The money game

[Zipgrad01]

Great point ZippyAlum. You see the big picture and I agree 100%.

[Zips Win!]

I have given over $25,000 since I graduated

AWESOME! Keep donating! Thanks for the kind words....I don't have the time to answer the other questions..But you can be assured that I've been to a game or two....And I am certainly not jealous of anything with the name BUCK in it..

[Buckzip]

That's the answer I expected.LOL

[Zipgrad01]

I find it comical that he did not have time to answer your questions Buckzip, but exactly 20 minutes later, he posted a rather lengthy response to a poster that ripped on Charlie Frye. I guess when you actually have "time" is all subjective.

[Buckzip]

Yeah, I agree Grad01. It's quite comical. He is probably 35 and living in his parents basement.He says he isn't jealous. However, the only reason to hate anyone or anything other than if it, or they has done something personal to you is jealousy.Example-I hate Brad Pitt. Why you ask, Because I am extremely jealous of him.

[RowdyZip]

Yeah, I agree Grad01. It's quite comical. He is probably 35 and living in his parents basement.He says he isn't jealous. However, the only reason to hate anyone or anything other than if it, or they has done something personal to you is jealousy.Example-I hate Brad Pitt. Why you ask, Because I am extremely jealous of him.

Am I the only one on here that thinks all of you need to grow up? Seriously? It's athletics. At two different state colleges. THAT'S IT. There's really no reason to resort to personal attacks. Here is the explanation:There are two types of sports fans in my mind:1) A fan that's loyal life-long and undying in their support for a single team and will simply defend that team to no end.2) A fan that either shares allegiance amongst more than one team or whom can change allegiances once or more in their lifetime.To me, you all are on both sides of the fence. Deal with it. I was raised as a Buckeyes fan as a lot of people were. There was no reason for it, none of my family members went to school there, no friends either. It's just expected. And that's fine. Things change, though it's ever so slowly. I begin to resent the buckeyes more and more with each passing season simply because of the farce that is college football. The "haves" simply are so afraid of giving any little bit to the "have-nots" that it makes it impossible for a small school like Akron (and MANY others) to get on to a fair playing ground. Things change. SLOWLY. And a lot of us Zips fans are impatient. So in the mean time....how bout we all get along, not personally insult eachother and gear up for another football season for EVERYONE'S favorite Summit County team.GO ZIPS!

[skip-zip]

I think the best we can hope for in this situation is that we learn a lesson.Maybe we know now that it's best to wait awhile when scheduling what could be big-money games. It certainly appears as if we might have cost ourselves some much-needed athletic revenue by scheduling this game far in advance.

[akronad]

Unfortunately, we can't wait for the big money games. These kinds of games are scheduled 3-7 prior to the game date.

[ZachTheZip]

The problem is that the OSU game is not a big money game by today's standards. Look how much UConn is paying us, and we have a legitimate shot at winning that game. I don't want any more money games scheduled that we have no chance to win, unless it's an offer you can't pass up i.e. > $500,000 for the next few years and adjusted for inflation if it's set for some far off future year. The OSU game is not worth it, IMO. It gets us no exposure unless we win, which is extremely unlikely. People complain about the community not caring. Well, getting blown out by the team that the community does care about will not help our cause. UConn and Indiana are better in terms of exposure and at getting us a shot at winning. Akron's goal should be to win the MAC or at least get to a bowl. That means winning games, which means not playing teams that we obviously can't beat. If it was scheduled in the past, play it, but don't make anymore games with perrenial top 10 teams until the program gets to the point that we can hang with them every game.

[skip-zip]

I guess that's a pretty fair way to look at it. We're not making any money, AND we don't have a chance to win. That's a pretty good argument for not playing a game like this at all.

[Ryno aka Menace]

The problem is that the OSU game is not a big money game by today's standards. Look how much UConn is paying us, and we have a legitimate shot at winning that game. I don't want any more money games scheduled that we have no chance to win, unless it's an offer you can't pass up i.e. > $500,000 for the next few years and adjusted for inflation if it's set for some far off future year. The OSU game is not worth it, IMO. It gets us no exposure unless we win, which is extremely unlikely. People complain about the community not caring. Well, getting blown out by the team that the community does care about will not help our cause. UConn and Indiana are better in terms of exposure and at getting us a shot at winning. Akron's goal should be to win the MAC or at least get to a bowl. That means winning games, which means not playing teams that we obviously can't beat. If it was scheduled in the past, play it, but don't make anymore games with perrenial top 10 teams until the program gets to the point that we can hang with them every game.

Bravo That pretty much sums everything up.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Yes, $375,000 is below current rates, but you can't put a value on the exposure the program gets from playing in front of 105,000 fans in the horseshoe.

Yes you can. It is somewhere between $650,000 and $700,000. The math isn't that difficult.

