(06-25-2021 08:02 PM)Pervis_Griffith Wrote: (06-25-2021 12:49 PM)Statefan Wrote: (06-24-2021 09:07 PM)BigOwensboroCard Wrote: (06-22-2021 06:51 AM)CardinalJim Wrote: (06-17-2021 06:34 PM)Statefan Wrote: Louisville has no drop deads
I’m not sure what this term means but I do know Louisville wants to maintain a presence in Florida.
Louisville should always have a scheduling partner with a Florida school, and should have as a permanent rival with Virginia Tech with them being are closes ACC brethren and we have history dating all the way back to the old Metro Conference days.
So yes Louisville does have some “ MUST HAVES “ , and this drop dead statement just sounds stupid.
Not to be overly offensive but -
1. Louisville does not have the mojo or the option to issue "must haves" to the other members - you are low man on the totem pole and will be for the next 50 or so years.
2. Because of basketball and your sweetheart deal in the YUM center your booster club organization is not predicated on football and one or two games that drive your alumni base.
3. Compared to the SAIAA/SIAA/SoCon/SEC/ACC pedigree of schools and relationships, Metro Conference associations are the equivalent of out of wedlock bastard children in an established family.
Drop deads are not just must haves or must plays. Drop dead is an addition or situation that existentially intolerable to a member school - they will actively begin to seek a move, not just talk **** about a move. West Virginia and UVa, Duke, and GT for example. ECU and UNC and NC State for example. UConn and BC for example. Another example would be the changing of certain rules on eligibility, calander, etc., etc.
Now as to Louisville and VT, you have played them 8 times in football over the last 120 years.
These are VT's historic rivals and relationships:
1. UVa 102
2. VMI 79
3. W&M 64
4. West Virginia 52
5. NC State 50
6. W&L 48
7. UNC 43
8. WF 39
9. Clemson 36
In fact VT has played all the other ACC teams including BC, Syracuse, Pitt, Miami, FSU, GT etc., over twice as many times as a minimum compared to Louisville.
Here are yours:
1. Cincy 53
2. Memphis 43
3. W. Kentucky 34
4. Kentucky 32
5. So Miss 30
6. Marshall 29
7. E. Kentucky 28
8. Tulsa 26
9. Dayton 25
10. FSU 21
This is why you don't get to pull rank.
Glad you weren't "overly offensive".
And that "sweetheart deal" for the YUM Center? That arena doesn't get built without a tenant. The deal isn't sweet enough to my liking. The state and city beg U of L to be the main tenant in the YUM Center so they can revitalize downtown ... when the athletic department was in the planning stages for an On Campus arena (we built a football stadium without ANY help from the state or city, we could easily do so for basketball)... and then after the arena is built, the state and city "cry foul about U of L's sweetheart deal".
Maybe NC State should worry more about things you can control ... like getting baseball players vaccinated for COVID ... than the deals conference members have with their facilities. But maybe that thinking is "too Metro Conference" for you.
Well since you asked for it:
https://www.courier-journal.com/news/htt....com/news/
TROUBLESOME TENANT?
As the Yum Center's debt struggles became commonly known, U of L's lucrative lease became the subject of debate.
The lease, which originally ran through 2044, gave U of L 88 percent of private suite revenue; half of net revenue from merchandise sales, whether the school was playing or not; half of net concessions during U of L events; and other revenue.
In recent years, the men's basketball team made about $20 million from ticket sales, concessions, premium suite rentals, advertising and other revenue.
In 2016-2017, the program paid the arena a net settlement of $1.36 million.
"The U of L lease gobbled up the top-line money ... first and created a bottom line that was insufficient ... to service the bonds," said Todd Blue, an original authority board member and longtime critic of U of L's lease.
Blue said U of L's threats to build on campus and not be a part of the downtown arena allowed the university to "commandeer" the community asset.
Some have noted that even as the arena struggled to pay off its bonds, U of L's basketball program became the biggest money-maker in the nation, with annual revenues of nearly $44 million in 2017.
