Between Kirby Smart, the Georgia Way and the threat of a decline in revenue, something’s gotta give. Lucky for us, Greg McGarity is on the mother.
McGarity said Georgia is starting a list of “different buckets” that could be affected by the coronavirus crisis.
“Depending on football, obviously, that’s the big unknown now,” McGarity said. “We’re planning as if a football season is going to happen. If that doesn’t happen, that’s a whole another environment.”
Georgia’s football ticket revenue for fiscal year 2019 was $33.4 million, according to a figure provided to the athletic board.
The school also gets a guaranteed $11.5 million annually from its multimedia rights with partner IMG for advertising events that could be affected.
“Is your TV revenue somehow adjusted, are your ticket sales adjusted in some form or fashion?” McGarity said. “There’s a lot of areas that we know could be affected but we really don’t have any data at this point to really be able to comment on specifics.”
There are holes in all of Greg’s buckets, but until he can see how much water is flowing out, he can’t figure out what to do. But he’s worried about his precious.
McGarity said he didn’t know yet what those figures were because of the uncertainty of how the SEC revenue distributions will be affected for fiscal year 2021.
“We’re hoping and praying that doesn’t happen,” he said. “We also have to be realistic if football was not part of that what does that mean with our reserves, how much of the reserve can we utilize to make us somewhat whole. That’s why we have a reserve, thank goodness. We’re probably in better shape than a lot of institutions because of our financial stability.”
I think he misspelled “our rabid fan base”.
Georgia already extended the football season ticket renewal deadline to April 6, but will handle any “unique circumstances,” for any donors that need to work out a payment plan “if it helps ease the situation due to the economy right now,” McGarity said.
Fundraising for the expansion of the Butts-Mehre building stood at $54.2 million as of last week…
But that’s okay. We know what he meant.
Get The Picture 
His lips are moving, but he ain’t saying nuthing….most/all deadlines for monies sent should be off the table….moving forward, should the campus at UGA open, fine, we have a plan for tickets (technology should get results faster)…football season is cancelled (i’m shuttering & stuttering now) we have a plan moving forward…don’t come out to respond without A plan, not the “we don’t have data to respond”…sometimes, less said is better
LikeLike
We graciously extended our season ticket order deadline 6 days from March 31 to April 6. We’re trying to do our part to fight the pandemic.
But gosh, there’s just so many unknowns right now. I don’t think anybody really knows what to do or how things will work out.
LikeLike
Well, Greg knows that those fans that have issues on March 31 will have them sorted out six days later, so that is good news I’d say!
Why wait till Easter to reopen the economy when Greg needs funding a week earlier!
LikeLike
Rest assured, our student volunteers are standing by to provide financial arrangements at competitive rates.
#FINANCEMAJORS #COLLATERALTOTHEG
LikeLike
These things have a way of trimming out and other unnecessary parts of life, so maybe it’s about time we realize that CFB is overpriced, coaches are overpaid, and the whole charade is over-marketed.
I don’t want to miss a season, either, but I’m already assuming that’s going to happen. After that, what will NEXT season look like? Will lots of us realize how much we enjoyed those free Saturdays?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, cancelling my television sports package tomorrow.
If the season gets played, I probably still won’t renew it. Not worth the money for ETSU, Louisiana Monroe and maybe one conference game against an overmatched opponent.
I imagine a lot of people are aren’t willing to fork out that kind of money for ST with no guarantees of a season and a recession looming.
I think a lot of people will just lean on buying through a reseller for a game or two they are interested in if the season gets played and don’t even have to deal with the headache if it isn’t.
LikeLike
Good thing we’ve already locked in our season ticket holders by making them “donate” for their seats back in January and early February. This personal seat license scheme has been a lifesaver this year.
LikeLike
Just Means More to the McGill Society’s 1,191 members. Greg says “can you lend a guy a dime”?