[mrelegazna]

Let's say one of you guys who's slamming OSU for not giving Akron's agreed-upon price five years ago a raise.Let's say you just got hired at Akron AD. And let's say YSU is coming here, scheduled by the previous regime 5 years ago, and we pay them 100,000.This year, you have to scramble to find a 12th opponent, and the only one you can find is Dayton, for the "now" price of 300,000.Would you then say, "Gee, better call up the YSU guys and negotiate a raise for them, since we just gave Dayton 300 thou."Like HELL you would.Some of you guys, I think, would be happier if we dropped to 1-AA. It better fits your model of how things "should" be.

[Zipgrad01]

Wow. We have another fan that actually has their head on straight and gets how business actually works. Nice post!!!

[ZachTheZip]

Let's say one of you guys who's slamming OSU for not giving Akron's agreed-upon price five years ago a raise.Let's say you just got hired at Akron AD. And let's say YSU is coming here, scheduled by the previous regime 5 years ago, and we pay them 100,000.This year, you have to scramble to find a 12th opponent, and the only one you can find is Dayton, for the "now" price of 300,000.Would you then say, "Gee, better call up the YSU guys and negotiate a raise for them, since we just gave Dayton 300 thou."Like HELL you would.Some of you guys, I think, would be happier if we dropped to 1-AA. It better fits your model of how things "should" be.

I'm not saying that OSU should have called up Mr. Rhoades and offered us a more up-to-date amount of $$$. That would be stupid on their part. I'm saying that Mr. Rhoades should have been the one to start negotiations. In your scenario, YSU should have called up Akron to negotiate a better payment, not the other way around. Also, many of you forget that YSU and Can't both get significantly more money than Akron. Only one of those schools were a "filler" for the 12th game. The other one was not. Can't was the filler, so they should naturally get more for scheduling on short notice. Still, Akron should get more than YSU (excluding Tressel's extra "gift" $$$) if only because of our higher division affiliation. This game is the result of leftover weak scheduling from a bygone era. It should have been dumped or re-negotiated when we changed ADs.Note: This assumes that the MAC itself has no control over scheduling games with the Big-10, and that the high number of games between the conferences is merely the choice of eaach individual school. If the MAC front office is involved, which is very likely, then it is another of the policies that prevent the conference from advancing in the sports world, but that's the subject of another debate.

[Buckzip]

Rhoades is the problem here. He should have renegotiated the agreement.Any "average" business person would try to get the best deal possible for his company.That is obviously what our opponent did.

[Zipgrad01]

Actually, YSU was the filler game. It was added when OSU needed the 12th game. Can't was added more recently than we were. Scheduling becomes difficult when you are doing it a year or 2 out, so the premiums rise. It is our fault. It isn't like $375,000 is nothing. It is still the most we make all year. YSU and Can't were due to timing. That is all.

[akronad]

Everyone of you thinks you can just pick up a phone a get for the next 2 years. Forget about it!!!!!!!!! Most schedules are made out anywhere from 4 - 7 years out. Look at the Zips future schedules and you will see that we have most if not all of our non-league games scheduled for the next 4 years. Should we have tried to renegotiate?Possibly, but what makes anyone out there think the Buckeyes would have agreed? And if we told them to "go pound salt", what makes any of you think we could have gotten a better opponent?Although we love our Zips with our heart & souls, college football is really a business

[mrelegazna]

Actually, YSU was the filler game. It was added when OSU needed the 12th game. Can't was added more recently than we were. Scheduling becomes difficult when you are doing it a year or 2 out, so the premiums rise. It is our fault. It isn't like $375,000 is nothing. It is still the most we make all year. YSU and Can't were due to timing. That is all.

Exactly. It doesn't really matter which of YSU or Can't were the filler game, they were both scheduled much, MUCH more recently than Akron, and that's why this is happening (well, that, and Tressel's YTown gifts).It sucks, but there's no real scapegoat other than timing. If Can't was the one that scheduled 5 years ago, and we were the last minute addition, the dollars would've been reversed - and WE would've been braying and hee-hawing about that and how we outsmarted Can't economically or some such thing.

[UADavid]

We weren't in the discussions for these games. I'll have to trust that those involved got us the best deal they could at the time. Are the money games worth it? Yes. If we never played a big time school, we would never be able to celebrate the upset. But the trips to OSU and PSU type schools must be moderated with a lower rung BCS school at home. No more six game stretches to start the season with five away games. Presently the football team is in need of the big paydays to help cover costs. Winning and the new stadium are the two best friends the team has. K ent was downtrodden for so long they were an easy selection by Minnesota and BC when they needed to fill a spot. They wouldn't choose a team on it's way up, they would choose a perennial loser. Now k ent is playing better and may have a hard time getting these big home games.Thanks CK!

