There may be fewer fans in the seats at this year’s Florida-Georgia game, but not for the reason one might think.
The city is considering getting rid of some temporary seats for the Oct. 30 matchup.
The move, if approved by Jacksonville’s City Council, would cost the city nearly $800,000.
If City Council members approve the change to the city’s contract to host the game, about 6,000 seats typically installed in the north end zone would be eliminated.
Instead, that same area would be used for what is being called “premium seating.”
The City Council is expected to vote on this plan at next Tuesday’s meeting, which is just a few days before the game.
The timing is bizarre, to say the least. I have no idea what’s behind this, but if anyone reading this is down there and has some insight, please share in the comments.
We’re not sending our best and brightest to Congress, that’s for sure.
Here's one I haven't heard before: Rep. Bucshon of Indiana suggests that a college athlete could sign an NIL with a foreign-owned company, and then be influenced by the government of that foreign country.
2) 2) Rep. Buschon (R-IN) expressed a fear that the “Chinese Communist Party” may use college athlete NIL rights to their political advantage, which was the first time I had heard that concern.
Richard Burr, one of two former scholarship college athletes in the U.S. Senate, promised to introduce legislation if athletes were able to profit off their name, image and likeness.
Now, with college athletes signing deals with companies big and small, the North Carolina Republican has followed through, introducing the NIL Scholarship Tax Act.
“If a student chooses to monetize their name, image, and likeness based on their connection to their school — in some cases earning them $1 million or more a year — their scholarship should be subject to federal income taxation,” said Burr, who played football at Wake Forest University in the 1970s.
“It’s critical that we help protect the successful collegiate sports model that has provided students with educational and professional opportunities for more than a century.”
Skip past the complete unlikelihood that this bill would ever come close to passing. What exactly would it do to protect the amateurism model? Would a kid turn down a million dollar NIL promotional deal because he’d have to pay tax on, say, a $50,000 scholly? Not bloody likely.
There’s also the problem that students on scholarship who aren’t athletes, but receive outside income, don’t have their scholarship benefits taxed. How could you treat them differently under the law?
The game is kind of given away with this:
Burr’s legislation would only impact athletes who receive more than $20,000 from outside compensation. Those who earn more would be required to include their scholarship as income for federal taxes. Athletes pay taxes on any outside compensation already.
Apparently, a little bit pregnant is okay with Burr.
With the announcement Thursday that the Pac-12 Conference will not explore expansion in the near future, the fracturing Big 12 will throw its energy into looking at potential new members, Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt said.
The Texas Tech athletics director is part of a four-person expansion subcommittee tasked with leading the effort, which starts immediately.
“Right now, our complete focus is to make the Big 12 as strong as it can possibly be,” Hocutt said, “and I expect that Texas Tech will play a leadership role in that. We’re going to continue to be part of the Power Five structure in college athletics.”
You know they’re serious about it when they bring in the big gun.
Hocutt spoke hours later before a Red Raider Club kickoff event at which U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, addressed Tech fans. A Tech contingent has been seeking redress from the state’s political leaders since Texas and Oklahoma threw the future of the Big 12 into disarray with decisions to leave for the Southeastern Conference by July 1, 2025.
… Speaking from the stage, Cruz told Red Raiders fans that Tech matters in West Texas, across the state and nationally. He said he was in Minneapolis two years ago, “cheering on Tech” in the championship game of the men’s NCAA Tournament.
“College football right now is in flux. This is an uncertain time,” Cruz said. “But I want to say something clearly and unequivocally: Texas Tech belongs in a Power Five conference.”
Yeah, that should do the trick. And if it doesn’t, there’s always whining.
Hocutt took thinly-veiled shots at the movers and shakers behind the latest realignment moves. He said that trust has been broken “and without trust, there’s very little relationships.”
“I’m not sure that we’ve ever seen so much distrust and just turbulence within college athletics as we’re seeing now,” he said, “and it’s really unfortunate, the lack of relationships and trust. I think we’ve got to really re-establish some foundational aspects of college athletics as we move forward because things are changing and they’re changing fast. It’s a different time, and it’s going to be different in the next five or 10 years.”
Like he wouldn’t be sprinting for the exits if a P5 conference wanted his school.
LSU will require all Tiger Stadium guests 12 years of age and older to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to entry.
Reminder to all #Vols, we banned vaccine passports in TN so you won’t have to worry about being turned away if you don’t have “your papers”, when going to watch @Vol_Football at Neyland. https://t.co/vmxfbySwQM
… Because they have the television rights to the SEC they will benefit from the additions of Texas and Oklahoma immensely. Conveniently, the ESPN-SEC deal begins in 2024 and their contract expires with the Big XII only a year later when the teams are slated to join the SEC.
While the terms of the contract are unknown to me, it’s important to note the U.S. Supreme Court has decided that the exclusive right to televise all league games is a violation of anti-trust laws. While the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 was passed to overturn this decision for professional football, college football broadcast packages are not subject to the antitrust exemption in that law.
“While the terms of the contract are unknown to me…” is a short way of saying “I have no idea what’s going on, but my constituents want me to yell about it anyway”. Politicians, man.
Members of the Senate panel focused their questions on the economic impact to Texas cities such as Fort Worth, Waco and Lubbock, the homes of the Big 12 Texas schools being left behind. Baylor President Linda Livingstone told the committee that “the livelihood” of some Texas communities was at stake since the opponent mattered in ticket sales and attracting larger crowds.
Rhoades said the financial implications could put into question upcoming projects — including the building of a new basketball arena — and affect academic opportunities for students. Rhoades said the school, like others impacted, will also struggle to attract and keep talent on the field and in coaching staffs.
“The economic impact is real,” Rhoades said less than four months after the men’s basketball team won the NCAA championship. “If we are no longer a member of a Power Five, we will sell less tickets, we will sell less merchandise, we will raise less money and we will have less corporate sponsorship.”
Every damned time.
Evidently, Oklahoma and Texas are supposed to come to the aid of their less fortunate brothers. If they won’t volunteer for the job, then what’s wrong with having the state step in to make them do the right thing?
Yesterday, the Texas Senate held a hearing on the state’s flagship university’s decision to leave the friendly confines of the Big 12 for the SEC. Given there isn’t a damned thing the legislature can do about that, it was the perfect setting for politicians to show their butthurt and posture for the public about how awful Texas is. Empty gestures, for the win.
Some of the posturing sounded like it was ripped straight from the pages of your favorite school’s message board (hell, for all I know, it was). Here are a few tasty morsels:
Texas State Sen. Drew Springer: "If it was Vanderbilt leaving the SEC, if they left, nobody in the SEC would really care."
Charles Perry to Jay Hartzell: "If you're as big and great as you think you are, you should have made the Big 12 equal or better than the SEC and you didn't do it. I kind of feel sorry for the SEC. Cousin Eddie's coming home and he don't leave 'til he's wrecked the whole house."
“If a team can’t really run the ball on you then what’s the next thing they’re going to have to do? Pass,” (Adam) Anderson said. “So when you can stop them both ways, then what else can you do next? Gimmicks?” -- The Athletic, 10/13/21
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