Marshall BASEBALL
- Thread starter CarolinaHerdzilla
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Did everyone see Baseball's Dave Piepenbrink is going into the HOF? Great Honor!
It is turning a profit for WVU. So is women's soccer. They have a system in place that draws good crowds who also spend money while they attend the events. Concessions, advertisers ... those are strong too. The events are popular with the public in North Central WV, PA south of Washington, and western Maryland. For the soccer games, busloads from schools attend at times.
These have become popular activities in the local communities. They aren't overly expensive, offer group rates, and are easily accessible. The ballpark is literally right off an Interstate and the soccer field is right off main artery Mon Boulevard.
They also schedule for crowd appeal in both sports, bringing in nationally ranked women's soccer teams and traditional rivals in addition to strong conference teams in baseball. In baseball, there is a reasonably seamless transition from NCAA play to the minor league activity. Many of the fans of each club are also fans of the other, and buy tickets to both seasons and the Black Bears and Mountaineers promote each other's events or interests with advertising at the games. WVU is a Top 25 revenue athletic program now. This year, they anticipate more than $115 million in revenue after league distributions.
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Thanks for agreeing that you don’t know what constitutes a “revenue” sport. Charging admission and selling Co-Cola doesn’t make it so.
I tell you what, add up EVERY dollar it costs to field those teams against the dollars they take in. Get back to me with a spread sheet so we can take a look.
What information are you seeking? If I don't have an answer for you, I know somebody who probably does.
What is your definition of a revenue sport? They are turning a profit with 4 of their athletic programs now ... football, mens basketball, baseball, and women's soccer. Women's basketball isn't quite profitable, but it is gaining steam. Men's soccer isn't at the same level as women's soccer. They play that in the MAC. Women's soccer typically plays before standing room crowds.
It isn't just coke at athletic events. They offer several types of beer and wine, and various eats. They are successful at making the events, well, events. They are like mini pro contests. You should pick one and attend sometime. I would suggest a baseball game. I believe they are playing Marshall in a couple weeks and they have designated that as a dollar night. You could take the whole family for a few dollars and enjoy a good game.
It isn't just coke at athletic events. They offer several types of beer and wine, and various eats. They are successful at making the events, well, events. They are like mini pro contests. You should pick one and attend sometime. I would suggest a baseball game. I believe they are playing Marshall in a couple weeks and they have designated that as a dollar night. You could take the whole family for a few dollars and enjoy a good game.
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I already knew that before I asked Sam the question..........but he wants to act like WVU stuck their hand into his personal funds to pay for Mon County ball park. Notice that he never responded to the question of how many of HIS tax dollars went into paying for it.
With that being said, I certainly hope that Cabell County can do something similar so that Marshall can also have a ball park of their own.
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There has been talk of using TIF as a way to fund any ballpark development. Those were used for Pullman Square and I believe the WVU Ballpark as well - at least a portion.
i mean their coaching staff is paid over a half million dollars a year and you can get into women's soccer games for $2, but yeah they're generating revenue.
Exactly, TwolfHerdfan. I seem to recall that at one time, Mike Hamrick and/or Mayor Williams had a conversation or meeting with then WVU AD Oliver Luck on how the school and or Morgantown city went about devising the TIF plan in building the baseball facility there.
It would certainly be a nice addition to the Huntington community. I believe the total cost of the facility was around $24 million (2014). The new aquatic and track center isn't being built by the ballpark though. That $40 million facility, which will be owned by Mylan Park, will be a couple miles further to the West.
The city isn't involved with the ballpark. It is Monongalia County's ballpark. Luck was a catalyst though for getting the county to agree to build it. The city isn't part of the Aquatic Center project either. In fact, the county isn't part of it. That is being handled by the separate Mylan Park Foundation with additional funding from the Hazel Ruby McQuain Trust. The Rubys, who were very wealthy, owned the former Sterling Faucet Company in the Sabraton part of Morgantown.
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There was a real estate TIF used in part for funding the Mon County Ballpark (WVU plays there, but does not own the ballpark). The rest of the funding was county issued bonds.
I did not respond because we have been down this path before. The FACTS are that the WVU baseball field was paid for 100% by WV taxpayers, so to whatever fraction of one percent constitutes my taxes, then it that is the answer. The place was paid for 100% by state taxpayers.
Now, there is the issue of the phoney TIF scam, used to hide the fact that this is 100% state taxpayer money. I have explained how only a moron could believe that, but you and your ilk will just respond NO over and over. Saying NO really loudly is not an argument.
Now we have some new retard trying to argure that WVU minor sports are profitable. How stupid are you people? This is one of yours. Stupid.