[w00t]

The irrationality has reached a fever pitch around here.There are "haves" and "have nots" in college football. This is nigh upon indisputable. The "haves" are always going to balk at giving away any ground on the status they've worked hard to achieve... and why not? They have the first mover advantages and they are not wrong to exploit them. Ohio State got off the ground more quickly than we did and became bigger and attained a more presitgious football pedigree over the years... deal with it. Nearly every BCS school is in that boat. Ohio State did not just open their doors and become a football power overnight, history has been kind to them, and not entirely by chance. BCS conferences have larger schools, with larger student bodies, larger endowments, larger sports programs, and consequently, more $$$. There is no reversing that trend, the only solution is to become one of the big name programs, which takes hard work, good fortune, and a lot of time. All that being said, OSU did not hose us on the payout for this game. It followed what the market dictated they pay at the time we contracted to play them, or guess what? Thomas wouldn't have scheduled the damn thing. So enough with the sour grapes about how OSU "owes" us a bigger payday, enough with the out and out lie that we don't get any exposure from playing at The Shoe (hell, with the home crowds we draw, our guys are probably thrilled to play in front of someone other than mom and dad), and enough whining about the fact that we're on an "uneven" playing field when it comes to competing with BCS schools (as if that's some sort of revelation that demands action on the part of some governing body). You'll exact a lot more change by going to the games, cheering for the Zips, and converting your friends... and I can tell you that you won't win too many converts by bitching incessantly about the Buckeyes. I'm already a Zips fan (and UA grad) and nothing irks me more than the people around here who go out of their way to bang on their high chairs in every post about how bad OSU sucks (as if they're our rivals or something). Save it for Can't.

[Zipgrad01]

What a fantastic post. You better watch that though, or you will get lumped in with other objective zips fans like myself.

[akronad]

I agree 100%.

[Buckzip]

The irrationality has reached a fever pitch around here.There are "haves" and "have nots" in college football. This is nigh upon indisputable. The "haves" are always going to balk at giving away any ground on the status they've worked hard to achieve... and why not? They have the first mover advantages and they are not wrong to exploit them. Ohio State got off the ground more quickly than we did and became bigger and attained a more presitgious football pedigree over the years... deal with it. Nearly every BCS school is in that boat. Ohio State did not just open their doors and become a football power overnight, history has been kind to them, and not entirely by chance. BCS conferences have larger schools, with larger student bodies, larger endowments, larger sports programs, and consequently, more $$$. There is no reversing that trend, the only solution is to become one of the big name programs, which takes hard work, good fortune, and a lot of time. All that being said, OSU did not hose us on the payout for this game. It followed what the market dictated they pay at the time we contracted to play them, or guess what? Thomas wouldn't have scheduled the damn thing. So enough with the sour grapes about how OSU "owes" us a bigger payday, enough with the out and out lie that we don't get any exposure from playing at The Shoe (hell, with the home crowds we draw, our guys are probably thrilled to play in front of someone other than mom and dad), and enough whining about the fact that we're on an "uneven" playing field when it comes to competing with BCS schools (as if that's some sort of revelation that demands action on the part of some governing body). You'll exact a lot more change by going to the games, cheering for the Zips, and converting your friends... and I can tell you that you won't win too many converts by bitching incessantly about the Buckeyes. I'm already a Zips fan (and UA grad) and nothing irks me more than the people around here who go out of their way to bang on their high chairs in every post about how bad OSU sucks (as if they're our rivals or something). Save it for Can't.

Outstanding post.

[GP1]

Is the money worth it? Maybe. Let's look at the options.First though, we need to keep in mind that the athletic department operates at an annual loss and they are trying to turn that around.Renegotiate? UofA position would have to be to either get more money or back out of the contract. Assuming OSU would say no to more money as they can schedule another team in about five minutes, we have to back out. If we back out, OSU finds another school and pays them $600,000. Approx. $225,000 more than what we are scheduled to get That amount of money is a drop in the bucket for them. Push a few extra hot dogs at the home games and they make up the difference. Schools would line up to get it. Akron would have to back out and schedule a home game that would surely lose them money against some pathetic school like......say......I-AA.......YSU.Could Mike Thomas have gotten more money? Probably, but it's hard to negotiate effectively when you are trying to pad your resume and get on the first train out of Dodge. He probably would not have gotten $600,000, but $450,000 probably would not have been out of the question as when we played OSU around seven years ago, we got around $350,000.As far as the "prestige" of playing at OSU. Outside of OSU and Ohio, I don't thing anyone really sees it that way. Where I live now, most college football fans, in the little bit of time they spend thinking of OSU, pretty much laugh at OSU becuse of the butt kicking they took in the championship game last year. USC fans feel there is prestige playing in Los Angeles, Michigan feel there is prestige in playing at their stadium, etc. I don't think kids come to Akron to play at OSU once in a four year career....that just isn't realistic. One may, but not many.Back to the question of is the money worth it? Begrudgingly, I would have to say yes. Until the school can generate more revenue, they have to do these things.As far as the nasty personal attacks..........keep up the good work everyone.