BleedGopher
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per Politi:
Let's be clear on this from the start: This is not a second guess. Back in November 2012, Jim Delany could have demanded anything from Rutgers officials and they would have agreed with a smile -- and understandably so.
Delany: "We'll accept you into the Big Ten, but only if you change the name of the university to Jim Delany's Awesome Intergalactic Starfleet Academy and speak nothing but Vulcan."
The longtime Big Ten commissioner is a master dealmaker, and during those negotiations, he had all the leverage. Any deal to get out of the American Athletic Conference and into the nation's premier conference, especially when it looked like the music would stop in the conference realignment game without the Scarlet Knights finding a chair, was one that they had to take.
As I wrote back then: Rutgers just wanted a lifeboat and ended up on a Carnival cruise ship.
Still, four and a half years later, it is impossible not to look at the financial details and not conclude that Delany gave Rutgers a lousy deal -- and it's one that is making it harder for Rutgers to build the infrastructure necessary to truly compete in its new league.
Big Ten rival Michigan revealed this week that, thanks to the league's new TV contract, it is expecting a payout of $51.1 million from the conference in 2017-18. That is the same chunk of cash that Ohio State, Indiana, Illinois and the rest will add to their coffers.
But not Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are projected to get just $11.6 million. As the athletic department races to build the facilities needed to compete in the conference, it will receive just one-fifth of the revenue that its well-heeled rivals are banking.
You have to hand it to Delany. As the critics were snickering about adding Rutgers, he was positioning the Big Ten to become richer and even more powerful as the college landscape shifted. He has earned every penny of a $20 million bonus he is set to receive -- which, of course, is more than Rutgers will get in any of the first six years in the league.
Rutgers is part of his fiefdom now, and in the long-term, the Scarlet Knights will reap the benefits of these massive paydays. For now, though, they're lining up against Michigan and Ohio State with one-fifth of the revenue from the league. At least Delany didn't demand to rename the place.
http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/i...usy_deal_from_the_big.html#incart_river_index
Go Gophers!!
Let's be clear on this from the start: This is not a second guess. Back in November 2012, Jim Delany could have demanded anything from Rutgers officials and they would have agreed with a smile -- and understandably so.
Delany: "We'll accept you into the Big Ten, but only if you change the name of the university to Jim Delany's Awesome Intergalactic Starfleet Academy and speak nothing but Vulcan."
The longtime Big Ten commissioner is a master dealmaker, and during those negotiations, he had all the leverage. Any deal to get out of the American Athletic Conference and into the nation's premier conference, especially when it looked like the music would stop in the conference realignment game without the Scarlet Knights finding a chair, was one that they had to take.
As I wrote back then: Rutgers just wanted a lifeboat and ended up on a Carnival cruise ship.
Still, four and a half years later, it is impossible not to look at the financial details and not conclude that Delany gave Rutgers a lousy deal -- and it's one that is making it harder for Rutgers to build the infrastructure necessary to truly compete in its new league.
Big Ten rival Michigan revealed this week that, thanks to the league's new TV contract, it is expecting a payout of $51.1 million from the conference in 2017-18. That is the same chunk of cash that Ohio State, Indiana, Illinois and the rest will add to their coffers.
But not Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are projected to get just $11.6 million. As the athletic department races to build the facilities needed to compete in the conference, it will receive just one-fifth of the revenue that its well-heeled rivals are banking.
You have to hand it to Delany. As the critics were snickering about adding Rutgers, he was positioning the Big Ten to become richer and even more powerful as the college landscape shifted. He has earned every penny of a $20 million bonus he is set to receive -- which, of course, is more than Rutgers will get in any of the first six years in the league.
Rutgers is part of his fiefdom now, and in the long-term, the Scarlet Knights will reap the benefits of these massive paydays. For now, though, they're lining up against Michigan and Ohio State with one-fifth of the revenue from the league. At least Delany didn't demand to rename the place.
http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/i...usy_deal_from_the_big.html#incart_river_index
Go Gophers!!