Thinking out loud: College sports getting hit hard

Thinking out loud…while balancing snark and humor with sensitivity and reality today.  Snark won.

• As we continue to struggle with all things 'normal' in our world, it's gonna be awhile before our college teams can find any of it, too.

• They're all getting hit hard.  Especially in the wallet.

• The Sports Business Journal reports this week Learfield/IMG College is notifying its 200 school and conference partners across the country they will be 60-90 days late with rights' fee payments.

• This means what, exactly?  School athletic departments and leagues whose brands are represented by Learfield/IMG – including ticket sales, concessions, media rights, signage, digital licensing and publishing – are going to find their bank accounts and operating expenses severely curtailed.

• Maybe that doesn't mean much to you – but it does mean something to the athletic departments at PC, URI and Brown, who are all represented by Learfield/IMG in the marketing universe – a universe where product and revenue has gone from 100 mph-to-zero in a matter of days.

• Boston College, UConn, Yale, Dartmouth, Hartford, UNH, UMass, Maine and Vermont are all in the same boat, as are Marquette, Seton Hall, St. John's, Butler and Xavier in the Big East. 

• The Atlantic-10, the AAC and Patriot League (where Holy Cross is a member) as well as Providence Venues & Sports Properties – which runs the Dunk, the RI Convention Center and the Veterans' Memorial Auditorium – are also facing financial difficulty.

• Learfield/IMG has begun negotiating the terms of what they owe to their partners, largely because they've had no inventory (or games) to sell.  No March Madness + no spring sports = no revenue.

• Cutbacks have already begun.  Cincinnati dropped men's soccer last week.  The University of Louisville isn't cutting sports – yet – but this week they became the next 'big' school to ask coaches to take pay cuts and forcing athletic department employees into salary reductions and furloughs.

• And while the majority of athletic directors around the country believe the lifeline of college football will be played this fall, UConn president Thomas Katsouleas told a journalism class this week that the "current thinking" is there will be NO COLLEGE SPORTS at all.

• He later amended that statement, correctly pointing out that no decisions have yet been made.  Which put an immediate halt to the witty, snarky "well UConn doesn't have a football team anyway" comments on social media. 

• But here are the facts:  The pros ain't playin'.  The high schools and colleges aren't either.  Careers are closing, livelihoods are on hold if not permanently rearranged.  The need to return to some semblance of our previous lives is apparent…and urgent.

• "So other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"  Macabre, sure.  But mood, too.  Let's move on.

• Tweet of the Week I, from @JoeGiza: "So do the #Patriots send a bill to Gronk now for denting the trophy at Fenway opening day?"

• Maybe they should.

• Overall, it's a waste of time and effort to get too worked up over Rob Gronkowski's transaction this week to Tampa.  So what if the trade was a calculated move?  First, we know he loves TB12.  Said he'd be the only QB he'd play with when the Patriots tried to trade him to Detroit two years ago.

• Second, Gronk wasn't going to play for New England this year.  The Patriots got a 4th round pick for nothing.

• Third, the Patriots weren't even in position to carry the $9-10 million salary Gronk will earn on their own cap.  Trying to fit him in, even if he had pleaded to come back to play, would have been an anti-Belichickian move. 

• Fourth, the team thought he was pretty much done two years ago.  Yes, he returned to help lead the Patriots to a 6th SB title.  Appreciate that, Gronk, along with all of your great charity work. 

• But if you're going to get upset over losing a 43-year-old QB and an oft-injured, 31-year-old TE who has been out of the game for more than a year, shed all of his weight and only played a 16-game schedule twice in his previous nine seasons?

• Waste of time and good crocodile tears.

• TB12 and Gronk were arguably the best QB-TE duo in NFL history.  Key word here being "were."

• Go ahead and root for the Bucs.  They will be a popular flavor for the minions to follow this season, like the Patriots of 20, 25, 30 years ago.  Me?  I'll stay with an NFL brand-name, established, winning franchise. 

• You could root for a NE-TB SBLV – in Tampa, no less. That would be Off. The. Hook.  The Bucs, however, ranked 30th in pass defense a year ago, and 29th in points allowed, so…

• But you go ahead and be you.  The Patriots have hit way more than they've missed when it comes to parting company with personnel.  It's why they're the Patriots in the first place.

• Just wondering, but does Gronk have to give up his WWE 24/7 title belt?  Convenient that the WWE training facility is just a short drive away on I-4, isn't it?

• The WWE says he'll need to be ready to 'defend' that belt at any time. Can't wait for a teammate to pick him up in an endzone celebration, body slam him to the turf and pin him.  Just sayin'.

