SWAC Commish says revenue up, could pass some FBS leagues in future


Olde Hornet

Well-Known Member

Southwestern Athletic Conference Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland says business is going well and trending upward in the SWAC.

The SWAC commissioner took on all questions regarding the league during a nearly 45-minute zoom interview with media ahead of the conference’s championship game on Saturday.

Dr. McClelland says that revenue is up significantly, at a rate that could surpass some bigger conferences very soon.

“I’ve said this before and I say it now — we are not the small black college or conference anymore,” McClelland told the media. “We are a legitimate force, our revenue numbers are tracking extremely strong. I have not seen the other FCS conference’s revenue this year — but based on last year’s numbers — we will rank first of all of FCS. Given where we are with our television contracts in five years, we will actually surpass two FBS conferences and they might have the ability to up their numbers.”

Morgan Freeman Applause GIF by The Academy Awards




McClelland said the league is preparing to enter re-negotiations with ESPN as its deal is set to expire in three years.

In the meantime, though, the SWAC has distributed more than $9 million dollars to its 12 members, not including Jackson State keeping profits from the SWAC Championship Game. That’s more than all other FCS conferences, according to McClelland. He says the league is in such a good position that going to a Power Five league is the only move up in terms of financials.
 

So gald we are not in this mess!​

Herder: FCS ADs, Commissioners Need To Push Hard For Playoff Structure Changes​



There aren’t huge revenue dollars in the FCS, no big TV deals, budgets are tight, not much attention from national outlets, most stadiums and crowds are smaller than the FBS, and the athletic departments that sponsor FCS programs are mid-major schools. Yet the FCS is still Division 1 football, it has loyal followers, solid fan bases, fantastic coaches, great talent as more than 150 players got an NFL shot in 2022 (24 draft picks, 72 UDFA contracts, 72 rookie minicamp invites), the top 30ish FCS teams are stronger than the bottom 30ish FBS teams, and finally, the FCS has something that even a lot of FBS fans are jealous of: a 24-team playoff bracket to crown a national champ.

More specifically, to crown the official NCAA Division 1 football national champion.

The FCS is a great brand of football. It being a more niche level (we’re in our own CFB community here) and less money-driven is actually what makes it the most fun. And its playoff is something the subdivision hangs its hat on.

The bracket structure is far from perfect, something that has frustrated followers for years, but we’ve learned to deal with it. Most of the frustrations are the cost-saving measures the NCAA implements. Because the FCS playoffs don’t generate a lot of revenue due to a terrible TV deal and some poor attendance in the early rounds, the bracket only has eight seeds and is regionalized to save the NCAA travel costs. Programs submit bids to host when games feature two unseeded teams. And the NCAA takes 85% of the ticket revenue for all of these games. Due to these measures, the FCS playoff is one of a few NCAA-run postseason tournaments that does generate the NCAA a little revenue or at least allows them to break even.

But the criteria and guidelines the NCAA gives the FCS playoff committee to form the field results in the bracket not having a true national tourney feel. And more importantly, the entire selection process lacks transparency and consistency.

This has all reached a boiling point with the frustration from fans to media to ADs to commissioners on how the playoffs are structured.
 
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^^^

We've been saying this for a while. These other FCS conferences are trying to save face as far as saying they wanna compete for a national title but the people at the top would jump for a bowl game at the drop of a dime since seeing what the Celebration Bowl does.
 
So, there's no excuse with it comes to improving out of conference scheduling.
As long as we have the revenue advantage!!! Most PWIs dont travel to our campuses, so I dont see the point of scheduling them unless they bring people to our facility, its about money. Jacksonville State (including their band) is the only PWI that I recall that brought a crowd with them to ASU.
 
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So gald we are not in this mess!​

Herder: FCS ADs, Commissioners Need To Push Hard For Playoff Structure Changes​



There aren’t huge revenue dollars in the FCS, no big TV deals, budgets are tight, not much attention from national outlets, most stadiums and crowds are smaller than the FBS, and the athletic departments that sponsor FCS programs are mid-major schools. Yet the FCS is still Division 1 football, it has loyal followers, solid fan bases, fantastic coaches, great talent as more than 150 players got an NFL shot in 2022 (24 draft picks, 72 UDFA contracts, 72 rookie minicamp invites), the top 30ish FCS teams are stronger than the bottom 30ish FBS teams, and finally, the FCS has something that even a lot of FBS fans are jealous of: a 24-team playoff bracket to crown a national champ.