What I do not, and will never, understand is the WVU insistence on this lie of "self-supporting". Every time some Spamtard goes down that path, we post the FACTS from the USA Today FOIA, every year. Why is this lie so important. Blunt fact is that, if WVU admitted that it, like 90% of college programs, is subsidized, 15 far lefts would bitch about sports and 15 far rights would bitch about taxes and 15 MU fans would say "see we told you so". and the world would move on. WHY is this lie so important?
GOOD for WVU, John Seamon.....I like to see "anything" about West Virginia doing well. Hopefully, Marshall & the city of Huntington can build a BASEBALL Stadium & promote something as well as WVU & Morgantown has accomplished. Marshall has an excellent Soccer Complex in place.
At the end of the day...it is about the fans!
HerdZilla22 (Gary Sweeney) in Charlotte
Come on GreenDook....cut John Seamon some slack!
I will never understand the hostility toward WVU. I support ANYTHING good for the state of WEST VIRGINIA is positive. Last year I attended the WVU-Wake Forest Regional Baseball tournament in Winston-Salem. A LOT of Mountaineers fans attended to support WVU & the state of WEST VIRGINIA. I strongly cheered for the Mounties. They defeated Maryland, however, ran into a strong foe in the Deacons and were eliminated.
I also wanted the EERS to defeat Villanova and advance in basketball after WVU humbled The HERD in basketball in the Big Dance. Marshall received a good old country whuppin'.
HerdZilla22 in Charlotte
Well stated old buzzard.....anything positive for our state (West Virginia) is a GOOD THING.
HerdZilla22 (G. Sweeney in Charlotte)
HerdFan54...I am referring to Div II programs and even a few High School facilities,....not UNC, NC State, Clemson, Charlotte or Dook. I support if someone brings a viable PLAN for a Stadium...MONEY will be found.
BUILD IT....THEY WILL COME.
HerdZilla22 in Charlotte
BINGO...you hit the bat with the ball. The HERD will never compete well in CUSA because of their plight with having to travel to Charleston for conference contests and playing OOC games "down by the river." Recruits are turned off by this!
HerdZilla22 in Charlotte
Call me crazy but I feel no allegiance to the state. Yes, I was raised here and live here now. I have lived in Ohio, Ga, Fl and California. Other than weather, I see no real difference. Am I better off or worse off because of any state that I may have been raised in.
I was just telling someone the other day how much better off we would have been to still be a part of Virginia. They have better roads, schools and economy.
I was just telling someone the other day how much better off we would have been to still be a part of Virginia. They have better roads, schools and economy.
"retard"? Do you talk about all your new posters like that?
You are incorrect. The real estate TIF means the county collects real estate taxes on the property just as before. The only difference is they do not tax the improvements (in this case, the value of the stadium itself) for a specified number of years. In actuality, since the county actually owns the land, they are paying themselves based on the original value of the property with the bulk of the money going to the school system. A smaller portion goes to general operating expenses for the county. They do this from the rental fees in order to avoid having an adverse effect on those operations as a result of building the stadium. The stadium can also be rented out by the public. This year, they had a large craft beer festival there. That was sponsored by the Black Bears, but they paid a fee for doing that.
That was only used to fund getting the property ready for building the stadium though. The bulk of the stadium itself was funded by revenue bonds issued by Mon County that will be paid back by the rental fees paid by the Black Bears, and by WVU over a period of time. There are lease agreements in effect to insure this.
There is not one cent of State of West Virginia tax money involved with this, and unless you happen to live in Mon County, you aren't even missing the property tax on the stadium itself. The ballpark is essentially self supporting, and the school and Black Bears will end up paying for it.
You misunderstand how the revenue is actually generated by women's soccer and baseball. The Conference has 10 teams that compete at a high level. Some of those programs put more than 6,000 butts in the seats for baseball games. There are television and radio contracts for those games, and league revenue sharing agreements in place. In West Virginia's case, the 3rd. tier broadcasting rights (which exclude most of the football and basketball games because most of them are broadcast by the national networks) pay the athletic program around $9 million per year. The vast majority of that is for baseball and women's soccer, which have substantial followings. You have to figure that into the program income in addition to ticket revenue (the least expensive ticket for a Power 5 baseball opponent is $6, but the smaller opponents tickets are less than that) and the concessions. When you add it all together, those programs produce a profit. Women's basketball is getting close to that point.
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You must be referring to the scholarship money that is not specifically funded by endowments, and in that sense you are correct. There are 500 student athletes at WVU, and not all of them attend on endowed scholarships, so in analysis like the one you are mentioning, that amounts to around $4 million per year. They are making progress in that regard every year, but they do not yet have all of them funded and since accounting requirements are specific as to sources of money, they show up as negatives on the spread sheets.
