The only people who might get MSUs attention have finally weighed in
The Bond Vigilanties from Moody's and S&P have slapped MSU with a bond downgrade and a negative outlook.
When institutions borrow, they borrow in the tens or hundreds of millions. This downgrade will cost MSU millions in interest, and will likely get their attention as it hits them in the only area they care about beyond W-L records.
https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/michigan-states-gymnastics-sex-abuse-sca…
they should be in the sorbonne.
Haters gonna hate, i guess
And you swap Harbaugh's face with Izzo's
The Louvre maybe?
We should come up with a metric like sexual assaults overlooked per win to describe MSU athletics. It's a fucking disgrace, and you'd think that this kind of behavior would cause the NCAA to respond more strongly given its investment into the student-athlete mythos, but instead.......crickets.
Why they fuck would they put something like that there in the first place?
It would be like storing a Ferrari in a plastic shed you bought from Target.
maybe you can tell me where I'm supposed to go to buy a plastic Ferrari shed.
To know a plastic Ferrari shed guy.
a plastic Ferrari when I was a kid.
maybe
maybe
maybe
maybe
There's actually a pretty easy answer for that: MSU and the state of Michigan contributed about $95 million to the building of it, which was a significant factor in deciding to it place it there over other places that it was expected to go (e.g., Argonne):
ScienceMag from the time of the decision even has the DOE admitting as much:
"A lot of people thought it was more than a long shot, but I always felt very optimistic that if you presented the case in a very open and honest way, it would all level out in the end," says C. Konrad Gelbke, director of NSCL, whose $20-million-a-year budget is paid for by the U.S. National Science Foundation. One factor in DOE's decision was a significant contribution from MSU in helping to pay for the machine, says Eugene Henry, DOE's acting associate director for nuclear physics.
LSJ on it:
Glasmacher estimated MSU’s chances of landing FRIB were 10% or less. “It was unprecedented that a university would have a Department of Energy accelerator for national use,” he said. MSU was helped by the fact that it, along with the state of Michigan, put $95 million toward the project, said Don Geesaman, former director of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, which advises the Department of Energy on national programs for basic nuclear science research.
I should point out though although the money contribution definitely helped in FRIB landing here, that MSU does have a very strong nuclear physics graduate program. Of course, FRIB helps that now.
Wonder what the 2 big "G's" think about the cesspool that has now become, or been further enlarged, at staee - gilbert and gores???
SVG would be university president and basketball coach.
He might have a point as it sure could not be much worse and would probably much better!!!
This doesn't get their attention; this already HAS their attention. The entire focus from the beginning has been to limit liability to protect their financial resources. This is exactly what they've been worried about the whole time, to the exclusion of all else.
This downgrade hasn't been levied because the administration has been insufficiently compassionate to the victims or because the board of trustees is populated with the Marx brothers. This downgrade has occurred because MSU is going to lose its shirt in lawsuits.
The only notice this will provide to the powers that be is that their financial worries are real. If anything, this will only confirm that they've been taking appropriate measures in their own minds.
They're stuck in their own little world. Like this is just confirmation bias for them?
Edit: My bad for the double post, my internet got wonky for a second. Maybe MSU was trying to access my bank info.
They're stuck in their own little world. Like this is just confirmation bias for them?
Not to mention, wasn't it Mastercard Foundation that dropped them midway through funding a program? When you get dropped by foundations it is not good. The foundation world is very small and they all talk.
has backfired. Actually, I think some of them had already come to that conclusion. They've kept digging a bigger hole under Engler. He'll be gone soon. The question is what to do next.
It's easy to predict they will hire an experienced, but not particulary highly regarded administrator with strong ties to MSU. That way things can return to normal on campus. I don't see them bringing in an outsider with a mandate to do whatever they think needs to be done. I'm not sure either would do much for their short term financial outlook.
The last sentence in the downgrade statement -
"The outlook is negative."
I've already heard a Spartan shrugging it off...supposedly Penn State was down graded and had their rating back to normal within a year.
they didn't put heavyweight (pun intended) political guys on this case just to convince parents it's OK to keep sending kids to their school. This is all about the green; as it almost always is. Though I would add they may have not picked the correct heavyweight, judging by the aforementioned Marx Bros handling and now the downgrade.
You guys are all in dream land.
It's a public school - it will get bailed out by the State Governement with your tax dollars.
Just like Flint, Detroit, Superfund Sites, etc etc
No heads will roll, other than the already charged and MSU will not be shutting down anytime soon.
But I would also bet they don't get bailed out by the state. Bailing out a school for costs associated with enabling and covering up sex abuse are not like those other things you mentioned. MSU has resources. At most, they're just going have to cut back on some things. Very few politicians would supoort a bailout under those circumstances.
I pledge to vote against any politician that supports bailing out MSU with tax dollars.
This state has many needs right now that aren't getting funded. MSU has a large campus and owns locations outside of East Lansing including nature sites. Let them sell those off. Let them add a surcharge to their sporting event tickets - so that the many enablers in their fan base helps pay for it. 100% of their endowment is not likely untouchable. Dip into that.
that none of the enablers or incompetents in the administration or coaching ranks will end up worse for wear, either. They will all duck real punishment and/or land on their feet somewhere - probably even better off than before. Outside maybe a lower ranking pigeon or two, the only people who will really pay are the innocent students and tax payers.
can someone put the downgrade in contexts? what's the best/worst rating, how many steps down the ladder is this? what's the rate hit?
TL/DR: It's going to cost them a little bit of money when they need to borrow, but it's not a big deal.
Each of the rating companies has their own scale. I didn't click through the paywall to see if there was more to it, but the public part of the story said that the debt had been downgraded to Aa2. Moody's highest grade is Aaa; Aa2 is the third-highest and is still considered very low risk. (You can see the chart here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moody%27s_Investors_Service ).
Assuming that they moved from Aa1 to Aa2, this isn't likely to move their borrowing costs by more than a few basis points. Now, on nearly a billion dollars of rated debt, that's nothing to scoff at -- each basis point represents ~$100K in annual interest costs if they need to refinance those bonds. However, it's not going to bankrupt them, either.
If I were an MSU trustee, the point where I'd be worried about the credit rating is around Baa1, which is a medium investment-grade rating (and still 5 notches below Aa2). Not only would the cost increases have started to add up, I'd be worried about being downgraded to junk status (Ba1 or lower -- 3 notches further).
That's because many bond mutual funds prohibit ownership of junk securities, meaning that you'd expect a flood of MSU paper into the market, and a subsequent price decrease. Decreased prices mean increased yield, and MSU isn't likely to be able ot issue new securities at a lower yield than what's already on the market, so that's when the cost of borrowing really starts to become a concern.
none of this really makes MSU that much more of a long term financial risk. Because, as we all know, nothing is more important than making money and protecting financial interests.
Whether paid from judgments or settlements, MSU must have some incredibly deep pockets?? If I were a trustee I'd worry less about borrowing ability and more about existing reserves.
Makes little difference in the longer run, because the ultimate people who will end up with the tab are the taxpayers of the State of Michigan.
All the more reason why EVERYONE connected with, or who had a hand in enabling, or covering up, the sex scandals at MSU, including Dantoni and the whining Izzo, should be canned immediately, no questions asked.
Until or unless they do that, the taint, and the stink, remains.