 2020 football season was accounted for in the 2019-20 report. Ticket renewals are now underway for the 2021 season. A drop in ticket revenue may show up on next year's report.
If donors big or small withdrew their support after "The Eyes of Texas" school song imbroglio, that won't show up until next year's report, either.
If the Horns play a full 12-game season with a full Royal-Memorial Stadium, the department should have no problem turning out eye-popping numbers for its 2021-22 fiscal year. The school is expected to bring its new south end zone expansion project online in 2021, too. The new project features more premium seating and stadium club amenities.
The 2020 football season featured only five home games, one less than a normal season usually has. School officials also allowed only 25% capacity and moved season ticket holders from their normal seat locations. Many fans opted to freeze their tickets for one year, or they could have requested a refund.
Texas averaged 17,138 fans in five games during the pandemic. Royal-Memorial Stadium holds just over 100,000 normally, but the construction project temporarily reduced that to the mid-90,000s.
Changing football coaches shouldn't be a huge financial burden, either. Former UT coach Tom Herman was owed at least $15 million in guaranteed money for the final three years of his contract. Some of Herman's assistants were owed millions in guaranteed money, too.
New coach Steve Sarkisian is expected to receive a six-year contract worth more than $30 million in guaranteed money. All contracts must be approved by the UT System Board of Regents.
As of Aug. 31, 2020, the UT athletic department had $50.1 million earmarked for the school's endowment accounts that totaled $4.7 billion, according to the report. That number would have encompassed the S&P 500's huge market drawdown when the pandemic began and its rapid recovery off the March 2020 lows.
In short, UT athletics managed its way through the pandemic rather well, financially speaking. The Horns just didn't make as much money as they normally do.
But have no fear, Texas fans. The Longhorns' streak of generating at least $200 million in annual revenue is now at three years and counting.
Dartmouth Reinstates All 5 Programs After Title IX Claims
After the women's swimming and diving and women's golf programs threatened to file Title IX complaints, Dartmouth has decided to immediately reinstate all five varsity athletic programs they cut last July: men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's golf, and men's lightweight rowing.
The college first announced its decision to cut the five varsity teams in order to save a projected $2 million. The school said that after cutting these programs, the percentage of women in varsity athletics would be "virtually identical to the percentage of women in the undergraduate student body, ensuring Title IX compliance. "
West Virginia law firm Bailey Glaser LLP and attorney Arthur H. Bryant found otherwise using the most recent public data. Before the five varsity sports were cut, the 2019-2020 undergraduate class consisted of 49.06% women while the percentage of women competing in varsity sports was 44.87%. Post-athletic cuts in July, the percentage of women in varsity sports increased to 46.23%, still falling short of the percentage of women in the undergraduate population by 2.83%.
In December, Bryant sent a letter to Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon and Dartmouth Athletic Director Harry Sheehy on behalf of the women's swimming and diving and women's golf programs requesting their immediate reinstatement due to the Title IX violations.
Earlier Friday morning, Hanlon sent an email to the five teams expressing sympathy for the student-athletes and explaining the decision to reinstate their programs:
"This past summer, as part of a campus-wide effort to address pressing institutional challenges, we took the difficult step of eliminating five varsity athletic teams, including the sport in which you excel. I understand how profoundly disappointing this process has been for you, your teammates, and your families.
"As you will recall, in determining which teams would be eliminated, Athletic Director Harry Sheehy and his team established a series of factors and considerations to be used in the assessment. We have recently learned that elements of the data that Athletics used to confirm Title IX compliance may not have been complete.
"Later this morning, I will send a message to our community announcing that in order to ensure that we are complying to Title IX and fully living up to our institutional values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, we will immediately reinstate all five varsity teams and launch a gender equity review of varsity athletics. Your feedback will be solicited as part of this review."
The former coaches of the programs will be offered the right of first refusal to return to their positions, according to Dartmouth Athletics' FAQ. If they refuse the positions, the search for coaches will begin "immediately."
This brings the number of sponsored men's programs at Dartmouth to 16 and the number of sponsored women's programs to 18.
For nearly 7 months the Dartmouth swimming and diving team, alongside multiple of the other cut varsity teams, have protested the athletic cuts. Here is a short timeline of some of those actions:
In August, Dartmouth swim and dive raised diversity concerns, arguing that the cuts adversely affected Asian-American athletes.
