THE HEADLINE had to give pause to WVU athletic director Ed Pastilong.
THE HEADLINE had to give pause to WVU athletic director Ed Pastilong.
The one that read: "Florida's marketing deal pegged at $80 million.''
Reports are the Gators will make that much over a 10-year period for signing with Sun Sports. Involved are items like radio, signage, Internet and corporate-partner rights.
"That's pretty good money," Pastilong said Tuesday. "Significant.''
The deal comes at an awkward time for Mountaineer officials. Pastilong's right-hand man, Mike Parsons, was criticized in the Rich Rodriguez-WVU lawsuit depositions for holding on tight to the Mountaineer Sports Network setup instead of selling rights to a multi-media corporation like Host and ISP. There have been claims WVU could make more money by ditching MSN.
But neither Pastilong nor Parsons budged on Tuesday.
"You have to look at what Florida has," Parsons said. "Miami, Tampa, Orlando, national championships. ... Plus, you can't necessarily compare because you don't know what's in the agreement.''
True. But is WVU's agreement with MSN at least in the ballpark with the Florida-Sun Sports deal?
"We take in between $5 million to $6 million a year when you consider everything," Parsons said. Athletic department numbers cruncher Russ Sharp later confirmed that estimate.
If that's the case, tip your hat to WVU's administrators and MSN. Not bad, especially for a state with a small population base. (Of course, Nebraska has a $100 million marketing deal over 13 years. That state's population in the 2006 census: 1.77 million. That of West Virginia: 1.82 million.)
"We in athletics are 100 percent pleased with MSN and the present setup," Pastilong said. "It provides our fans listening and viewing opportunities, funds and we remain in a collegiate setting.''
nn
While I had Pastilong on the horn, I asked whether some grumbling Marshall fans might have a legitimate beef.
The WVU AD said his school's football team will resume playing East Carolina after a break. The teams won't play after 2009, but will in 2015 for a yet-to-be-determined stretch.
Some MU fans are upset because WVU doesn't hesitate to play a home-and-home series with ECU, but that's not the case with the Thundering Herd. Both ECU and Marshall are Conference USA schools.
In case you forgot, the current Frontyard Brawl series turned into a five-home-games-to-two bonanza for WVU. That contract was strong-armed in place by Gov. Joe Manchin.
But apparently hard feelings still smolder from those previous WVU-MU agreements that fell through.
"There were years we had games that didn't materialize," Pastilong said. "We'll make sure the contracted games we have in place are firm. Those agreements will be abided by.
THE HEADLINE had to give pause to WVU athletic director Ed Pastilong.
The one that read: "Florida's marketing deal pegged at $80 million.''
Reports are the Gators will make that much over a 10-year period for signing with Sun Sports. Involved are items like radio, signage, Internet and corporate-partner rights.
"That's pretty good money," Pastilong said Tuesday. "Significant.''
The deal comes at an awkward time for Mountaineer officials. Pastilong's right-hand man, Mike Parsons, was criticized in the Rich Rodriguez-WVU lawsuit depositions for holding on tight to the Mountaineer Sports Network setup instead of selling rights to a multi-media corporation like Host and ISP. There have been claims WVU could make more money by ditching MSN.
But neither Pastilong nor Parsons budged on Tuesday.
"You have to look at what Florida has," Parsons said. "Miami, Tampa, Orlando, national championships. ... Plus, you can't necessarily compare because you don't know what's in the agreement.''
True. But is WVU's agreement with MSN at least in the ballpark with the Florida-Sun Sports deal?
"We take in between $5 million to $6 million a year when you consider everything," Parsons said. Athletic department numbers cruncher Russ Sharp later confirmed that estimate.
If that's the case, tip your hat to WVU's administrators and MSN. Not bad, especially for a state with a small population base. (Of course, Nebraska has a $100 million marketing deal over 13 years. That state's population in the 2006 census: 1.77 million. That of West Virginia: 1.82 million.)
"We in athletics are 100 percent pleased with MSN and the present setup," Pastilong said. "It provides our fans listening and viewing opportunities, funds and we remain in a collegiate setting.''
nn While I had Pastilong on the horn, I asked whether some grumbling Marshall fans might have a legitimate beef.
The WVU AD said his school's football team will resume playing East Carolina after a break. The teams won't play after 2009, but will in 2015 for a yet-to-be-determined stretch.
Some MU fans are upset because WVU doesn't hesitate to play a home-and-home series with ECU, but that's not the case with the Thundering Herd. Both ECU and Marshall are Conference USA schools.
In case you forgot, the current Frontyard Brawl series turned into a five-home-games-to-two bonanza for WVU. That contract was strong-armed in place by Gov. Joe Manchin.
But apparently hard feelings still smolder from those previous WVU-MU agreements that fell through.
"There were years we had games that didn't materialize," Pastilong said. "We'll make sure the contracted games we have in place are firm. Those agreements will be abided by.
"When those run out, we'll put together contracts to the benefit of our fans.''
And that's all he'd say about that.
nn When the Big Green Scholarship Foundation dinner was canceled - and not simply postponed - in late April, it had some Marshall backers scratching their heads.
OK, they said, so speaker Larry Brown backed out. Couldn't someone else be found to give a talk? Did it really matter who spoke to the hard-core Herd backers? The object, everyone knows, is to raise funds, right? And how can a cash-strapped MU program afford to simply bag the event?
Well, according to Marshall reps Randy Burnside and John Sutherland, a suitable replacement for Brown couldn't be found in a timely manner. ("The fear,'' Sutherland said, "was we wouldn't have a quality event. Tickets cost $250. A table cost $2,000.'') Also, Burnside said, the Cam Henderson Center, where the event was supposed to be held, doesn't have air conditioning.
Still, how can Marshall afford NOT to have the dinner?
Simple, said both Burnside and Sutherland. MU experienced the largest transfer of scholarship money ever from the Big Green group - a tidy $1.65 million.
"People were really, really good to us - especially chapters outside of Cabell County," Sutherland said. "The WVU [football] ticket sales translated into donations and our chapters just hustled. The leadership of our chapters this past year made a huge difference.''
nn And finally . . .
A story passed along to us from reader Dewey Ice, who said his Barrackville neighbor retired about four years ago and moved to Winston-Salem, N.C.
"To take up some of his time," wrote Ice, "he went to work with his brother-in-law at Bermuda Run [County Club] as a 'cart monkey.' Bermuda Run holds a lot of charity events and most of the coaches from Wake Forest are members.
"Last week, Jim Grobe, football coach at Wake, arrived at the course with [WVU coach] Bill Stewart. Coach Grobe knows my neighbor is a huge WVU fan and introduced [the two].
"Now to the point. My [former] neighbor told Coach Stewart he had worked with [Rich Rodriguez's] father at a Grant Town mine and he was very disappointed in the recent events.
"Coach Stewart asked Randy to do him a favor. He said, 'Don't be so hard on Rich because I still believe Rich is a good person. He just got turned around.' ''
Words to consider.
Reach sports editor Mitch Vingle at mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or 348-4827.
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I also love fans of a school run 100% on state "donations" calling the Friends of Coal Bowl a "welfare" series for Marshall. Nah, its just state government having to step in to force your school to do what it should be doing anyway, and that's helping another West Virginian university to grow.
Other then forcing fans into buying season tickets I dont see why MU wants the game so bad. Isnt a bowl appearence more valuable then a WVU-MU series? Get bowl eligible ASAP.