Celebration Bowl Payout Scheme


If a FCS conference like the Southland Conference was to participate, I say move the game to New Orleans or Houston. Just like ULL's participation in the New Orleans Bowl, I'm sure those necks in that conference would be too happy to play in a bowl game that would be televised on ESPN.
Bruh, those teams don't have fans... Neither does the MEAC but our fans would want to come to see us play a MEAC team. Thats just life.
 
Also, let's not talk about money right now. The question is whether or not this is a step in the right direction. We knew from the jump that $2 M was not a lot for 22 schools. However, $2M could become $4M... and $4M could become $8M. Our job now is to support the event. We have the opportunity now to really make something big happen.
 
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TigerPride, that is what I was trying to tell some of the MEAC postings..we have a foot in the door.and after the contract is over.we can go back to the table and ask for more money..ETC
 
Dude, it's only those 5 fans over there who don't want to see it happen. The average A&T, FAMU, Howard, etc fan will FLOCK to ATL.

True............and in the words of the great dreamer: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

 
So since I was the person that started that fire on the other side, let me attempt to clear it up.

Yes, information was given out during an Alumni meeting in Greensboro, NC. In this Meeting, it was said by A&T Officials that the MEAC champ was getting $200,000 in tickets. It was also mentioned that the remaining $800,000 would be split either 70/30 or 80/20 in favor of the participating team and ESPN will pay for the school's band and cheerleaders travel and boarding in Atlanta (two nights & food).

In essence, if everything goes perfect (80/20 split and the school sells the full allotment of tickets), the school can bring in up to $840,000 in gross revenue. That's in the ball park north of 10% of some of the budgets in the MEAC.

Honestly, this game benefits those schools that have alumni within a 2 to 3 hour travel time (car or plane) to Atlanta. MEAC north teams would have expenses from keeping the dorms open a week during winter break to the extensive travel of their travel party, and would have trouble unloading $200K worth of tickets in a week's time.

It was also mentioned, especially about the last part, that aside from the $200,000 in tickets, nothing else was agreed upon and no contract was given to the schools nor was signed by any of the Co-CEO's.

IMHO, if A&T can get $640,000 & $200,000 in tickets, that would be a pretty decent amount of change for giving up the AQ. It emotionally stings but financially, it makes plenty of sense.
 
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So since I was the person that started that fire on the other side, let me attempt to clear it up.

Yes, information was given out during an Alumni meeting in Greensboro, NC. In this Meeting, it was said by A&T Officials that the MEAC champ was getting $200,000 in tickets. It was also mentioned that the remaining $800,000 would be split either 70/30 or 80/20 in favor of the participating team and ESPN will pay for the school's band and cheerleaders travel and boarding in Atlanta (two nights & food).

In essence, if everything goes perfect (80/20 split and the school sells the full allotment of tickets), the school can bring in up to $840,000 in gross revenue. That's in the ball park north of 10% of some of the budgets in the MEAC.

Honestly, this game benefits those schools that have alumni within a 2 to 3 hour travel time (car or plane) to Atlanta. MEAC north teams would have expenses from keeping the dorms open a week during winter break to the extensive travel of their travel party, and would have trouble unloading $200K worth of tickets in a week's time.

It was also mentioned, especially about the last part, that aside from the $200,000 in tickets, nothing else was agreed upon and no contract was given to the schools nor was signed by any of the Co-CEO's.

IMHO, if A&T can get $640,000 & $200,000 in tickets, that would be a pretty decent amount of change for giving up the AQ. It emotionally stings but financially, it makes plenty of sense.
Perhaps you can explain this to your fellow MEAC-ers.

It perplexes me that MEAC folks complain about wanting to participate in the FCS playoffs, however when their school is represented, there's little to no support regardless of whether the game is at home or on the road. And to add to that, most teams (who are already strapped financially) lose revenue by participating.
I would like to know a MEAC-er's opinion on that.
 
$200K in tickets is not a lot to sell. That's not even 10,000 tickets using $25.00 as the average ticket price. Also, since all of the other schools won't have a ticket allotment, let's say that Hampton can't sell their tickets, they could easily ask each MEAC school to help them sell 200-300 tickets. This should be a BCF event.. NOT a "whatever school is going event".
 
Westcoastaggie...

I would think that the remaining $800K would be split 80/20 or 70/30 with the participating school getting the 20% or 30% but that is just my opinion. Which means if A&T went, they would get their initial $200K plus about $160K. $360K is still not a bad payout even if you have to take expenses out.
 
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Westcoastaggie...