Two schools have saved their women's programs alone: East Carolina University reinstated their women's swim and dive program alongside women's tennis earlier in January and a judge granted an injunction preventing Iowa from cutting women's swimming and diving.
Bryant and his co-counsel worked on the Title IX cases for both William and Mary and East Carolina. In the Bailey and Glaser press release about Dartmouth's reinstatement, Bryant said, "This is a huge victory for the women at Dartmouth who stood up for their rights, the entire Dartmouth community, and everyone who cares about gender equity and the law.
"Dartmouth screwed up royally. It publicly announced it was eliminating teams to comply with Title IX when their elimination flagrantly violated Title IX. This is the fifth college in the past few months that illegally eliminated women's teams and then reinstated them when we confronted them. Schools need to get the message: Title IX has been the law for almost 50 years. It guarantees women equal opportunities, athletic financial aid, and treatment. If schools don't provide that, the women can sue — and they will win."
Last July, we announced the elimination of five varsity athletic teams: women's and men's swimming and diving; women's and men's golf; and men's lightweight rowing. We made this difficult decision as one component of a broad institutional response to increasing financial pressure resulting from our looming structural deficit, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the desire for more flexibility in undergraduate admissions.
To determine which teams would be eliminated, Director of Athletics Harry Sheehy and his team established a series of factors and considerations to be used in their assessment. We have recently learned that elements of the data that Athletics used to confirm continued Title IX compliance may not have been complete.
In light of this discovery, Dartmouth will immediately reinstate all five teams. Furthermore, in order to ensure that we are complying with the law and living up to our institutional values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, we have commissioned the following reviews:
-Holland & Knight, a national law firm with expertise in Title IX compliance, will conduct a gender-equity review of varsity athletics. It will request and consider input from student-athletes and alumni, including those from the reinstated teams, as part of the review.
-The Ivy League will conduct an NCAA compliance review of varsity athletics.
-PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dartmouth's auditors, will conduct a process-and-control review of Dartmouth Athletics.
This comprehensive set of reviews will strengthen our practices and governance structures and ensure that Dartmouth Athletics is fully compliant with all Title IX, NCAA, and Ivy League policies. The findings and recommendations will be delivered to the Board of Trustees Committee on Audit and Oversight and me. At the conclusion of the reviews, we will publish an action plan and take any steps necessary to ensure compliance with Title IX and to address institutional goals, priorities, and challenges. More information about the decision and this process is available at https://dartmouthsports.com/sports/2021/1/29/faq-reinstatement-of-athletic-teams-210129.aspx.
This has been a difficult year on numerous fronts. We know that many in our community have been disappointed by the decisions we have made within Athletics and across the institution. The news that the data used to confirm Title IX compliance in connection with the team eliminations may not have been complete only adds to that disappointment.
We sincerely apologize that this process has been, and continues to be, so painful to our current and former student-athletes and all who support them. Through the actions above, we will make sure that any future decisions will be based on accurate data. Our sincere hope is that these reviews and team reinstatements will create an opportunity for us to come together as a community as we navigate the challenging times ahead."
Carla Williams speaks at a news conference announcing her appointment as the Athletic Director for the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. Williams is the first African-American female Athletic Director at a Power 5 school. (Zack Wajsgras/The Daily Progress via AP)
In its second public announcement in the last nine months regarding measures designed to help mitigate budget shortfalls created by the coronavirus pandemic, Virginia revealed Friday it's implementing athletic department layoffs and won't fill many open positions.
U.Va. didn't reveal how many employees would be affected by the "reduction in staffing levels and (by) not filling several open positions." It's the latest step taken by an athletic department that on May 1 announced 72 head coaches, assistant coaches and staff members would take voluntary salary reductions of 5 to 10% from mid-April through the end of 2020.
"These are incredibly painful decisions, but they are, unfortunately, a necessary part of an overall strategy to address the financial challenges we face," U.Va. athletic director Carla Williams said Friday in a statement released by the athletic department. "We have a very dedicated staff and the evidence of that dedication and shared sacrifice has been at the forefront during this pandemic. Despite these challenges, the priority remains delivering championship opportunities for our coaches and student-athletes."
Williams, who has been U.Va.'s athletic director since October 2017, was among U.Va. staffers who took pay cuts last spring. All 20 of U.Va.'s head coaches volunteered to accept a cut.
