Orangeyes
R.I.P Dan
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 16,265
- Like
- 21,713
Md. Lags Behind Other Big Ten Schools in Recruiting, Athletic Spending
- Thread starter Orangeyes
- Start date
As the article notes, Maryland has been lagging behind the rest of the ACC in a big way for a couple of decades or more. What the article fails to note is that it s mathematically impossible for Maryland to cover its athletic department debts and bring back sports it cancelled and increase its football budget significantly. There seems to be a wild hope that MD alums and casual fans will suddenly care about Twerp football just because Ohio St, Michigan, and Penn St are on the schedule.
That is not going to happen, not for more than an introductory period of 4 years or so. Nor will fans of those schools care much about visiting College Park more than a couple of times. Fans of other BT schools won't care at all.
Maryland football suffers from NFL-itis. It is stuck between the Redskins and the Ravens, and even half of the regular crowd at Byrd cares more about the NFL than Maryland football.
Yes, if Maryland were to win big, fans would come appear, but that would mean that at least 2 of PSU, OSU, and UM are floundering, and that would be bad for the BT.
If you have a much smaller football budget, you can compete in 1 game. Boise St is a great example. BSU's small football budget is no real handicap when it plays 1 regular season game against a well budgeted P5 team and then a bowl. But that same budget tossed into Pac regular season play would mean BSU would struggle mightily over the course of an entire season, rather quickly falling into a perennial 2-4 league Ws per season.
Maryland football will either significantly increase its budget or else be a nearly permanent also ran in the BT. That is not because BT football is better top to bottom than ACC football (it most certainly is not); that is so because of the matter of budgets among league members.
Maryland's move most likely means continued water treading for its football, unless all the added TV money is put into football, which means all the cancelled sports stay dead.
Maryland and Rutgers have been added for extra TV money by getting the highest rates for the BTN in the NYC, Baltimore, and DC TV markets. Both are expected to be stuck most years in the bottom 3 of the BT East, which the giant fan base 3 and Mich St will dominate year after year.
That is not going to happen, not for more than an introductory period of 4 years or so. Nor will fans of those schools care much about visiting College Park more than a couple of times. Fans of other BT schools won't care at all.
Maryland football suffers from NFL-itis. It is stuck between the Redskins and the Ravens, and even half of the regular crowd at Byrd cares more about the NFL than Maryland football.
Yes, if Maryland were to win big, fans would come appear, but that would mean that at least 2 of PSU, OSU, and UM are floundering, and that would be bad for the BT.
If you have a much smaller football budget, you can compete in 1 game. Boise St is a great example. BSU's small football budget is no real handicap when it plays 1 regular season game against a well budgeted P5 team and then a bowl. But that same budget tossed into Pac regular season play would mean BSU would struggle mightily over the course of an entire season, rather quickly falling into a perennial 2-4 league Ws per season.
Maryland football will either significantly increase its budget or else be a nearly permanent also ran in the BT. That is not because BT football is better top to bottom than ACC football (it most certainly is not); that is so because of the matter of budgets among league members.
Maryland's move most likely means continued water treading for its football, unless all the added TV money is put into football, which means all the cancelled sports stay dead.
Maryland and Rutgers have been added for extra TV money by getting the highest rates for the BTN in the NYC, Baltimore, and DC TV markets. Both are expected to be stuck most years in the bottom 3 of the BT East, which the giant fan base 3 and Mich St will dominate year after year.
