Seat and re-seat
Mark Hollis had much he wanted to say Thursday about the impending musical chairs at Breslin, and we even got a few words out of him about Big Ten expansion.
One thing Hollis said that didn't make the story, on MSU football and men's basketball: "Our expectations are national championships and Rose Bowls with those two programs, that's where I want them to be. That comes with a price."
Hollis made the airline analogy. Want a first-class ticket? You'll have to pay more. He also repeated a point he has made before -- that Big Ten schools are committed to "broad-based" athletic programs that offer as much opportunity as possible. In the SEC and Big 12, he said, most schools hover around the NCAA minimum of sports (16) for federal tax exemption. (In fact, the Big Ten average is 25 sports, the SEC average is 19, and the fact that Florida and its budget that would make Luxembourg jealous carries just 20 sports is quite ridiculous). In the Big Ten, Ohio State offers 36 sports, Penn State 29, with 25 apiece for MSU, Michigan and Minnesota. If MSU would chop down from 25 sports to, say, 20, it would save between $5 million and $12 million a year. But MSU doesn't want to do that.
Hollis also claimed that MSU's coaches and athletic department staffers make less than their cohorts around the league. And that MSU goes with fewer marketing and athletic communications people than other Big Ten schools. And that, while schools such as Northwestern and Minnesota get help from their universities (tuition waivers, subsidies and student fees are three ways athletic departments can receive financial help), MSU's athletic department gets none of the three.
And that parking money for athletic events goes to the university, not the athletic department. And that the athletic department will be paying 2 percent, or another $500,000 or so, to the university on all revenues (except donations) starting in the 2010-11 budget year.
All of which sounded like a guy saying he's getting a raw deal, although Hollis more than once said he wasn't complaining. But when asked if he might go to the university to revisit arrangements, he said: "That may not be so far in the distant future."
This has to be a challenging job, especially when you are charged above all else with keeping Tom Izzo and keeping him happy. Costs rise, revenue sources stay stagnant. A re-seating like this allows you to reward the big-money people, inspire donors who have lagged to re-up, and get more out of all of them. The timing couldn't be better from a product standpoint.
One thing I find amazing is how many people have the expendable income and the willingness to use it in this way. Those courtside seats? It's $250,000 of lifetime giving minimum for two of them. They'll be full.
The top donor levels are as follows:
Ambassadors -- $50,000 and above per year (can buy up to eight seats)
Champions Circle -- $25,000 to $49,999 per year (can buy up to six seats)
Scholarship Level -- $10,000 to $24,999 per year (can buy up to four seats, same as everyone else at lower levels)
Directors Club -- $5,000 to $9,999 per year
Honorary Coaches -- $2,000 to $4,999 per year ... and on down to the Ralph Young Club ($100 to $249)
No doubt, there are some people at the higher levels who are thrilled that they are getting another tangible reward for their donations.
But there are a lot of people who don't have as much money, who gave support and bought tickets through the lean periods of the late 1980s or the mid-70s, and now will be kicked upstairs. There are people who look at MSU's facilities and salaries and don't exactly come away thinking: "They're hurting for cash." There are people who remember when college sports and pro sports were distinguishable. For them, it really doesn't matter how you justify it or explain it. And I can't really blame them. Their complaints won't change the inevitable, but they at least deserve to be heard for a few weeks, no?