LikeLike
I stopped reading at “football is the big unknown.” There will be no football this season y’all. Even if the rate of infection comes down, without a vaccine you simply cannot put 100,000 in close proximity to one another without starting another outbreak. If Herbstreit cannot imagine the season being played (and he said he couldn’t) that means ESPN doesn’t either. This season is lost.
LikeLike
Looking at what is happening in NY and Fla and New Orleans, etc. and knowing it is already almost April, and that it is FAR from peak and containment (Italy continues apace with no sign of a peak. Heck, many, many inconvenient facts coming out of Wuhan make China’s numbers incredibly suspect as well, so the leveling off we had hoped for may not have occurred anywhere), I think you are correct.
LikeLike
Wait, come on. Isn’t it the least bit funny and ironic that after all the (deserved) pissing on the sanctified prioritization of the reserve fund that McGarity is likely to have the chance to use it for its ostensible purpose?
Gallows humor, ftw.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Rest assured, the reserve fund is doing well and continues to grow between the hedges of reduced event staging and stipend payment costs.
#ALIVEANDWELL #COMMITTOTHEG
LikeLike
I like how you have spent years accusing McGarity of caring about nothing but the reserve fund but then give him no credit when it becomes obvious that the reserve fund and the planning to took to build / maintain it was prudent. The man has spent a decade having the fan base call him an incompetent tight-fisted shitwad
Remember folks, when you add of all of the shit hits the fan scenarios that have happened throughout our history (American Revolution, Cival War, Great Depression / WWII, etc.) and divide by time, there is a 20% chance that a SHTF event happens in each person’s lifetime. This is why prudent people plan for shit hitting the fan.
also, inb4 someone calls me Mrs. McGarity.
LikeLike
Greg has a true friend in you.
I’ll throw him some praise here at the blog if I’m convinced he uses the reserve fund as you suggest, no strings attached. But why don’t you wait and see what B-M has in store for our contributions if football season is cancelled before you start blowing him?
LikeLike
If you will remember, I have never claimed that he has done a good job overall as AD. I have stated many times that I think his overall job performance is mediocre. I have strongly defended his handling of the organizations finances though. He has consistently followed best business practices for non-profit organizations that rely on donations for much their revenue. Since when did not having McGarity Derangement Syndrome become the equivalent of “blowing him”?.
LikeLike
Lol.
McGDS. Classic and so true.
+5
LikeLike
If you’re going to defend McG can you at least make it look like you’re not writing in from a Butts-Mehre IP address?
TIL from your post that UGA Athletics makes lots of its money thru “donations.” Lol … so that ESPN check is a donation now? And yeah, a hundred years of sketchy accounting traditions let us call things like ticket sales “donations”, but that’s just operating revenue. No D1 athletic program is anything near a true nonprofit, we’re all just mid-cap businesses taxed under an alternative regime we’ve optimized our operations to take advantage of.
Granted, we fund substantial portions of special projects thru donations. Now that those might dry up a bit, do you want to bet whether our reserve fund actually sees sunlight to see them through?
In that vein, we also have an historic opportunity to gain a competitive advantage over our rivals thanks to the reserve fund we have accumulated. We could thus accelerate spending on our Strategic Athletic Plan while others have to wait. Wait, what’s that? We don’t have a strategic plan and only reactively build things when Kirby says we’re behind? And we don’t even start building after enough donors show up to pledge funding? That’s all obviously entirely separate from the Reserve Fund and will probably end next week, since now is the Reserve Funds time to shine!
I’ll be eager to see if the prudent practices you mentioned turn into any type of concrete advantage for our program, other than more interviews about “prudence.”
LikeLike
I would ask you to read my reply to the Senator above. I have never claimed that McGarity has done a good job.
Though, I will note that there may be a Strategic Athletic Plan. If I was McGarity, I would have one and it would not be given to the public. Large portions of our fanbase are morons that will do nothing but bitch regardless of what the plan is. I would rather they bitch that I don’t have a plan than bitch about how my plan is horrible because I spent money on something other than the football team. That way I could actually implement my plan without having to cater to the dummies.
