Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991 TAG: 9102060100
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: PROVIDENCE, R.I. LENGTH: Long
The answers: Not a lot and not soon.
The Big East football league's revenue sharing will be much more complex than one school feeding off another. Nevertheless, Tech athletic director Dave Braine said, the Hokies will see financial rewards - relatively soon - from the new league.
"In today's world, there are not any instant rewards - you have to earn it," Braine said. "This gives us the opportunity to prove ourselves and earn it."
Braine said he thinks the Hokies could see $1 million in shared revenue from the Big East football conference "within four or five years," depending on the league's TV package and other money-makers, such as how many league teams play in bowl games.
Braine said any revenue sharing in the first few years is likely to be kept at a minimum so the schools can cover start-up costs with the revenue they generate, instead of paying for those administrative costs out of their budgets.
Braine said he is confident the Hokies won't be submerged in a powerful football league that includes Miami, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. In particular, Braine said he thinks the Hokies won't lack TV time in the Big East's package despite the football program's negligible national profile. In seven years of College Football Association telecasts, Tech has been on once - against Virginia last November.
Miami was on television the maximum five times last year; Pitt had three appearances and Syracuse two.
Braine was asked if he would lobby for the league's TV package to include a minimum number of appearances - for example, two per year - by each Big East team.
"One reason why I volunteered for the TV committee was to make sure we had representation," Braine said.
For part of the several months it took for the Big East to form the league, Tech was seen as having only an outside chance of gaining membership. Miami, at one point, was rumored to be lobbying against including the Hokies. That may have been discussed unofficially, Miami's acting athletic director Paul Dee said, but not seriously.
"People talk, and then there's serious talk," Dee said. "There was not any point in time where anything was seriously discussed other than what we wound up with. Virginia Tech was a strong and able member of the expansion group."
Miami, Syracuse, Pitt and Boston College settled on several ground rules before the four additions were brought in. However, Braine said there were few issues concerning the new league that worried him, and none that Tech "couldn't live with."
One thorn for the Hokies is academics: Tech is the only school that doesn't admit Proposition 48 non-qualifiers.
Braine said he will bring up that issue in the near future, saying he hopes all eight schools will agree not to admit Prop 48s.
Braine's first chore is to clear Tech's schedules as quickly as possible to accommodate Big East opponents. Tech must play at least five conference games no later than 1995, according to league rules; Braine said he thinks Tech might be able to play five Big East games by 1993. The Hokies have dropped series against South Carolina and Florida State, and Miami comes on the schedule in the mid-'90s.
Tech and Miami each play one league game this fall, against West Virginia. West Virginia has seven league games; Boston College has six; and Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse and Temple have five.
Braine said the Big East will help member schools get out of future football contracts by helping find opponents replace the league teams who need to drop the games.
The Hokies are viewed by some as part of the new league's lower class - at least financially - along with Temple and Rutgers. Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel said that may not last long if the league takes off as its founders hope.
"Eleven years ago, Seton Hall couldn't play catch on a basketball court," Crouthamel said of the Big East basketball member. "They went to the Final Four. They became a major contributor to the conference. If Seton Hall can do it, Temple can do it."
Dee hinted that Miami won't take a belligerent stand when it comes to sharing its football-generated revenue. Miami was the most successful school of the 1980s, winning three national championships and playing in a New Year's Day bowl every year since 1984.
The Hurricanes joined the Big East as a full member last year.
"We bring a lot to football," Dee said. "Frankly, we don't bring as much to basketball. We have to remember to maintain balance; that's what our focus is overall."
Crouthamel said the member schools realize who is the football king and will "aggressively pursue . . . [kicking] Miami out of there."
Braine, no doubt, envisions Tech's football program supplanting the Hurricanes one day.
"We've already seen it benefit us [in recruiting]," Braine said. "In talking to the assistant coaches, they all felt like it had a big impact on their reception this year.
"I don't think we're going to be less visible or less well-known [than conference mates]. If we continue to recruit and keep kids in school, there's no reason why we can't be a well-known name in the Big East."
by CNB