SEC Adds Texas & OU, What Next?

[MWBATL]

Yeah $10M a year is a lot.

Georgia Tech Research Institute FY21 operating budget $645M. https://www.budgets.gatech.edu/File?F=21BudgetSummary.pdf

Wonder why GT doesn't really care about athletics? Follow the money for priorities.

I get that, but this is a sports message board, and (as I am sure you know) the money in sports does not mix with the academic money, so that $10MM per year translates into coaches salaries, etc etc, and makes it harder for us to compete effectively at the national level.

 

[RonJohn]

I get that, but this is a sports message board, and (as I am sure you know) the money in sports does not mix with the academic money, so that $10MM per year translates into coaches salaries, etc etc, and makes it harder for us to compete effectively at the national level.

The difference between the ACC and Big10 is closer to $20MM. The difference between the ACC and SEC is about $15MM. That sounds like a lot, but if you take the conference money away from the mutts, they still have $74MM more revenue than GT. They sell a lot more tickets, get a lot more donations, and sell a lot more merchandise. BTW, the school and students give LESS money to athletics than GT and the GT students. They get less money from the school, and WAY more money from Billy Bob who buys a ton of clothes, stickers, table lamps, and crock pots with the big g symbol on them.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Form D1: https://d1baseball.com/columns/rogers-texas-ou-to-the-sec-will-have-far-reaching-implications/

Looking at D1 and GTSwarm ( https://gtswarm.com/threads/expansion-talk-2021.23535 ) it looks like the ACC will remain intact for a while. But let's consider three cases:

1) ACC remains intact. ACC remains one of the two best baseball conferences. With the ATL connections, we are in great shape.
2) ACC is merged into SEC. We are in the best conference for baseball. With the ATL connections, we are in great shape.
3) ACC splits up and we don't make the SEC cut due to limited football revenue we bring to the table. This would not be good and if we ended up in a non-baseball conference like B1G and would be awful for SoS. But this is considered a very low likelihood.

As discussed in D1, this may help the third assistant coach (good to nuetral for GT) and increase in scholarships (bad for GT overall given the HOPE scholarship advantage but good for the guys getting the additional money).

We can talk about the sport that matters here. Thoughts?

A fourth possibility: The SEC declares itself to be professionals in name as they already are in fact and joins the NFL.

 

[augustabuzz]

The difference between the ACC and Big10 is closer to $20MM. The difference between the ACC and SEC is about $15MM. That sounds like a lot, but if you take the conference money away from the mutts, they still have $74MM more revenue than GT. They sell a lot more tickets, get a lot more donations, and sell a lot more merchandise. BTW, the school and students give LESS money to athletics than GT and the GT students. They get less money from the school, and WAY more money from Billy Bob who buys a ton of clothes, stickers, table lamps, and crock pots with the big g symbol on them.

They also have a lot more sports to support.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

As the ACC dilemma has rattled around in my head for the last few weeks I have started to feel a sense of doom. The ACC has no good options and is in too weak a position to close the deal on teams that could boost our finances. More and more I am thinking Notre Dame will eventually end up in the B1G and Clemson will end up in the SEC. It is depressing to me to think of Tech ending up in a conference with Bill Lewis’s old team.

If things don’t change Tech will have to be content with track and field, swimming and golf as the sports we can be competitive in.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I get that, but this is a sports message board, and (as I am sure you know) the money in sports does not mix with the academic money, so that $10MM per year translates into coaches salaries, etc etc, and makes it harder for us to compete effectively at the national level.

Yes I was mixing apples and oranges. But the problem is that in the big picture from the GT corporate point of view, the vast majority of the money is made through GTRI and our academic reputation. I've been at GT Alumni presentations where the Provost was openly dismissive of athletics (8 years ago?). So the GT Athletic Association is left to pick up the scraps it can and the realignment will get little attention from the GT academic side.

And the $10M a year would help a lot with athletic facilities and coaches salaries.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

........If things don’t change Tech will have to be content with track and field, swimming and golf as the sports we can be competitive in.

I'm content with this since I doubt things will change. We are competitive in baseball. That's good

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I'm content with this since I doubt things will change. We are competitive in baseball. That's good

My point was that the trend line would be bad for baseball too.

 

[eokerholm]

GT gets a lot of attention and draw from the Baseball program, field, proximity in ATL and fans, when they allow it, no? Especially as we win and compete more, no?
GT is totally missing the boat on merch and it is really hard outside Barnes and Noble to get anything good. Fanatics sells stuff, but GT doesn't benefit from that.
Sad they make it harder to support the team/campus than UGA (Dicks sporting goods, Walmart, etc).

We drove to UGA this summer.... Not a fan of that drive. Decent campus, but out in the boonies.
Cracks me up they try to preach that Athens is ATL or even near it.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

GT gets a lot of attention and draw from the Baseball program, field, proximity in ATL and fans, when they allow it, no? Especially as we win and compete more, no?
GT is totally missing the boat on merch and it is really hard outside Barnes and Noble to get anything good. Fanatics sells stuff, but GT doesn't benefit from that.
Sad they make it harder to support the team/campus than UGA (Dicks sporting goods, Walmart, etc).

We drove to UGA this summer.... Not a fan of that drive. Decent campus, but out in the boonies.
Cracks me up they try to preach that Athens is ATL or even near it.

I have a friend who teaches at uga. He says Athens is greatly overrated. Has lived their for years and would like to move.

 

[eokerholm]

Campus was ok, town wasn't. Auburn was GOREGOUS when we stopped in on the way this summer to GT to drop off C.
Daughter wanted to check out UGA. For some reason it is one of the "destination" schools for West Lake, here in Texas. (where their stepsister goes).
From Christian's HS, the destination school is Arkansas (75-90% out of state fees waived for Texans with good grades/SAT/ACT)

 

[eokerholm]

Leftovers in the Big 12...Are we assuming that is breaking up and divvied up across the country?

• What about TCU? (Dallas/Ft Worth) They're really good in Baseball? Add them and Baylor and make it one trip to Texas .
  No airport in Waco, big enough.
• OSU (the OK type), but doubt they fit the academic part.
• Iowa State?
• Kansas, Kansas State? (good for hoops, not sure about football/baseball)
• WV is a no go, based on comments above.

What other schools would you want to recruit?