Using Big Ten Money to Provide Families Money to Travel for Games
So, a complaint I've heard from athletes, particularly in smaller sports, is that it's now much harder for families to travel to see their games. This feels like a pretty fair criticism for me, so what's stopping the Big Ten/Michigan from taking all this media money and saying "OK, we're budgeting x million a year to help families come see their kids play"?
If nothing else, this seems like a good branding move, as it's saying "Hey, we still care about these smaller sports, and letting families see their kids play", as for most of these people, there is no pro option after college.
Why wouldn't/couldn't we do this? Does it just make too much sense?
August 7th, 2023 at 10:48 AM ^
Simply suggesting that will get Harbaugh an 9 game suspension and he'll have to sell his house.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:51 AM ^
None of this money directly affects me/my fandom, so I don’t *really* care how it’s spent. That said, I always thought this talking point rang a little hollow. Take Washington for example — even in the PAC 12, the only schools within driving distance were WSU, Oregon, and Oregon State. It’s not like traveling to see your child play Northwestern is exponentially more burdensome than watching your child play at Arizona State or Colorado.
Certainly the flights will likely be more expensive. But I’m not sure the schools will be on board with subsidizing family travel when said travel was already not exactly cheap or easy.
As someone living in the PNW, I have to disagree. Flights to Northwestern are quite a bit tougher because of the time change. It's hard not to blow an entire day (or redeye) on a west-to-east flight like that, whereas north-south flights can usually be done in an evening after work.
And Northwestern is sort of a cherry-picked example anyway, given that it's close to a massive airport and farther west than ~half the conference. Getting to PSU, IU, Rutgers, or MD for a weeknight game is dramatically more difficult (and more expensive) than ASU or Colorado.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^
What's stopping it is it takes money from the suits who are driving this. This is what they do. Grab as much money as they can as fast as they can until the product stops being fun for consumers and then move on to the next thing.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:00 AM ^
considering the number of student athletes, i can't see this ever happening..... that would be a huge expense.
if parents want to be able to watch games in person, that should probably go into the decision of which school to attend.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:00 AM ^
NCAA is what.
I do agree conferences should be permitted to help families out with travel and accommodations.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:00 AM ^
Probably against NCAA policy to give families money.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
Agreed. Also, I think Harbaugh should personally pick each family up at the airport, shuttling between McNamara and North Terminal as many times as needed, and then driving 95 down I-94 to get back to the stadium on time for kick-off...
August 7th, 2023 at 11:20 AM ^
Sure, as long as he doesn't stop for burgers on the way.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
There's a lot of end of bench players that never see the field. It doesn't seem like the AD should be flying everyone's parents around the country to see games in person. I'd rather see that money used on the student athletes.
I get that helicopter parents think they are total failures if they miss one game.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:53 AM ^
Are we calling parents who come to their kid's games helicopter parents just on that fact alone? Tough crowd.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:21 AM ^
If you can convince the powers-that-be who are making these realignment and TV contract decisions to allocate this money towards parents so they can travel, then more power to you.
But good luck with that. This is money that is otherwise going directly into their pockets, and you’re asking them to give that away and give it to someone else. Fat chance, my friend.
There‘s probably a better chance that I wake up in bed with Margot Robbie tomorrow morning than anything like this happening.
August 8th, 2023 at 10:03 AM ^
Or, to quote Joey Knish: "Yeah, and I'd like a blow job from Christie Turlington."
August 7th, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^
The same issue was always there, sure there are some colleges closer to each other than other, Michigan & MSU, USC & UCLA. However every conference has long distance travel, USC to Washington, Miami to BC. FSU to Syracuse.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:52 AM ^
This year U of M athletic dept is projecting revenue of $215.1 million and an operating cost of $214.9 million so I'm not sure this idea works. I believe it is also against NCAA rules.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:56 AM ^
Because it’s become clear that everything university presidents, ADs, and league commissioners are doing is to line their own pockets as much as possible. They know players getting TV revenue is inevitable so they’re trying to squeeze as much as they can at the expense of the players & fans. Because ya know, the stack of millions they already have isn’t enough. They’re not coughing up money to players or their families until they have to.
I don't think this will fly for any and all games, but a couple of "fly the family in" home games per season per sport would be nice. I would love for the families to be recognized at home games.
Shouldn't NIL make this easier? Get some kind of deal with Delta or some other airline that flies out of DTW.
Jack up tuition for actual students and 200 to 300% the rate of inflation every year, but by all means throw more piles of cash at teenage athletes and their families.