Carla Williams speaks at a news conference announcing her appointment as the Athletic Director for the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. Williams is the first African-American female Athletic Director at a Power 5 school. (Zack Wajsgras/The Daily Progress via AP)
In its second public announcement in the last nine months regarding measures designed to help mitigate budget shortfalls created by the coronavirus pandemic, Virginia revealed Friday it's implementing athletic department layoffs and won't fill many open positions.
U.Va. didn't reveal how many employees would be affected by the "reduction in staffing levels and (by) not filling several open positions." It's the latest step taken by an athletic department that on May 1 announced 72 head coaches, assistant coaches and staff members would take voluntary salary reductions of 5 to 10% from mid-April through the end of 2020.
"These are incredibly painful decisions, but they are, unfortunately, a necessary part of an overall strategy to address the financial challenges we face," U.Va. athletic director Carla Williams said Friday in a statement released by the athletic department. "We have a very dedicated staff and the evidence of that dedication and shared sacrifice has been at the forefront during this pandemic. Despite these challenges, the priority remains delivering championship opportunities for our coaches and student-athletes."
Williams, who has been U.Va.'s athletic director since October 2017, was among U.Va. staffers who took pay cuts last spring. All 20 of U.Va.'s head coaches volunteered to accept a cut.
A rendering of the new standalone football facility. (Image courtesy Auburn University)
Auburn's new standalone football facility has a new estimated price tag and expected date of completion.
The Tigers' new Football Performance Center is expected to cost $91.9 million and be completed by July 2022, according to materials related to Auburn's next board of trustees meeting, which is set for Feb. 5. At that meeting, the project will be up for final approval.
The program's standalone facility is set to cover 12.5 acres and sit at 233,400 square feet, with construction taking place at the site of the old Hutsell Track on Biggio Drive. The project will house Auburn's football operations building, a new indoor practice facility and two natural turf practice fields. It will include a new weight room, locker room for players, a players lounge, barbershop, two recording studios, a flight simulator and team meeting rooms while also being home to the program's sports medicine and nutrition offices, football administration offices, equipment rooms and laundry.
The football operations building will take up 138,100 square feet, while the new indoor practice facility it set to span 95,300 square feet.
The $91.9 million cost of the project is expected to be financed by university bonds, with the debt service to be paid by Auburn athletics department funds.
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
We're getting a clearer picture on just how much detail, perseverance and discipline it's going to take to pull off the most difficult single-site championship event in American sports history. The 2021 NCAA Tournament will be a gargantuan undertaking. We're now 45 days out from Selection Sunday and learning a bit more with each passing week.
My sources have shared some significant approved protocols and schedule details that were disseminated to select high-ranking people across the NCAA's membership this week. It's unclear whether or not all of these decisions and details will be made public, but I can share them here:
Travel
• All teams that qualify for the NCAA Tournament within a 350-mile radius of Indianapolis will travel by charter bus. And in an effort to combat COVID-19 positives that could surface after arrival in Indianapolis, teams' traveling parties will split up into three buses to allow for at least six feet of space between each person. • Teams that fly will use private airports (and fly on private planes, like always) unless no private airport is accessible, which isn't expected to be an issue for most schools. As I reported last week, eating and drinking while traveling by bus or plane is not prohibited. The NCAA of course will mandate mask-wearing, but it will also be supplying schools with goggles and face shields and encouraging teams to wear them when traveling to best protect against potential airborne transmission of the coronavirus while sharing an enclosed space for hours at a time. • The NCAA will pay for all travel, lodging and food for every team in the tournament. • Teams can travel with as many as 34 people, all of whom will be designated Tier 1 and be subjected to -- and must pass --seven straight COVID-19 tests in order to depart for Indianapolis. Pep bands and cheer squads will not be allowed up through at least the Elite Eight. As for the Final Four, decisions on those groups are undetermined as of now. Here are two NCAA diagrams that depict how travel seating must be done.