However, the program itself is way beyond self supporting, and making more money every year. They have invested tens of millions in the past few years in facilities and in an indoor basketball practice facility, and money from revenue and/or donations is covering all of it. I look around for figures if you are interested in that.
That is a ridiculous extrapolation. That money is not generated by baseball, soccer, or any other non revenue sport. It’s generated by football(and men’s bb), they wouldn’t pay a dime for anything without football. Baseball generates none of that revenue, that is dept revenue. Baseball does not produce more than it spends, you know it that’s why it took you 24 hours to make up your response.
Nobody here is more familiar with D1 baseball than me. My son played for a school in a league equal or superior to the b12 and played in front of large crowds every weekend. I still support the athletic dept at the school and have a good idea how the beans are counted. I’ll send your response to a couple of people and if they agree with you I’ll be back to give you credit. I love college baseball but understand demand and economy of that demand.
I'm not trying to argue with you, but do you understand tier 3 media income? The networks get first choice for sports broadcasts. For WVU, virtually every football game is nationally broadcast on a national network. Sometimes their one and dones against mid major or division 2 programs don't make the cut for national broadcast, and they fall into the tier 3 category, but the vast majority of football games are on national networks via league agreements.
In basketball, like any program, WVU has their warm up games against mid major programs. Most of those are not nationally televised on the networks so they do fall into Tier 3 broadcast, but the vast majority of the games are on national television. Every single game against any Power 5 program this year was nationally televised on a major network. That's all 18 conference games, and games against Pitt, Virginia Tech, and any other P5 program.
Only the games not picked up by the networks are available for Tier 3 broadcast. In the case of women's soccer and baseball, less than a handful of the games were on the national networks, so they were mostly available for the Tier 3 broadcasts which just happens to be handled by the same company that handles Tier 3 for Marshall ... IMG Sports. IMG pays WVU Athletics around $9 million per year for their Tier 3 broadcast rights. Each of the programs with which they have negotiated contracts is paid on the basis of their viewership and market potential.
While that $9 million for mostly minor sports broadcasts might seem like a lot of money, compared with other programs in the Big 12 that is only average. Texas has their own network and does not sell their Tier 3 rights, and they make more than $20 million per year for those broadcasts.
Most P5 athletic programs sell their Tier 3 rights to their league, but the XII is unique in that regard. Each program maintains ownership of it's own Tier 3 rights and they each negotiate their own deals to sell them. That is really the only thing that isn't "communal" in the Big XII, but it enables XII programs to make what they can from those rights.
That has paid off handsomely for WVU, and because of that policy, WVU makes more money from athletics than all but Florida State in the ACC. Other programs ... Oklahoma, Texas Tech, etc. make even more money. It is all about the money.
At WVU, it is baseball and women's soccer that supports Tier 3 demand although women's basketball is moving into that category quickly. In terms of attendance, they generally are in the two thousands but they have had crowds much larger than that. When their well respected program plays any other P5 program though, their is significant Tier 3 interest in the game.
https://www.smokingmusket.com/2013/1/24/3911844/wvu-tier-3-rights-img-west-virginia
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Can't speak for the stadium project, but the State definitely spent TAXPAYER $$$$$ to put in a completely new interchange along I-79 for access to the ball park and other businesses being developed nearby!!
So good to know that Mylan Pharm. is so benevolent and "civic minded" given the well documented price gouging on the Epi-Pen and probably many other of its drug products under the "leadership" of CEO Heather "phoney MBA" Manchin Bresch!! I'm sure the hundreds of people terminated/fired by Mylan this spring/summer will enjoy this "tax free" ballpark this summer, too!!
19MU88...you best learn some manners or President Trump will place you in TIMEOUT...He's a friend to me!
HerdZilla22 in Charlotte
GO HERD & Mountaineers
IMG is paying thst money so they can broadcast women’s soccer, lol, because it has nothing to do with broadcasting rights for football and mbb. That payment is for many many different platforms and was not paid so they can put wv vs Kansas baseball on radio in Pruntytown.
You can shuffle numbers around all day but baseball and women’s soccer are not net profit entities.
WVU or Marshall or WV State or Fairmont being good in sports means NOTHING for the state. WVU has been good for years in basketball and have had some great years in football and it has done NOTHING for the state of WV. It’s helped WVU in terms of donations to their university and it’s helped Morgantown as a city as more fans at the game due to them winning means more hotels being full, places to eat being packed etc. But it’s done nothing to improve WV.
Walmart is still the biggest employer, literacy rates are still low, there are still generations living on welfare. Drug addiction is still rampant. WVU’s sports success didn’t change any of it. Marshall’s success in football in the 90s and early 2000s didn’t change anything for the state. The state schools that have been good nationally in the lower divisions have done nothing for the state.