Denis Frankenberger, a Louisville businessman and outspoken critic of arena finances, questioned whether there were conflicts of interest in the original contract negotiation, noting that several of the arena's board members have ties to the university. They include former U of L basketball star Junior Bridgeman and Jim Patterson, for whom the U of L baseball stadium is named.
Bridgeman disputed any suggestion the board favored the university, which he said was crucial to the project's success.
"It wasn't where we did anything to benefit the university just because we... may have been on the board or whatever," Bridgeman said.
Host noted that he's a former University of Kentucky athlete and he was in charge of negotiating the lease with former U of L Athletic Director Tom Jurich.
"We got a good deal and they got a good deal," Host said.
For example, he said, the arena retained the money from naming rights and corporate sponsorships.
Host said getting 12 percent of luxury suite revenue was a win, not a giveaway.
"I started at 18 percent. He started at 5 percent. We ended up at 12," Host said, recalling negotiations were intense, with Jurich at times pounding the table.
Yum's executives previously:No changes planned for backing KFC Yum Center in Louisville
Jurich, through a spokesman, declined an interview for this article. He has in the past flatly rejected suggestions that U of L is to blame for the arena's woes.
By comparison, the university's Freedom Hall contract gave the university 90 percent of gift shop revenue and 33 percent of concessions revenue. It got 90 percent of the revenue from private suites up to $35,000, and 75 percent of the revenue for anything higher than that amount.
There was no significant opposition to the downtown arena lease when it was negotiated.
Bisig, an arena board member at the time, said he recalls a sense of relief when U of L agreed to play downtown.
"There was going to be no arena without U of L," Bisig said. "At the time, I can’t remember anyone standing up and saying, 'This is too cherry for U of L.'"
But Blue said he and a few others questioned the deal early on. He called the idea that the arena needed the university more than the university needed the arena "spin doctoring."
"That’s the veil they put over the city and community’s head," Blue said.
DIGGING OUT
As concerns about a potential bond default were sounded in 2016, Cox started talking about getting various stakeholders back to the table.
After years of frustration over the arena's finances, it was no easy task, but civic leaders credit Cox's tenacity for coaxing more money out of the university and convincing state and local officials to pledge more tax dollars.
"This was a project that could not fail. It was too important," said Eric Granger, who became Yum Center's general manager this year. He pointed to public money already spent, the economic impact and the facility's prime location.
"Everyone needed to come to the table with the right attitude to make sure it's successful," Granger said.
When lease amendments were suggested in 2016, Jurich threatened to abandon Yum Center and build a new on-campus arena.
But the university finally agreed to bump its annual payment by $2.42 million — essentially increasing the university's net payment roughly two and a half times. In 2017-2018, the arena received a net settlement of $3.7 million from U of L men's basketball.
U of L also relinquished control of more dates in October, allowing the arena to schedule additional revenue-generating events, and extended the lease until 2054 or whenever the bonds are paid off.
Blue, former Gov. Fletcher and others say they would like to see the lease revamped further, but there's no current move to do so.
Source:U of L will offer to pay $75M more and give up dates in KFC Yum Center deal
The state and Metro Louisville also extended their commitments and pledged more money, helping the arena refinance.
Back in 2008, the arena had issued $349.2 million in bonds. Though it had spent years making debt payments, most of the money went to interest. So when the bonds were refinanced at a better interest rate and lower annual payments, the arena actually took on a bigger loan — $377.8 million in total.
The refinancing prevented a default and even allowed the authority to replenish its depleted maintenance fund, but it added about $100 million to the arena's total debt.
At the time of the refinance, the arena had already paid about $195 million in debt service. The refinanced bonds are expected to cost a total of $747 million over 30 years, bringing the total debt service to about $942 million. Add in the state's initial $75 million, and Yum Center's total cost tops $1 billion.
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Can anyone find that old thread about no divisions and a 3 + 5 schedule set up?