Here are the seating charts obtained by CBS Sports for mandated travel seating to the NCAA Tournament. The intent is to keep at least six feet of distance at all times to best reduce risk of transmission. pic.twitter.com/TYrJIDPxmK
• Every school that wins its automatic bid prior to Saturday, March 13, will depart for Indianapolis on March 13. The teams that earn their auto bid in the afternoon or early evening of March 13 will also arrive in Indy late on the night of the 13th. All remaining auto-bid winners, from late Saturday night and throughout Sunday, will leave for Indianapolis on Sunday. • As for the at-large teams, even if a school is a lock it will be asked to not leave for Indianapolis until its inclusion in the field of 68 is confirmed on the Selection Show. There will be some teams that leave Sunday night, provided they can get to Indianapolis before the wee hours. All others will depart the Monday morning after. • The NCAA is asking teams with "high probability" of being selected as at-larges to stay in their conference tournament location between the end of their league tourney and the bracket reveal. This ask could make things tricky for a team like Gonzaga, but there is some room for flexibility where practical.
• The NCAA has booked four hotels in downtown Indianapolis that will solely be dedicated to housing tourney teams. All those in traveling parties will only be allowed to eat in designated rooms at their hotels for the entirety of their stay. No guests will be allowed. In fact, no one who isn't Tier 1, NCAA staff included (with the exception of hotel employees) will be allowed into these hotels. • From the NCAA's protocols document: "Each travel party will be assigned 34 rooms on an entire floor within the hotel. Individuals will be assigned their own room and will not be allowed to share rooms." • Officials will also have a hotel to themselves. In a normal NCAA Tournament there are 100 officials assigned to 67 games. This year that number will dwindle to 60. • All Tier 1 personnel connected to the NCAA Tournament will wear Kinexon tracking equipment to gather data that will inform contact-tracing protocols. This will be crucial when COVID-19 positives surface after Selection Sunday. More nuanced details about how this will work will be decided in the coming weeks. • The Indiana Convention Center is going to have 12 practice courts set up. Teams will also have practice schedules to accommodate them at least once at the venues they'll be slotted to play at in the first round. Practices will be held on every off day of the NCAA Tournament calendar, beginning on March 15. Teams that arrive on March 13 can begin practicing that Monday. • Coaches will not be allowed to scout upcoming opponents' games in person. The NCAA will instead supply teams with video as soon as games end. From a tactical standpoint, this is a long-enjoyed perk for assistants who will instead continue to scout the way they do during the season.
Fordham needs to find a new coach -- and a new league
Jeff Neubauer stepped down as the coach of Fordham on Tuesday. This sever was viewed inside the industry as an inevitable one come March, but instead it arrives at January's end with Neubauer shuffling off with a 61-104 record. His hire was a befuddling one at the time, in 2015, when he came via Eastern Kentucky. Now, yet again, Fordham attempts a reboot.
I won't bother with potential candidate names. It's unclear where the school and its athletic director will lean at this stage; a hiring decision won't be made for weeks. The bigger factor: No matter who takes the job, Fordham's problems transcend the person assigned with righting a ship that's been in the wrong body of water for decades.
This is one of the five toughest jobs among the 10 multi-bid conferences. That opinion is backed up by Fordham's inability, despite being located in talent-sufficient New York City, to almost never leave the basement of the Atlantic 10 since it arrived more than 25 years ago. The last coach to leave FU with an above-.500 record was Tom Penders in 1986. The only coach in the past 60 years to last at least three seasons and win at least 50% of his games happens to be the winningest coach in school history, John Bach. He left his post 53 years ago.
The challenges inherent to the job are complex but the biggest is simple to identify while at the same time hard to make amends with: Fordham is in the wrong conference. Yes, it's a quality athletic department in the A-10 in some of its other sports, but this is not working in men's basketball. Talk to proud alums who remain devoted to the program and no shortage of them will say the same. It's got one of the most historic home venues in the country, but the fact Lew Alcindor played his final high school game at Rose Hill Gym in 1965 isn't securing one recruit.
KenPom.com's rankings track back to the 1996-97 season. Fordham's highest end-of-season finish is 127th. Its average finish is 218th. The school has never made the NCAA Tournament since joining the A-10 in 1995. The program's last appearance was in 1992; it's danced just four times in its history. FU's win percentage in league play across nearly 26 seasons is a putrid .248 (100-304 record) while it's overall win percentage isn't that much better (.313), with a 239-502 mark since the Rams left the Patriot League for the A-10. The team has had two seasons above .500 since it joined and hasn't won more than 18 games in a season since 1990-91.