I would think that the remaining $800K would be split 80/20 or 70/30 with the participating school getting the 20% or 30% but that is just my opinion. Which means if A&T went, they would get their initial $200K plus about $160K. $360K is still not a bad payout even if you have to take expenses out.

Well one Aggie Alum, that is now at Jackson State in the Athletic Department mentioned that both the SWAC and MEAC were considering giving the participants up to 80% of the remaining $800,000 each conference would get. That extra $500,000 would help the Athletic Department and the Band out tremendously as we would have to pay for an extra week of housing and boarding.
 
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Perhaps you can explain this to your fellow MEAC-ers.

It perplexes me that MEAC folks complain about wanting to participate in the FCS playoffs, however when their school is represented, there's little to no support regardless of whether the game is at home or on the road. And to add to that, most teams (who are already strapped financially) lose revenue by participating.
I would like to know a MEAC-er's opinion on that.

Their explanation to that is that they are competing for a true national championship and it's more than earning/losing money in the process.
 
ESPN (although publicly traded under the Disney umbrella) operates in the private sector and does not relay on government funds to operate. The company is not required to release information under FOIA.

i guess it got me cause it doesn't say "ESPN Celebration Bowl". like a naming rights sponsor.
 
Their explanation to that is that they are competing for a true national championship and it's more than earning/losing money in the process.

The funny thing about it is that it could be a city-wide championship and about the same amount of people would know or care.
 
Well one Aggie Alum, that is now at Jackson State in the Athletic Department mentioned that both the SWAC and MEAC were considering giving the participants up to 80% of the remaining $800,000 each conference would get. That extra $500,000 would help the Athletic Department and the Band out tremendously as we would have to pay for an extra week of housing and boarding.

WOW...that's a lot of incentive to win. However, I would hope that an HBCU would know how to take $360K and walk away with at least $250K of it. I am sure that on a weekly basis, they don't spend that much to put the band and the team on the road. I am sure the team will have to arrive on Thursday but they should be headed back home Saturday night. If Honda and Toyota can sponsor 8-10 bands, I'm sure we can find a company to sponsor two.
 
i guess it got me cause it doesn't say "ESPN Celebration Bowl". like a naming rights sponsor.

If you'd take a look at this website, this will pretty much tell you (and others) what all of this is about. For ESPN it is all about content. Many of you may have seen some of these (football and basketball) games on TV and probably didn't realize these events were created by ESPN. ESPN is first and foremost in the TV business. And the sporting events mentioned on that website are essentially made for TV events.
 
You will never see ESPNs name on a bowl game. However, another company could take the naming rights. We might be the Ragu Bowl next year... LOL

It's still an ESPN Events function. Around 1/3 of the bowl games out there are entirely owned by EE (including the CB). It might be Ragu Celebration Bowl but it's still owned by ESPN

On a side note, ESPN is seriously getting into boxing now bringing back prime time fights on ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/i...pions-series-replace-friday-night-fights-espn
 
I have been looking up articles, and like Kenn stated the schools nor ESPN.....will not release the contract,, but how its looking is that the TWO TEAMS will get.$200,000 EACH..if they sell their allocated amount of tickets,,, they will get all of the money...whatever is not.SOLD EATS INTO THAT $200,000
I've heard from a good source that each conference champion will indeed be required to sale 200k worth of tickets. That equates to around 6-7k tickets. That should not be a hard thing to do, assuming the team's fans will travel, and also, Atlanta is home to many SWAC and MEAC graduates. The key will be getting the word out and getting them to purchase tickets from the school and not from Ticketmaster, etc. The SWAC has NOT yet decided how it will split the remaining 800k. The AD's and presidents still have to make their suggestions and get this resolved. One request is that the SWAC champion will get at least 600k from that pool, with the remaining 200k split amongst 9 members and the SWAC office. That would allow for the SWAC rep to possibly net 500-700k. All players will likely travel for this game as a reward for a great season. Teams will be required to stay 4 nights in a hotel to be determined by the Bowl. Could easily cost 50k in hotel expenses alone. Obviously, some schools are close enough to travel by bus but others will have flight expenses.
I was told that ESPN WILL indeed cover band expenses. However, that amount will not likely cover expenses for entire band. It will be an amount likely to cover 150-200 band members. All others will be on the university's dime.
I hope the administrators see the common sense in making sure that the conference rep be allowed the opportunity to pocket at least 500k IF the ticket allotment is sold.

Hello to the group. My first post here. I've followed the posts and the site for years. Looking forward to a great experience.
#GoHornets
 
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