TU to the BE: Money should be no object

If you can’t see more Cherry in this photo than any other color, you need to
see an eye doctor immediately. Fortunately, I have 20/20 vision. So does Steve
Addazio, who also confirmed the numbers’ breakdown.
Today’s top stories on Yahoo sports

When I first heard what the holdup was on making today’s “handshake” agreement with the Big East a written one to join as early as this football season, I could only think of one word:
“Huh?”
That was in response to this:
“Temple is waiting to see if it can pay the $2.5 million buyout to the MAC.”
Money should be no object here, but I get the drift.

The university’s annual funding from Harrisburg was cut by $38 million, so paying $2.5 million on top of that cut for its sports programs to change leagues might not be viewed as good PR move for the school.

Heck, I watched Temple TV (it is Channel 50 on my cable system) this morning and uni president Ann Weaver Hart was saying “there’s going to be a lot of pain for everyone over the next year but we’ll get through it.”

I know all about pain.
If I have to go through another MAC season of forced Tuesday and Wednesday night home games and horrible road officiating, I’m going to have an ulcer.
I just decided I would be the greatest graduate in school history if I won the $60 million in the lottery tonight.
I would get into my beat-up, 125,000-mile 2004 Chevy Cavalier tomorrow morning, drive to Harrisburg and have one of those oversized checks deposited.

Most current BE fans are unaware that Temple
traveled 6,000 of its own fans to the New Mexico Bowl
or that 20,000 of the 23,000 in attendance at the 2009
Eagle Bank Bowl were Temple fans, but those
figures have been documented as true by both bowls.

Then I would get back into the Cavalier, drive back  across the state to Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, write out a check for $2.5 million and tell Temple AD Bill Bradshaw to wait a day or two so it can clear the bank.
I wouldn’t even blink an eye.
Then the Temple Alumni Review would write an article about me with the simple headline: “Greatest Grad Ever.”
I’d be the greatest grad ever because with my meager $2.5 million check, I’d faciilate a gold mine that would keep the school in the black long after I’m dead (which hopefully isn’t for 30 or so more years).
Think about it.
Temple has a 70K stadium in the heart of Big East territory. Lincoln Financial Field is a veritable gold mine and Temple is sitting right on top of it.
To get to that gold, all Temple needs to do is become a more than competitive Big East team, which most football experts will tell you is true right now.
It has a Big East-ready football team now, with the best coaching staff in the Big East  and the only coaching staff with three of its top five positions filled with guys who have won national championships as key parts of Florida’s staff.
Temple also has 15K students who will be living on campus for the next 30 years, who will become involved rabid alumni fans.

This is not your father or grandfather’s Temple, once a commuter school.
Give them the same competitive team they have now and the stadium fills up, the Temple brand goes national and applications for admission mulitiply tenfold.
That’s the kind of vision Temple needs now, whatever the cost.
Temple has a lot of grads with “want to” like me who have no “means to.”
I still think money should be no object.
West Virginia got $20 million together to buy out its agreement with the Big East. Enough of that should go to Temple to cover the $2.5 million. Even if the MAC holds up Temple for the two years notice, the parties should reach a settlement. Temple should suggest that Villanova take its place in the MAC to give UMass a travel partner.
After all, Temple is doing the Big East a huge favor by filling in an empty schedule.
If, though, money is the reason Temple ends up in MAC hell forever (or even one more day), I will scream.
So will anybody who cares even a little bit about Temple sports.

10 thoughts on “TU to the BE: Money should be no object

  1. I don't think the 2.5 mil is the problem, it's the 24 month notice we signed in the MAC contract. Therefore the MAC commish can basically raise the buyout to whatever he likes, and seeing as how we wik be leaving some angry MAC athletic directors angry that they now have to scramble to find extra opponents I can understand where the hang up is.

  2. and we can tell them sorry we aren't playing MAC games anymore. We can drag it out in court while we're playing BE games. Hire Rendell to represent us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Temple football and we should not blow it. I can guarantee you that no other MAC team will ever go straight from the MAC to BCS football ever again and it took a ballsy WVA move to give us that opportunity.

