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UPDATE: the PAC 12 packs it in for 2020 sports...
Big Ten steps out of 2020 and hopes for a Spring 2021 season. Market Watch, of all things, reports that the Big 10 (B1G) is out.
The stack is dwindling, and so are many college town hopes of salvaging any sort of financial standing. The ACC is pressing ahead with its plans to play some sort of functional season this year. There will be more soul searching and here is an example of just some of the costs associated with the cancellation.
The news reports constantly on the money being lost by the programs, and in the case of the Big 10, it’s a substantial amount of revenue. TicketIQ’s Blog lists some really important monetary facts:
(Just a couple of important grabs to show you)
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Here is breakdown of the estimates of losses to each of the Big 10 programs: Needless to say the top of the league gets plowed. This one is interesting because it’s the fan revenue loss potential with no fans in the stadiums.
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Many of the listed programs would be losing so much that most of their athletic department funds will be gone. In addition, these numbers do not include the hotels, restaurants, bars, and other venues that support. We aren’t going to pretend to say how much secondary dependent business money will be lost. We aren’t even counting the losses of revenues to the booster clubs for seat premiums and extra donations. This cancellation is going to hit the college towns where these schools are located, very hard.
This is a Billion with a B hit to the schools’ programs, and an additional huge hit to the local economies. This is just straight up reporting, folks. If you want to chime in, ring away. The fact remains that football is a major revenue generator that far exceeds all other programs, and in fact keeps non-revenue sports operating.
If the ACC eventually follows suit, Blacksburg and the New River Valley economy is going to take a monster hit, even with the potential for reduced Game Day crowds. No matter what else can be said about 2020, it’s going to go on the calendar as a pretty terrible year.
Big Poll:
Should the ACC Cancel the 2020 Season? (Forget the Spring dream.. if that happens it’ll be small and very local)