• Guess he won't be able to smear any of that CBD cream on his bruises either, huh?

• Who's next to follow TB12 and Gronk to America's New Playground, Tampa?  AB?  All that circus will need is a ringmaster.

• As we all think about travelling again, American Airlines wants you to know they're still around to kick you in the teeth.  They're upping bag-check fees to $75 per bag on some flights, one-way…after receiving a multi-billion dollar bail out from the government. 

• Bend over, grab your ankles.  Pow!  Thank you sir, may I have another?

• The sports world's true power couple, ARod and JLo, may just step in and put their worth (about $700 million) to work in pursuit of an actual purchase of the New York Mets.

• Before you ridicule, if I'm a Mets fan (and I'm not) – why not?  What else has worked?

• Speaking of the Mets, a couple of their fans have decided to sue MLB, Commissioner Rob Manfred and the 30 teams.  They want their money back for the season-ticket plans they purchased, citing financial hardship due to the pandemic…and under the pretext of 'postponing' games, the team and ticket merchants aren't paying them back.

• Fair or foul? 

• The Sox "got away" with only losing a 2nd round draft pick and their video coordinator suspended for this season – if there is a season – in the sign-stealing ordeal.  Alex Cora was punished for his Houston slight-of-hand but was called clean in Boston…even though his video coordinator (J.T. Watkins) was suspended.  Got it.

• But no systemic (love that word) cheating was found, so no tarnish is on that 2018 trophy, either.  Wink, wink.  Nudge, nudge.  Know what I mean?

• And the #Cora2021 rumor mill has already kick-started itself into reality.

• We've all pretty much made a habit of banging on the Red Sox recently for some of their moves, on the field as well as off.  But the decision this week to keep paying their full time employees through May, after the commissioner decided to suspend employee contracts May 1 for the purpose of furloughs or dismissals, was a sign of a heartbeat at the ol' ballpark.

• That's 400 full-time employees, in case you didn't know.  The Yankees are also ponying up for their employees through May, too.

• The players, on the other hand, are grousing about the potential to lose 25% of their pay over missed games and grumbling about the 'bubble city' plan to play games in a few centralized locations with no fans attending.

• That may or may not happen, but who wants to hear their complaints?  Suck it up, buttercup.  Play ball…if – and when – you're told to play ball.

• MLB players stand to lose between $3478 and $222,222 in per-game revenue for each game they don't play.  Easy to see whey they'd be upset.

• But…in order for the season to start, MLB would need for about 3000 people to be tested on a regular basis: players, staff and the broadcast crews…in case you were wondering.

• Until the pandemic hit us, one of the biggest baseball stories of the year had to be the contraction of approximately 40 minor league teams across the country – including wiping out the Class A New York-Penn League and the Lowell Spinners, Connecticut Tigers and Vermont Lake Monsters.

• MiLB has very little to stand on here, unfortunately.  No ticket sales, no massive TV deals like their MLB big brothers, no side revenue.  It appears MLB will get what they originally wanted, and contraction is on its' way.

• The only question remaining centers over any support for MiLB teams from the new PBA (Professional Baseball Agreement) being negotiated by MLB and the MiLB.  In return, 40 teams will most likely bid adieu, and fans in some cities left without a team of their own. 

• Some will close up shop, anyway.  Others could remain, but in a non-affiliated capacity.

• With Massachusetts and Rhode Island schools closed through June, efforts to continue spring high school sports in the MIAA and RIIL have also ended.  That's an especially tough life-lesson for seniors to have to learn. 

• Congrats to WJAR-TV's Frank Carpano, who celebrated an extraordinary 40 years at Channel 10 this week.  40 years in one place, much less in the volatile world of TV, is almost unthinkable.  Or, he has pictures.  Kidding, Frank!

• ESPN's "The Last Dance" did everything the network hoped it would do, and more.  It got boffo ratings.  It got fans talking about games again.  It furthered the great "MJ or LBJ" debate – in which there really is no debate.

• Now, if LeBron decided to give up hoops to go and play TE for the Browns or something similar, he would have my attention, certainly.  He is a great, great, player – a generational talent.  But he's not Michael.

• I'm not even sure he's Bird or Magic.  But to the post-80's and '90's crowd, he's their guy.  Fine.  To each his own.  But I'll take the NBA of the 80's, and those players, over ANY generation.

• More so after watching those highlights during the doc last weekend.  The game was less complicated then.  Smoother.  More refined.  So were the athletes.

• Not for nuthin', but Jordan is donating his share of the proceeds from the documentary series to charity. 

