The Cost of a Game

     On Saturday, we attended the Rutgers-Nebraska basketball game along with over 6,000 other people hoping for a Scarlet Knights victory. Which, in thrilling style with 1.0 seconds left, sophomore guard Corey Sanders banked home a tipped ball from his previous errant shot to put the Knights ahead for good at 65-64. Thus, RU was able to secure its first Big 10 victory of this season under new Coach Steve Pikiell.

     The Rutgers Athletic Center was alive, abuzz with the enthusiasm of a large student contingent along with a game where the Knights were not being outclassed. For a simple midseason conference matchup of two teams who have very little history between them, this was good theater. We could not have been happier with the result and the way it came about. A team effort on defense coupled with a not-to-be denied effort by the effervescent point guard Sanders. For a school which had a 3-33 Big 10 men's basketball conference record heading into this season and with a football team that could not win in the league, this amounted to a big, positive step in the right direction.

     Athletic Director Patrick Hobbs came to Rutgers with a mandate. To make the school competitive in the Big 10. Hobbs had a sterling resume and reputation, last being the Dean of the Seton Hall University School of Law. He may have singularly been one of Governor Chris Christie's best appointments as an independent ethics ombudsman in a tenure that has been dismal at best. Dr. Robert Barchi found him on a strong recommendation and Dr. Barchi tasked Hobbs with the rebuilding of Rutgers athletic fortunes which had been decimated by former AD Julie Hermann and Head Football Coach Kyle Flood and may ultimately lead to NCAA sanctions for lack of institutional control.

     Very few Rutgers teams have been successful in recent years, most notably the failures of its flagship teams--football and men's and women's basketball. The only teams which have encountered some modicum of success have been the women's soccer team and wrestling. While that is good that these teams have won with distinction, it is not merely enough to overcome the drought created by the major sports at Rutgers.

     Evidently the way to compete is to have gleaming new facilities for the top tier sports. The mantra of being able to compete with the big boys--Ohio State, Michigan and the other conference brethren--is to have stadiums and arenas which are modern and with all of the bells and whistles. Moreover, the practice facilities must be top notch too. No more practicing in the RAC for basketball--they need a separate building for their endeavors. Head Coach Chris Ash, recruited from Ohio State, determined that almost every aspect of the football program required an upgrade. To be able to recruit big time athletes and become competitive, thereby sating the fans thirst for winners, necessitated a change in the culture of how these teams comported themselves.

     Armed with a vision and the understanding of President Barchi that he needed to do what would be optimal to engender RU as a winner, AD Hobbs had to do what most athletic directors do--become a fund raiser. Which led to the start of the R Big10 Build program. Designed to raise $100 million dedicated principally to athletic facility improvement, this is an ambitious undertaking by the school where it was duly noted that thee had not been a new building built for athletics in 22 years. This, in the estimation of Hobbs and Barchi, would allow RU to level the playing fields against its more entrenched Big 10 rivals and the money they currently receive from the conference, a piece of the pie RU is not entitled to in full until the 2020-21 season due to an integration program which was agreed upon as a condition of entry into the Big 10. So while a new agreement with FOX Sports will permit the existing members of the Big 10 to garner more than $50 million a year starting in 2017, Rutgers will have to continue its gradual increase in Big 10 revenues until 2020-21. While $11 million in the next 2 years is significant and the over $19 million which RU stands to receive in 2019-20 is even better, it is paltry compared to what the others will make. This will leave RU in a vicious cycle of trying to catch up with a slingshot while the conference foes with the exception of Maryland are armed with bazookas.

     Make no mistake here. The concept of being competitive in big time college athletics is tied to financial well-being. Whatever academic laurels Rutgers attains as a prestigious member of the Big 10 is certainly not to be scoffed at. But RU did not court and finally enter the Big 10 for academic reasons. The Big 10 is an athletic conference and RU sought to be with the big boys, while the Big 10 saw the New York market via Rutgers to enrich its coffers. Rutgers understood the finances surrounding this pivotal move and they eagerly agreed to be ransomed in exchange for a deferred piece of the action. Which is why the teams are at such a disadvantage now and will continue to be as the full partners will benefit at the tune of $50 million plus for the next 3 years while Rutgers adheres to its entry agreement.

     Whether this alignment was worth the money which Rutgers must raise to offset the lack of full Big 10 money until 2020-21 is debatable. The landscape of college athletics is so out of control and driven by huge television rights packages. Or the ungodly number of bowl games now sanctioned by the NCAA so that teams can justify barely winning records in order to share some more revenue. Or that the NCAA is thinking of further expanding its Division I Men's basketball tournament to permit more power conference teams to get some more money from the networks. This mindset exists notwithstanding that the vast majority of the programs are in the red and have to obtain alumni, outside benefactor or state government relief; Rutgers is definitely among those schools.

     Rutgers went into this venture with their eyes wide open. They knew that programs of begging like the RU Big10 Build were a requirement. The payoff would be in 2020-21 and beyond. It was a bold opportunity which Rutgers felt it had to be involved with--no matter how outrageous the price tag was.

    I wish Rutgers well in this quest. I do my part in having a partial season plan for men's basketball. This is the level of my financial commitment for a school I did not attend. This is my investment in the future of RU athletics.

    I just wish they had not sought to squeeze every cent form the fans as evidenced by the new policy that no outside food is permitted in the RAC or High Point Solutions Stadium despite no update to the policy on the web site. Either you eat early for a 12 noon start for a basketball game or afterwards at 2:00; unless you buy the lacklustre food sold in the arena. I can, for the moment, bring food to Yankee Stadium, where making money has always been number one, and despite some of the most diverse food vendors in professional sports. If the Yankees can permit food and drink to enter its cathedral, it boggles the mind to believe that Rutgers will not allow it.

     Sadly, this is the cost of going to a game at Rutgers these days. When will the powers that be decide that alcohol will be sold at RU sporting events inside the stadium or arena is only a matter of time; that is a steady, significant cash cow. I worry that they will soon charge for parking or even bringing a chair to sit beyond the outfield fence on a sunny spring day for a RU baseball game. For it is sure that Rutgers needs the money. Seemingly without regard to tradition and an absence of compassion for its loyal fan base.

     After all, with astronomical figures on the table like it is in college sports, business is business.