Fordham is the A-10's only team in the greater New York City area, so on some level the league clearly values the school. But it has to be exhausting to dwell in the basement almost every season without exception. We've seen enough at this point. Fordham brass should be looking for a way out in an effort to improve its standing in the sport; the program is a laughingstock. It will take a near-miracle hire to pull the Rams out of a decades-long dormancy.
Two leagues make sense: The Colonial Athletic Association or the MAAC. At that level Fordham would be more competitive and ultimately, in time, more likely to break through and finally get back to the NCAAs. Maybe it takes another six or seven seasons -- but that's likely to be faster than sticking it out in the A-10 with whatever coach is next to agree to take on a gig larded with challenges.
Referees have only affected a handful of postponements so far this season. Getty Images
Teams keep testing positive; refs mostly have not
There have been 2,431 games played this season. Hundreds have been postponed or canceled. According to the diligent, daily-updated research done by St. Bonaventure fan site SBUnfurled, 178 out of the 346 programs playing (that's 51.4%) have paused at least once since Nov. 25.
But there's another group mandatory to these games that, astoundingly and fortunately, has almost entirely dodged positive-case rates that have hampered college basketball: the refs.
This came to light all the more because, on Wednesday, the sport had a rare case of game postponements that was solely due to a positive COVID-19 case with an official. UConn announced its next two games would be postponed after a referee who worked the Butler-UConn game Tuesday subsequently popped positive. (We don't know which official it is, but the box score lists the three candidates.) The only other instance so far this season where a power-conference game was pushed off because of a positive test from an official happened on Dec. 23 (UCLA-Oregon).
I spoke with NCAA coordinator of officiating J.D. Collins this week. Collins said aside from the three games above that were impacted, only two or three others in the entire sport this season, so far as he could remember or had been briefed on, even had officiating crews down from three people to two. There is yet to be a game this season officiated by just one person (a fact helped by all the power leagues paying money to have a standby/replacement ref ready and within driving distance for almost every conference game).
"What we are averaging, 75-80% of scheduled games are being played, and officials, it's probably sub-3%, sub-5% that have had an impact on that," Collins said. "I think we're doing terrific. I got to give kudos to the 15 coordinators of officials at the league level. They didn't sign up to be air-traffic controllers, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day figuring out what games are or are not getting played, what officials are getting moved. Praise should be given to the coordinators and the officials for what they've done and keeping those games played."
So, all told, fewer than 10 games have been either postponed or tangibly impacted by positive COVID-19 tests from a referee.
In the lead-up to the season this was not the expectation. In fact, the worry was that games could be affected weekly, in some capacity, on account of officials testing positive. Instead, pretty much the only thing that's been running smoothly in the sport has been the reliability of the zebras.
It must be asked: How could there be such a discrepancy between team-wide pauses and lack of positive tests for officials? Especially since a portion of officials are still needing to travel on commercial flights in order to get to some games? It also must be pointed out that most officials have been responsible for testing themselves, then overnight-shipping same-day samples, and awaiting clearance. This system has been working … albeit somewhat on the honor system. The oversight from league coordinators has been strict, and Collins was sure to note that every official has been sent the message that any kind of behavior that could jeopardize games or bring to question manipulation of testing protocols would lead to severe punishments that would jeopardize these officials' livelihoods.
"If you want to referee this year, this is what you have to do," Collins said. "The officials have done their job. We've asked them to travel separately, not eat meals together, be in different cars, do everything outside the ordinary on an individual basis. So far, it's been successful."
Officials are also wearing Kinexon contact-tracing devices while on the road, which is significant because the tracking data helps objectively tell the story. Collins said the inventory of working officials has also dropped from 850 to about 450, in terms of the numbers of referees across the country who are still able to work three or four games per week. (In a normal year, top-level officials will burn the candle at both ends and work six games in a week.)
The arrangement isn't flawless, but it has informed the NCAA and conference offices about the potential success to be had when individuals are taking every precaution -- and how the positivity rate is drastically lower than teams, which obviously are together a lot more often and using shared spaces much more frequently. On an individual basis, the officials appear to be officiating themselves nicely.
@ me
Each week I highlight reader questions, so find me on Twitter and @ me with whatever you'd like answered.
