July 7, 2010

Linkbacker U is showing you the money!


Rutgers puts a price on tradition

Imagine waking up on Saturday, September 4 2010. The home opener for the Penn State Nittany Lion football team. You head down I-80 to the hollowed grounds of Beaver Stadium. Only, as you get out of your car (if you find a spot to actually park)you see the famed golden arches of your favorite fast food restaurant and a giant McDonald's Field right next to Paterno statue.

Well Rutgers is preparing to do something like that, as the Scarlet Knights are selling their naming rights to both Rutgers Stadium (football) and the Louis Brown Athletic Center, better known as the RAC (basketball).

The economic climate is dark for many a college athletic program, and it will be interesting to see if programs with athletic traditions richer than Rutgers will follow suit.

Speaking of Cashing in on Football

Chances are if you are reading this, odds are pretty decent that you are either a Penn State student, or a season ticket holder. In any case, you have probably been affected by the newly instituted Seat Transfer and Equity Program (STEP) set to take effect in the 2011 season.

Like many of you, Devon Edwards of Nittany White Out was also perhaps weary of the new plan, but talked to the man with the plan, and discovered that the athletic department isn't filled with blood sucking vampires after all.
"GM: As we looked at our financial forecasts several years out, we began to see the trends of our annual revenues, whether that was on a ticket increase, which was done for years, and with the Big Ten Network coming online and boosting our revenues–but even with those revenues forecasted, we saw that in the 2016, 2017 time frame, we saw where expenses were going to cross and exceed revenues. So, at that point, we were really in a tight spot—trying to maintain that financially independent status. And, if we are going to continue doing that, we have no option other than to, first, get a real hold on our expenses, but in so doing, also, generating incremental revenue. The Seat Transfer and Equity Plan certainly is a common way and significant way to do that"
Heath raking in the awards

In case you missed it, Penn State catcher Ben Heath had a good season. No, I mean, a legendary season. The second team All-American set the single season school record with 19 home runs and was drafted in the fifth round by the Houston Astros.

As if being drafted by the Houston Astros wasn't enough, the accolades have continued to come Heath's way. He was recently named to the All-Mideast Region First Team and received an invite to compete with the best college sluggers in the nation in the first ever College Home Run Derby. Unfortunately for Heath, he's busy raking in the minors, already with 4 home runs in just 14 games.

Don't be shocked if you see Heath join David Aardsma and Nate Bump as one of the few PSU alumni making it big in the pros.

1982, 1986, 1994, 2005?

National Championship? Legendary offense? Shocking performance? What was your most memorable Penn State football season. No matter the year, each team bears something memorable that you can recall years later. For example, the Derrick Williams punt return in 2007 is still the moment that is most vivid in my mind in all my experiences inside Beaver Stadium. Black Shoe Diaries took a look back at thirty years of Penn State football, and couldn't put anything above the magical year of 2005

And who could blame them? Boy do I wish I was there for this.

Light at the End of the Tunnel: 9 pm ET, Thursday, ESPN

That's right. Finally. No more need for speculation, guessing, or making up stories. Thursday night on ESPN, we will FINALLY know where Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh will play basketball next season.

So basically, at 9 pm ET on Thursday night, the Lebron watch ends, and the Favre stalking begins. Gotta love ESPN.

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2 comments:

  1. "Boy do I wish I was there for [the Ohio State game in 2005]"

    Thanks Ryan, I was anxiously awaiting for somebody to make me feel like a crotchety old man

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's nothing, I was around for 86 and I still think that was one of the best Penn State teams ever. They beat a Miami team that they had no business beating considering the future NFL talent on that team. They just played well as a unit as a team.

    ReplyDelete

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