The good for the state argument is the dumbest reason on the planet to root for another school in your state. I’ll never root for WVU in anything and guess what it won’t do anything negative or positive for the state of WV at all.
Walmart is still the biggest employer, literacy rates are still low, there are still generations living on welfare. Drug addiction is still rampant. WVU’s sports success didn’t change any of it. Marshall’s success in football in the 90s and early 2000s didn’t change anything for the state. The state schools that have been good nationally in the lower divisions have done nothing for the state.
The good for the state argument is the dumbest reason on the planet to root for another school in your state. I’ll never root for WVU in anything and guess what it won’t do anything negative or positive for the state of WV at all.
The state spent $20 million for the new, poorly designed interchange, but as you pointed out, that has to do with a lot more things than just the ballpark.
Mon County has regularly been short changed in terms of highway expenditures at the state level. They are expanding I-64 to six lanes throughout Cabell County, for example. The new interchange you mentioned has more traffic going through it than any place on 64 in Cabell, but they didn't even put in an effective merge lane tied in with the nearby Westover Exit.
Cabell is very fortunate to have the very effective Bob Plymale representing them. He might well be the best state senator of all. I'd trade you all of Marion's delegation for just one Plymale.
Mylan Park was put in place long before the Manchin family took over Mylan Pharma. Mike Puskar was a huge benefactor for both WVU and Mon County. He invested hundreds of millions in the area with scholarships at WVU, funding at Puskar stadium, and Mylan Park. All of that has nothing to do with Joe's echelon.
Joe and his people royally screwed up a lot of things, and it will take decades to straighten that out, but the folks running Mylan today bear no similarity to the Puskar family. Mike was one of those rare people who was actually loved and respected, even by the folks who worked for him. This entire region misses Mike Puskar, very much.
Everyone has their opinions, but personally I wouldn't trust any Manchin as far as I could throw him/her. In Heather's case, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Since she made $20 million last year, she likely doesn't care what any of us think of her though. Joe is for Joe, and it is reasonable to believe he raised his daughter in the same tradition. Mike Puskar is probably rolling over in his grave.
The 488 people laid off by Heather et.al. are fortunate that WVU Medicine is in the midst of a massive expansion program. Some of those people will end up being called back at Mylan as others accept their buyout plan for senior employees, but many more will be hired by WVU Medicine, which is in the midst of hiring nearly 800 workers in this area. Mylan still employs 3,100 people around here who have some of the best jobs in the state, and they have pledged to keep them working. We're hoping they keep their word.
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Interesting perspective. It kind of points out how people can look at the very same thing, and walk away with different points of view.
You are painting the whole state with the same brush. Personally, I don't think that is accurate. Our little state, which in total doesn't have the population of even a single large city, is really 6 states in one and each is quite different than the others. Conditions are vastly different from one area to another, but overall I would agree with you that economically, the picture economically in WV is not healthy. The southern coalfields have been hit especially hard by the War on Coal.
From a national perspective, athletics is about the only thing that is presenting a positive image if you ignore the major potential for oil and gas development in the northern areas. I'm sure out corrupt state government will do everything possible to mess that up, but if miracles happen, and they somehow stay out of the way, there is great potential going forward for some industrial development.
I'm not sure what you think they are broadcasting in Tier 3, but I guess we'll just have to disagree about that. I just know what I have been seeing for the past few years. There are very few football and men's basketball games that are not carried on the national networks, and Tier 3 demand remains high. They have to be broadcasting something for that $9 million, and baseball, , women's soccer (which is typically in the Top 10 nationally) and more recently women's basketball seem to be making the cut a lot more than Gymnastics or Wrestling.
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Just you, because you say things so stupid, you must be retarded. Notice that even the other Spamites here don't come to defend your ignorant statements.
As to the phony TIF, the explanation you give is not even the one USPAM uses. Apparently you just made it up?
Anyway, the WVU ball park was paid for by WV taxpayers, 100%. And that is fine, unless you think roads or schools or hospitals are important.
What I don't understand is the insistence of USPAM on this lie that things that are simple public records are not so.
Really, you should stop. You are just not smart enough.
Well, the only thing is can say to that since I'm only a "guest" here is prove me wrong. If you believe I am "not smart"
I thought about paying to join this forum, but the only thing I can say since I'm just a guest is if you believe I am "so stupid", and "not smart" is I have not seen a single thing you have posted to prove me wrong. I actually live in the area concerned, and have an immediate family member who was involved with that project. I am going by what I learned from him. As for the Tier 3 money, I'm real curious what you think they would pay all that money for if it isn't to broadcast what they are broadcasting?
Now, they do broadcast summaries of other sports results and the like, but most of the live broadcasts are of the events I mentioned.