How much money will they spend on extra transportation? They will have to do continuous bus routes from hotels or have 2 extra buses per team
This is in regard to the NCAA footing the bill for teams to travel to and from the NCAA tourney. I don't have an exact number for you, but if you want some napkin math, consider that a private plane both ways on average (according to sources I checked in with about this, and this is just an estimate) could run around $45,000. Again: on average. Charter buses are obviously much cheaper and on average could be about $12,000 when accounting for teams needing three buses. A broad/optimistic starting point: If 40 teams travel by bus, that's $480,000 and if 28 teams travel by plane, that's $1,340,000. Baking in other costs, the NCAA is footing north of $2 million to provide travel.
Has there been any indication given as to what happens if a team has a positive test during the tournament? Forfeit?
There has not yet. I expect this to be made public by mid-February. The crucial context is that the NCAA desperately wants to not even be presented with the scenario. So that wearable Kinexon tracking equipment, which constantly records location data, will enable the NCAA to determine if a positive test triggers necessary Marion County health regulations to sit other people via contact tracing. As I understand it, these NCAA protocols are built to be so strict that the Kinexon data will give empirical evidence to not force a team to leave the tournament so long as other people in the traveling party are continually keeping their distance and wearing masks.
If the Big Ten Tournament is held in Indy will the Big Ten teams that make the tournament just stay in the Indy?
Absolutely that will be happening. The detail I'm curious about is if the Big Ten moves its tournament to Indy, will teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament just stay in the hotel they'd already be booked to stay in for the NCAA Tournament? If that is the case and Iowa made the Final Four, it would be living out of the same hotel for a month.
Could you see an instance where a small conference having a team like Gonzaga who is in regardless asks them to opt out of a conference tourney, using Covid as the excuse, so that they get a second team in?
This exact scenario will not happen because it is transparent bid collusion and there would be an uproar. The more problematic and nuanced issue is if Gonzaga runs afoul of its league's wants and opts out on its own accord. If it did this, and the WCC still held a conference tournament, the selection committee would be forced to reckon with something it does not want to reckon with: being an arbiter of an automatic-bid situation when that power has already been bequeathed upon the leagues. I wrote about this last week. Stay tuned, and until then, read this from Zags beat writer Jim Meehan.
Final shots
• Sources: All conferences have until Feb. 26 to submit to the selection committee their plans for awarding automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament. • Iona coach Rick Pitino revealed he's recovering from COVID-19. Pitino told me cleared quarantine a few days ago; he first showed symptoms on Jan. 13, which was frustrating and ironic because the 68-year-old received his first of two scheduled doses of the vaccine shortly before contracting the virus. (Unfortunately its efficacy didn't take, which is why it's important to get two shots.) Pitino has since received his second shot. Iona hasn't played since Dec. 23 and is scheduled to return in early February. Said Pitino: "We haven't practiced much because we've had three different pauses ... I don't have a lot of positive thoughts going forward on the situation, but we'll do the best we can." • Sources: The Big East is committed to playing its league tournament at MSG over all other venues and is not expecting fans to be allowed. From what I gather, it's also trying to plan for the possibility that some teams will opt out of playing. • Read our David Cobb on home court advantage -- or lack thereof -- this season in college hoops. • Michigan is not the only school on an athletic department-wide pause: Boston University is as well. It's just two schools at the moment, but this is what has ADs and commissioners gripping the steering wheel as we turn to February with campuses welcoming back all students for the first time in two-plus months. • Huge for Stanford, which could be a bubble team: It's back on campus after almost two months away thanks to California and Santa Clara County finally rolling back guidelines. The same is true for teams at Santa Clara and San Jose State. People don't realize how tough it's been for these teams, even more so than all others. • How big was Oklahoma's win at Texas Tuesday night? Five of OU's next six games are against teams ranked in the top 11 of the AP Top 25. • Life running a conference in a pandemic: MAAC commissioner Rich Ensor said this week the teams in his league have had nearly 100 schedule changes since the season began. • The America East has been as flexible as any league when it comes to scheduling. It blew up the second half of its league slate and is now releasing its games in two-week intervals to work around COVID-19. Four teams in the conference recently went on pause. Speaking of the AE, it also announced a revamped conference tournament format that is unlike anything I've seen. • Why will the NCAA Tournament be played no matter what this season? "The NCAA lost more than $800 million in revenue" by not having a Big Dance in 2020. Here are the losses in visual form, via Sportico.