  3. TFF- I have heard Temple is also hesitant due to the big east lack of identity. That came from a guy who knows a guy but if true it baffling to me. Yes the big east is in flux but any shell of the old big east is still better than the MAC/A10 and like you said I think we are capable of competing right away in football and basketball.(although we are losing some pretty experienced seniors after this year.) Regardless, this has to get done. geographically its a no brainer, where we can create rivalry's with Pitt, Rutgers, and we even have something going already with Uconn. If they want to keep SA they make this happen otherwise they should have cancelled football in 2004 altogether. I live in NYC now so I cant get to Wednesday or Thursday night games but in the big east will buy season tickets as soon as possible. But your right if Temple really is committed to athletics money or anything else can not stand in the way to an all sports offer. Yes, I understand that 2.5million is not chump change especially in this economy with the cuts to the university. But I bet they make that back no problem in year one in the big east. You have to spend money to make money.

  4. I think you hit the nail on the head when you referenced the budget cuts. Temple needs to be careful they don’t give the impression they are penning off a check for 2.5 million or even 10 million with no regards to the budget. I believe the administration was bright enough to make this deal happen, I’m sure they can see that Temple will make back whatever exit fee they pay once they join the Big East in a season or 2 tops, and it’s all upside from there.I think part of the behind the scenes negotiations with the MAC and A-10 for that matter will have to do with the scheduling of out of conference games to help defer the costs and keep a national opponent on the MAC teams schedules for football and basketball. Considering the fact that Temple is coming to the aid of the Big East from a scheduling standpoint I wouldn’t be surprised to see Temple ask the Big East for a loan for part of the exit fees and pay it back to the conference over a 2 to 3 year period. I can see Temple tied to the MAC from a scheduling standpoint for the next 2 to maybe 3 seasons as part of the unofficial buyout, but it’s not a concern, I feel pretty comfortable that exit fees won’t be the reason this doesn’t get done. There are so many out there ready to bash universities when it comes to sports spending, especially public universities, I think this is much more about positioning then money. I think Temple will hopefully come up with some creative ideas to pay the exit fee, and will continue to play it close to the vest with most of the negotiations far from the public eye.

  5. preaching to the choir, Tom.Spent money to make money.There's a pot of gold at the end of that their rainbow. We aren't going to get it in the MAC or even CUSA.Look at the Yahoo front page today (at the top of this story). When was Temple sports ever relevant enough to be the top story?You can't buy that kind of pub.

  6. err, that there rainbow. … I was so excited about the amount of money coming to my school I got their and there mixed up.

  7. I believe this will happen and I believe that Bradshaw, Hart and the BOT did the right thing to hold out for all sports membership. It was the best option for Temple and the BE put itself into a corner all because of Villanova. This should have been done years ago and it certainly should have been done earlier this or last year. I don't think the MAC and A10 will hold this up. No one wants to litigate. But it's a shame for these two fine conferences to get the shaft like this all because of the Big East.

  8. What really frustrates me about the budget issues is that they are largely theatrical. This has been going on for the last few years and guess what the university has been putting away millions for a rainy day. Much of this has to do with Ann Weaver Hart's opposition to the unions at Temple. Much like other states who have been trying to weaken teaching unions the same is afoot in PA but they have to make a much bigger show of things due to PA's long history of union involvement.In other words, Temple is not hurting nearly as bad as AWH would want you to believe. So it is kind of funny that she has put herself in this PR position.

  9. yeah, she's got to do that because her job is to go to Harrisburg and claim poverty.Another reason to get Rendell to replace her. He knows the lay of the land in Harrisburg.

  10. I'm sure they can scratch $2.5 million off the top of the 20/20 campaign. I know it's AWH and the other administrator's mark on the university, but this is a small investment with huge potential returns. A university should first and foremost make academics its top priority, but this could make Temple a nationally recognized brand.

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