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Fascinating interview with Memphis AD Ed Scott

Seinfeld

Seinfeld

All-American
Nov 30, 2006
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I’m sure that most of you don’t give a rip about what’s going on in the world of Memphis athletics, but I found this interview to be incredibly fascinating. Scott goes in depth about what they’re spending, what those around them are spending, and the absolute shenanigans that ADs are having to deal with in order to meet the skyrocketing costs of competing in today’s NIL world. It’s just nuts

Some highlights….

- In 2023, Memphis spent $2M more on basketball player contracts than they had the funds to pay

- Tiger basketball spent roughly $5M on last year’s roster. This year it will be $9M, a 80% YoY increase

- Due to not having the funds to pay this $9M, Penny will be personally fundraising $2.6M, and if he doesn’t get there, he will write the check

- The Tiger basketball roster costs $2M more than what they spent on the football roster ($7M)

 
D

Dawgzilla2

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Oct 9, 2022
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Seinfeld said:
I’m sure that most of you don’t give a rip about what’s going on in the world of Memphis athletics, but I found this interview to be incredibly fascinating. Scott goes in depth about what they’re spending, what those around them are spending, and the absolute shenanigans that ADs are having to deal with in order to meet the skyrocketing costs of competing in today’s NIL world. It’s just nuts

Some highlights….

- In 2023, Memphis spent $2M more on basketball player contracts than they had the funds to pay

- Tiger basketball spent roughly $5M on last year’s roster. This year it will be $9M, a 80% YoY increase

- Due to not having the funds to pay this $9M, Penny will be personally fundraising $2.6M, and if he doesn’t get there, he will write the check

- The Tiger basketball roster costs $2M more than what they spent on the football roster ($7M)

Click to expand...

I keep posting on here that basketball players are getting far more money than football.

For $9MM, Memphis is picked to finish 2nd in the AAC, after finishing 8th last year. So what do you think we have to spend on our basketball team just to be middle of the pack in the SEC?

My theory is there are many schools like Memphis who are not trying to be nationally relevant in football, and can spend most of their NIL money on basketball. They get lower caps on revenue sharing than P4, but right now that doesn't really matter.
 
B

Bulldog45

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Oct 2, 2018
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Perd Hapley said:
Sounds like this guy’s doing a fantastic job of running his athletic department****
Click to expand...
AD’s will get fired quicker for losing than they will running up debt in today’s world, so string it out as long as you can I guess as long you can make sure your paycheck is the last one to bounce.
 
R

RBcoach

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Nov 14, 2023
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How many coaches are going to want to stay in college coaching if they are having to write a check to cover expenses. Let's just hypothetically say he only reaches 1.5 million in fundraising. Do you think he wants to lose a million dollars of his own money? I get Penny Hardaway probably has a lot of money, but would be hard to write a check for a million each year.
 
ckDOG

ckDOG

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Dec 11, 2007
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So when does this bubble start to burst? Clearly the TV money is there for a lot of programs but the math ain't mathing for the have not programs.
 
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greenbean.sixpack

greenbean.sixpack

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ckDOG said:
So when does this bubble start to burst? Clearly the TV money is there for a lot of programs but the math ain't mathing for the have not programs.
Click to expand...
It doesn’t. What will happen is the programs that can’t compete will either drop to lower levels, drop sports are just be rolled kill for the big boys. When it gets to only thirty ish teams who have the means to compete, fans will lose interest and TV ratings will decline. How long does it take? No one knows, could be five years could be 10.
 
Seinfeld

Seinfeld

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Nov 30, 2006
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ckDOG said:
So when does this bubble start to burst? Clearly the TV money is there for a lot of programs but the math ain't mathing for the have not programs.
Click to expand...
And I have to wonder, is the math problem really only a thing for G6 schools? SEC and B1G schools obviously bring in a lot more revenue, but we also spend a lot more too. Scott mentions that Memphis’s football roster cost $7M this year while we know that ours was in the $27-$35M range, and we apparently can’t afford a backup QB or a decent sound system.

I also really wonder how many ADs out there are signing contracts without knowing how they’re gonna cover the bills. Maybe not a ton, but I also know that the number is not zero. Revenues may be growing, but the cost to play is growing at a much faster, exponential rate.
 
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Seinfeld

Seinfeld

All-American
Nov 30, 2006
11,679
7,959
113
Perd Hapley said:
Sounds like this guy’s doing a fantastic job of running his athletic department****
Click to expand...
Yeah, but in all seriousness, I thought that his transparency was a breath of fresh air. Especially in this cloak and dagger NIL world of “give us all your money, but don’t ask where it goes”
 
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Dawgzilla2

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RBcoach said:
How many coaches are going to want to stay in college coaching if they are having to write a check to cover expenses. Let's just hypothetically say he only reaches 1.5 million in fundraising. Do you think he wants to lose a million dollars of his own money? I get Penny Hardaway probably has a lot of money, but would be hard to write a check for a million each year.
Click to expand...
If someone is making around $6MM per year, but needs to spend $1MM to make their job easier to keep, it's kind of a no brainer.
 
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