LikeLike
LOL. The next time McGarity “caters to the dummies” — by those, I assume you mean the regular, non-Magill folks who spend their money on tickets — will the the first.
LikeLike
Do not miss your deadline as Hartman fund and ticket order contributions help bridge the gap of reduced fines, bonds, and towing revenue accrued during our spring semester.
Upon formal announcement of this season’s cancellation, rest assured your ticket order payments will automatically be converted into points, improving your position on future ticket buying opportunities!
#ANDTHATSYETANOTHERBULLDOGPOINTOFPRIDE #COMMITTOTHEG
LikeLike
McGarity is like all executives right now, Anything he does or doesn’t say is wrong. Just ask us.
LikeLike
A lot of hot takes on here on the season. We may have already hit the peak – testing lags what is on the ground you know, but we may not hit the peak until May with growth until then. If we hit the peak in May, football season is in jeopardy. If it is in the next few weeks, we could easily be back to normal by late June/early July and football is fine.
Everyone should note China is easing back to normal now 3 months after it hit – difficult for me to believe we will be worse than them and not be back to normal in 3-4 months at worst.
LikeLike
Why would anyone take what the Chinese are saying about this at face value?
LikeLike
We’re not exactly handling things the way China is either. When you test positive there, you join your fellow positives in an isolation building. You don’t get to go home and self quarantine.
I do give Dawgoholic points though for mocking hot takes and then proceeding to give his own.
LikeLike
They’re also testing a LOT more people than we are. They take your temperature almost everywhere you go there. If you have a temp, you immediately get sent to a fever clinic for screening. Then if you have other symptoms, you go through testing to determine if you have it. And when you’re waiting on the results, you don’t get to go home.
LikeLike
Nice, see your point. Definitely don’t know what will happen and don’t trust Chinese data. Everyone needs to admit they are guessing at this point.
It’s March and we’re a couple weeks in, no need to cancel stuff in June or July in my opinion. No need to worry about September yet. My guess is it will be obvious in July that either football can or can’t go forward.
LikeLike
And their social distancing was enforced by means we don’t have here. Individual cell phone tracking. Disabling commerce (payments can only be routed through two phone wallet apps, both gov’t controlled). Suspension of what meager civil liberties they already had.
Meanwhile, we’ve still got a few mega churches congregating and local officials telling their constituents that this isn’t even as bad as the flu. Which, freedom, it’s part of the deal with self-governance.
It’s also going to be part of the solution in ways we don’t directly see yet, but those people on the beaches in Florida yesterday are examples of the kind of behavior that is making college football less likely with each passing day.
LikeLike
I tend to agree with you but the media is so I guess it’s ok for individuals to do so if they wish.
LikeLike
Dude, China went on almost total lockdown. They blocked shitty two lane roads so that people couldn’t travel between towns. Meanwhile, the Mayor of the largest city in our country was telling people to live your life as usual and go out to bars, restaurants, shows etc.. the same day that the World Health Organization declared this a global pandemic. That was just over two weeks ago. We are not close to the peak.
LikeLike
I can assure you we have not hit our peak in the Atl area. NYC, no idea. But based on the populations in the hospitals around here, if this is a peak… some higher power granted a giant pass to georgia.
LikeLike
And China isn’t ready to put 100,000 people in a stadium yet either. Without most of those 100,000 being vaccinated it would be irresponsible, even reckless, to do so. There will be no football this year, college or NFL. No baseball either. Get used to it.
LikeLike
“….me precious….me precious…”
LikeLike
Again, what good does our Reserve Fund do us? In a world in which no one gets SEC/NCAA money and Athletic Departments start furloughing staff, are we really going to keep paying Kirby $6MM/yr., when Bama is paying Saban $0? Is Saban going to leave if Bama pays him $0? If we don’t pay Kirby, is he going to go to some other school with a bigger reserve fund to do nothing? The answer to all those questions is “No.”
The Reserve Fund is great to tide you through ordinary ups and downs, but it is pretty worthless in an apocalyptic scenario…
LikeLike