Thursday, June 21, 2007

JoePa Terrified of Pitt



Listen to me about the Financial Realities of Today! I can't afford to stop working and I'm 126 years old!


Poor, poor Penn State. Here's a school with a great legacy of success, the Boy Scout Equivalent of Keith Richards in Head Coach Joe Paterno and allegedly the financial acumen of Pacman Jones in that Las Vegas Strip Club.

JoePa lamented the probable death of the Penn State-Pitt rivalry, one that currently sits with the Nittany Lions owning an 8 game lead over the Panthers because of 'the economic realities of a 12 game schedule.' Yes, economic realities that say Penn State must have 7 home games. This is a statement that one would expect Michael Scott to throw out on NBC's The Office, not Paterno. Evidently he's forgetting to take his meds because some of those same economic realities state that Beaver Stadium is the 2nd largest college football stadium in the NCAA at over 107,000. If the Penn State athletic department can't make the numbers work with 6 home games, then trouble must be brewin' at those schools with stadiums that seat less than 1/3 of the capacity.

The series was pretty much an annual event until 1992, when a 5 year hiatus set in as the two schools adjusted to life in the Big Ten (Eleven) and the Big East. The series hasn't been played since 2000. Now Paterno is treating Pitt like a D-IAA squad and saying it might be possible if the Panthers wanted to travel to Happy Valley twice and host Penn State once. And he's complaining about ticket prices set 7 seasons ago, saying that Pitt charged more for the Penn State game than any other of there home games. Of course, this isn't a shock. Keep some of the following in mind:

  • The 2000 game was played in Three Rivers Stadium, which sat 59,000 for football. Prior to that, the Pitt home games were played at Pitt Stadium, which sat 3,000 less. Since 2001, all Pitt home games have been hosted at Heinz Field, which is shared with the Steelers and seats 65,000 (still not 2/3 as big as JoePa's home turf), but enough to make the gate attractive. If it isn't then the Steelers need to figure something out in a hurry.
  • Most schools put in graduated pricing models due to the higher demand for certain games (as well as a tool to help sell more season ticket packages) , and technically, there isn't any true hypocrisies here--- Penn State charges the General Public $58 for a home game ticket whether it's against Temple or Notre Dame. Of course, getting back to those economic realities, brings up another question--- how do those other teams with smaller stadiums survive when EVERY ONE OF THE PENN STATE OPPENENTS FOR 2007 CHARGE LESS FOR THEIR GENERAL PUBLIC TICKETS THAN THE NITTANY LIONS? Indiana, for example, charges $38, while Michigan State only gets $46 and Michigan accepts $55. Have they found some magic potion to balancing the budget that doesn't exist in Happy Valley?
  • Yes, keeping in mind that the 12 game schedule wasn't permanently in place until about 2 years ago, one wonders what those same realities were. For the most part in the 1990s, Penn State hosted 6 home games annually. Somehow, in the last 10 years, even with a larger stadium and increased ticket prices, the school finds it now financially necessary to bring in another 107,000 folks than it did in 1997 on an annual basis. Again, if PSU has these troubles financially despite all the success, sponsorships, outstanding facilities, then how do other programs even survive?
  • Finally, the whole football side of things comes in. PSU's last nonconference schedule for the seasons 2005-2007 is as follows: South Florida, Cincinatti, Central Michigan (all at home in 2005); Akron, @ Notre Dame, Youngstown State and Temple (in 2006) and Florida International, Notre Dame, Buffalo and @ Temple (in 2007). Yes, the Notre Dame game is nice, but it's real hard for the Nittany Lions to say that they couldn't dump one of their games against a D-IAA squad like Youngstown State (no offense to the fighting Penguins) or from D-IA bottom feeders Buffalo, Temple or Florida International.

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