This is an Article from Today's CL. Apparently it may not be over...just yet.
Written by
Billy Watkins
Still stinging from Grambling State’s no-show for October’s homecoming football game and frustrated by what it perceives as a lack of support from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Jackson State University has been pushing the Mississippi attorney general’s office for five months to pursue legal action against Grambling, the SWAC or both.
Documents obtained by The Clarion-Ledger through an open records request clearly show JSU’s determined effort to have its budget made whole. Persistent emails from JSU and subsequent inquiries by the newspaper have led Attorney General Jim Hood to review the university’s plea for help.
In an email to SWAC officials on Nov. 1, JSU projects it lost between $540,000 and $600,000 because of the forfeit. Ticket refunds accounted for approximately $475,000.
According to the documents, SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp released a statement on Nov. 8 outlining penalties against Grambling. The school would pay Jackson State $50,000 and play JSU in Jackson each of the next three seasons.
But the $50,000 will be “taken out of future conference distributions,” Sharp said in the statement. And although Grambling will play in Jackson in 2014 through 2016, it really grants JSU only one extra home game in the annual series over the next four years.
The 2015 game was already scheduled for Jackson. And the site of the 2017 game — originally a JSU home game — has been changed to Grambling, SWAC officials notified JSU on Wednesday.
The penalties do little, if anything, to help relieve JSU’s immediate financial stress.
“This is greatly impacting our cash flow,” said Michael Thomas, JSU’s vice president of finance. “(The Institutions of Higher Learning) requires a balanced budget each year, which JSU has had for a few years now. For the first time in years, JSU is requesting from IHL an exception to this policy.”
Asked if Sharp’s previous relationship with Grambling, as interim athletic director in 2005-06, might have affected the penalties handed down, JSU spokesman Eric Stringfellow said, “that’s a question that’s best addressed by (Sharp).”
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(page 1 of 7)
http://www.clarionledger.com/articl...JSU-seeks-legal-action-against-Grambling-SWAC
Written by
Billy Watkins
Still stinging from Grambling State’s no-show for October’s homecoming football game and frustrated by what it perceives as a lack of support from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Jackson State University has been pushing the Mississippi attorney general’s office for five months to pursue legal action against Grambling, the SWAC or both.
Documents obtained by The Clarion-Ledger through an open records request clearly show JSU’s determined effort to have its budget made whole. Persistent emails from JSU and subsequent inquiries by the newspaper have led Attorney General Jim Hood to review the university’s plea for help.
In an email to SWAC officials on Nov. 1, JSU projects it lost between $540,000 and $600,000 because of the forfeit. Ticket refunds accounted for approximately $475,000.
According to the documents, SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp released a statement on Nov. 8 outlining penalties against Grambling. The school would pay Jackson State $50,000 and play JSU in Jackson each of the next three seasons.
But the $50,000 will be “taken out of future conference distributions,” Sharp said in the statement. And although Grambling will play in Jackson in 2014 through 2016, it really grants JSU only one extra home game in the annual series over the next four years.
The 2015 game was already scheduled for Jackson. And the site of the 2017 game — originally a JSU home game — has been changed to Grambling, SWAC officials notified JSU on Wednesday.
The penalties do little, if anything, to help relieve JSU’s immediate financial stress.
“This is greatly impacting our cash flow,” said Michael Thomas, JSU’s vice president of finance. “(The Institutions of Higher Learning) requires a balanced budget each year, which JSU has had for a few years now. For the first time in years, JSU is requesting from IHL an exception to this policy.”
Asked if Sharp’s previous relationship with Grambling, as interim athletic director in 2005-06, might have affected the penalties handed down, JSU spokesman Eric Stringfellow said, “that’s a question that’s best addressed by (Sharp).”
......
(page 1 of 7)
http://www.clarionledger.com/articl...JSU-seeks-legal-action-against-Grambling-SWAC
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