• What's the fuss, Friar fans?  Love Providence at TCU in the Big East-Big 12 Battle next season.  Follow me, I know where the good BBQ and Tex-Mex places are.

• The Horned Frogs were 15-16 this past season, and only 5-16 against Q1 and Q2 teams.  But they do return two of their top three scorers in RJ Nembhard and Kevin Samuel, under the guidance of TCU alumnus and ex-Pitt coach Jamie Dixon.

• Solid matchups all the way around.  Creighton at Kansas could have been a possible Final Four preview, had TyShon Alexander not opted to stay in the NBA Draft.  The Blue Jays will still be very good – but not national-title good.

• Villanova at Texas.  Oklahoma at Xavier.  Baylor at Seton Hall.  Whoa.  If one conference actually bests the other in this thing, they'll deserve to be Numero Uno. 

• Butler picked up a transfer from South Carolina (and George Washington) this past week, adding 6-3 grad transfer guard Jair Bolden.  Losing Kamar Baldwin, Sean McDermott and Jordan Tucker leaves plenty of playing time available in Indy.  Tucker is trying the NBA Draft, and could return to school.
• Providence's 2019-20 season awards were released via social media this week, in the absence of a traditional season-ending banquet.  Thomas Ramos Academic Award - Andrew Fonts; Coca-Cola Most Promising Prospect Award - Greg Gantt; Lenny Wilkens Hustle Award - A.J. Reeves; John Zannini Coaches' Award - Nate Watson; Ryan Gomes Most Improved Player – David Duke.

• Sixth Man Award – Maliek White; Jimmy Walker Most Valuable Player – Alpha Diallo.  Any surprises?  Not from this end.

• ICYMI, PC's food services kitchen supplied food for Cranston's field hospital workers this week.  URI's dining services are cooking for seniors.  Examples of neighbors being good, supportive neighbors, rather than what I have. 

• This week, a Seton Hall sports poll says 72% of adults would NOT feel safe attending games without a vaccine. 

• 70% in this poll also said the NFL shouldn't play to protect the safety of the players.  Guess there weren't a lot of football fans in that mix.  Or, too many Jets and Giants' fans.

• The NHL now says neutral site games are off the table.  The new plan to restart the season now centers around divisions playing all games at one arena that one of its' teams already calls home. 

• Ridiculous.  Just start the playoffs already.  Or, there's always next year.

• This was predictable – now ex-XFL Pooh-bah Oliver Luck is suing the WWE's Vince McMahon over a breach of his contract after his firing.  Luck, who seems to have run out of it, is trying to recoup what he says was guaranteed in his deal to be commissioner.

• Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to dealing with the WWE.  That's how they got to be the WWE in the first place.  They body-slam people.  Hasn't anyone paid attention?

• The NFL 'virtual' draft was a hit with advertisers before the first pick was made Thursday.  Ad spots were all sold out through the first three rounds.  Later rounds this weekend will cost you a cool $250K per 30-second commercial…but hurry, those are also disappearing faster than the games themselves.

• Round One of the NFL "virtual" draft seemed to go off without too much of a hitch, as ESPN juggled more than 150 different camera feeds…except for the Commissioners' penchant for not remembering what year it is, or where he was. 

• See?  Roger Goodell IS just like the rest of us.  Minus the clown nose, of course.

• URI could have its' first NFL draftee in 34 years this weekend.  Rootin' for that story.

• New unis?  Meh.  Color Rush II.  These eyes would have preferred seeing some red again.

• Took a ton of flack for touting Bill Parcells' candidacy for the Patriots' HOF this week.  Really, I get it.  His W/L record was not good.  You are what your record says you are, so said BP himself.  He left the organization on terrible terms.

• But that's not what he should be remembered for.  He deserves recognition for turning the mindset and practice of a previously sad-sack franchise into a model team and organization that the rest of the free world continually tries to copy.  On and off the field.

• If that ain't Hall-worthy, then little else makes sense.  From this POV, there is no Hall today without Parcells' presence yesterday.  Go place your vote on patriots.com.

• And btw, Richard Seymour and Mike Vrabel are great picks, too.  You can't go wrong. 

• Tweet of the Week II, from @TheBoredShow: "State of Georgia announces it is reopening while they have a 28-3 lead on COVID-19."

• Tweet of the Week III, from @AndrewYang: "Harvard didn't get to $40 billion by turning down $8 million."

• Interested in having your questions on local Rhode Island sports (and yes, that includes the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics, whenever they play again) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Send 'em to me! It's your chance to "think out loud," so send your questions, comments and local stories to jrooke@weei.com. We'll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/Tweets right here! Follow me on Twitter, @JRbroadcaster…and on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke ...

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