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Great piece in the Athletic today regarding the future of MTEs with the Players Era now being, or trying to be, the new big dog for feast week. I have highlighted certain parts of the article below so you aren't just taking my word for it. This reinforces what a lot of us have talked about since Maui last year. I know Hurley doesn't want to go back based on how they played, but it's also a huge financial loss for the athletic department.
It makes more sense for $$$ reasons for UConn to schedule home and homes, and big payout neutral site games than play in Maui or Battle 4 Atlantis, and lose money. Matt Nolander said on his podcast yesterday that Battle 4 Atlantis has ZERO teams scheduled for next year's event. ZERO. Look at Maui this year where the biggest names were NC State and Texas (who both lost in the first round BTW). Those tournaments are going to have to change their business models fast.
I also think from a competitive standpoint, it helps not to play 3 games in 3 days. Allow our staff the chance to scout ahead of time. With games in Boston and New York this year, I believe we are guaranteed of making north of 1.5 million. Add in the home games with Arizona and Texas, and that jumps significantly higher. Next year, we are already scheduled to play in Chicago (return game with Illinois) with a payout in the neighborhood of over 600k. Add in a Kansas home game, another home game against a P5, and add a game in NYC and Boston, and we are in business. Plus we can schedule teams after the portal so we know we are getting a good opponent. Highlights from the article:
But today, Maui and other long-established multi-team events like the Battle 4 Atlantis are facing an existential threat. This week’s Players Era Festival in Las Vegas pays players directly — at least $1 million combined per team in name, image and likeness deals. The tournament doesn’t disclose how player payouts are determined, but they will go through NIL Go, the compliance clearinghouse launched by the College Sports Commission and managed by the accounting firm Deloitte.
Coaches and staffers The Athletic polled who have previously participated in Maui and Atlantis say that with charter flights, hotels, meals and other fees — few, if any, of which are covered by event organizers — it can cost a program anywhere from $250,000 to $750,000 to attend. One school, which has participated in both events in years past, said it has cost as much as a million dollars to play in those events, given growing travel parties. Other tournaments often book fields well in advance, making it harder to determine the quality of games for teams looking to build NCAA Tournament resumes.
After over a decade of organizing the Battle 4 Atlantis, Miller-Tooley left this offseason to focus on what she sees becoming the new “focal point” of nonconference scheduling: marquee neutral-site games.
“They’re getting the compensation. They can control their schedule. And they know exactly who they’re going to play,” Miller-Tooley said, adding that some of the neutral-site contests she’s organizing have come together in as little as a week.
The goal for any neutral-site nonconference game is to come close to a home gate, which ranges anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million on average for Top 25 teams, according to U.S. Department of Education data and multiple program staffers. But depending on a school’s brand — and venue, and location — it’s possible certain neutral-site games become more profitable than home games.
This week alone, Duke plays Arkansas in Chicago, North Carolina plays Michigan State in Fort Myers, Fla., and UConn plays Illinois in Madison Square Garden in New York.
Therein lies another hidden detriment, according to multiple high-major staffers and coaches, of going to an event like Maui or Atlantis. Not only are teams spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to go play these games, but in doing so, there’s also the opportunity cost of not playing home games or lucrative neutral-site deals. Hypothetically, say a school pays $500,000 to go to the Maui Invitational for a week. That isn’t its only cost; it’s also the additional $1 million it could’ve earned by playing two home games, or the additional $1.5 million it could’ve earned by playing a standalone neutral site.
www.nytimes.com
It makes more sense for $$$ reasons for UConn to schedule home and homes, and big payout neutral site games than play in Maui or Battle 4 Atlantis, and lose money. Matt Nolander said on his podcast yesterday that Battle 4 Atlantis has ZERO teams scheduled for next year's event. ZERO. Look at Maui this year where the biggest names were NC State and Texas (who both lost in the first round BTW). Those tournaments are going to have to change their business models fast.
I also think from a competitive standpoint, it helps not to play 3 games in 3 days. Allow our staff the chance to scout ahead of time. With games in Boston and New York this year, I believe we are guaranteed of making north of 1.5 million. Add in the home games with Arizona and Texas, and that jumps significantly higher. Next year, we are already scheduled to play in Chicago (return game with Illinois) with a payout in the neighborhood of over 600k. Add in a Kansas home game, another home game against a P5, and add a game in NYC and Boston, and we are in business. Plus we can schedule teams after the portal so we know we are getting a good opponent. Highlights from the article:
But today, Maui and other long-established multi-team events like the Battle 4 Atlantis are facing an existential threat. This week’s Players Era Festival in Las Vegas pays players directly — at least $1 million combined per team in name, image and likeness deals. The tournament doesn’t disclose how player payouts are determined, but they will go through NIL Go, the compliance clearinghouse launched by the College Sports Commission and managed by the accounting firm Deloitte.
Coaches and staffers The Athletic polled who have previously participated in Maui and Atlantis say that with charter flights, hotels, meals and other fees — few, if any, of which are covered by event organizers — it can cost a program anywhere from $250,000 to $750,000 to attend. One school, which has participated in both events in years past, said it has cost as much as a million dollars to play in those events, given growing travel parties. Other tournaments often book fields well in advance, making it harder to determine the quality of games for teams looking to build NCAA Tournament resumes.
After over a decade of organizing the Battle 4 Atlantis, Miller-Tooley left this offseason to focus on what she sees becoming the new “focal point” of nonconference scheduling: marquee neutral-site games.
“They’re getting the compensation. They can control their schedule. And they know exactly who they’re going to play,” Miller-Tooley said, adding that some of the neutral-site contests she’s organizing have come together in as little as a week.
The goal for any neutral-site nonconference game is to come close to a home gate, which ranges anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million on average for Top 25 teams, according to U.S. Department of Education data and multiple program staffers. But depending on a school’s brand — and venue, and location — it’s possible certain neutral-site games become more profitable than home games.
This week alone, Duke plays Arkansas in Chicago, North Carolina plays Michigan State in Fort Myers, Fla., and UConn plays Illinois in Madison Square Garden in New York.
Therein lies another hidden detriment, according to multiple high-major staffers and coaches, of going to an event like Maui or Atlantis. Not only are teams spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to go play these games, but in doing so, there’s also the opportunity cost of not playing home games or lucrative neutral-site deals. Hypothetically, say a school pays $500,000 to go to the Maui Invitational for a week. That isn’t its only cost; it’s also the additional $1 million it could’ve earned by playing two home games, or the additional $1.5 million it could’ve earned by playing a standalone neutral site.
A college basketball tournament in Vegas pays players, and shakes up the sport
“These kids are like professional athletes,” said an industry expert. "They don’t care about swimming with dolphins. They wanna get paid.”
www.nytimes.com