More specifically, to crown the official NCAA Division 1 football national champion.

The FCS is a great brand of football. It being a more niche level (we’re in our own CFB community here) and less money-driven is actually what makes it the most fun. And its playoff is something the subdivision hangs its hat on.

The bracket structure is far from perfect, something that has frustrated followers for years, but we’ve learned to deal with it. Most of the frustrations are the cost-saving measures the NCAA implements. Because the FCS playoffs don’t generate a lot of revenue due to a terrible TV deal and some poor attendance in the early rounds, the bracket only has eight seeds and is regionalized to save the NCAA travel costs. Programs submit bids to host when games feature two unseeded teams. And the NCAA takes 85% of the ticket revenue for all of these games. Due to these measures, the FCS playoff is one of a few NCAA-run postseason tournaments that does generate the NCAA a little revenue or at least allows them to break even.

But the criteria and guidelines the NCAA gives the FCS playoff committee to form the field results in the bracket not having a true national tourney feel. And more importantly, the entire selection process lacks transparency and consistency.

This has all reached a boiling point with the frustration from fans to media to ADs to commissioners on how the playoffs are structured.
Interesting!
 
Deion helped.

But a great portion was in place before he was hired.

LONG before he was hired. The commish got the conference out of the red before Deion was hired and was talking about where the SWAC is today two years ago so everything was already in place when Deion was hired. Sure Deion has brought some extra eyeballs but the current situation the SWAC is in is thanks to Dr. McClelland (Academy Sports, PEPSI, etc.)
 
Click here to visit HBCUSportsStore
As long as we have the revenue advantage!!! Most PWIs dont travel to our campuses, so I dont see the point of scheduling them unless they bring people to our facility, its about money. Jacksonville State (including their band) is the only PWI that I recall that brought a crowd with them to ASU.
Are you talking about FBS or FCS schools? I've seen plenty of FCS schools to come to MEAC & SWAC schools
 
^^^

We've been saying this for a while. These other FCS conferences are trying to save face as far as saying they wanna compete for a national title but the people at the top would jump for a bowl game at the drop of a dime since seeing what the Celebration Bowl does.
But those schools still have larger athletic budgets on the average
 
I wonder how the SWAC dynamics will change now Deion is reportedly headed to Boulder. He is SWAC he said? Yeah right, Alabama State coach tried to tell yall. Boulder is the most racist lily white city in Colorado
 
From the D1.Ticker.

Extra Points’ Brown analyzes SWAC Commissioner McClelland’s projection that “based on last year’s [revenue] numbers we will rank first of all of FCS. Given where we are with our television contracts in five years, we will actually surpass two FBS conferences and they might have the ability to up their numbers.” According to McClelland, the SWAC distributed "more than $9M to its 12 members, not including Jackson State keeping profits from the SWAC Championship Game" which would come out to around $750K per school; however, Brown notes the “Knight-Newhouse Database shows Arkansas Pine-Bluff claiming roughly $720K in conference distributions (a category that includes media rights) in FY20, as did Jackson State. But Alabama A&M, a fellow SWAC member, reported just $67,500 that year. Gramblingdidn't report any. That doesn't mean that Dr. McClelland isn't being truthful here, just that trying to itemize conference distributions based on public disclosures is challenging.” With Conference USA schools projecting revenue of $700-800K per school via their media rights deal and MAC schools earning $600K over the course of their current TV deal, Brown notes it’s possible the SWAC, once it inks a new media rights deal, “could very well distribute more media rights revenue per school than either CUSA or the MAC, if only for a year or two.” Still, given FBS programs’ ability to earn more from guarantee games, Brown concludes it’s “harder for me to see a world where the SWAC could pay out more money in total than a lower-level FBS school.”

 
The commish has been making great moves for the conference and those that pay attention to the conference as a whole see it. He's doin a damn good job considering what he started with in the beginning. Shoot even with the PAC12/SWAC challenge in basketball we handled business as a conference. And it wasn't the beat downs people thought they would be when it was first scheduled. So I'm really excited to see where we can go as a conference in the next few years with all sports.
 
I can assume the SWAC /PAC12 challenge was the result of relationships with our commisioner being on the basketball conference committee. you meet these people and develope a relationship with you. Unlike sharp who was doing nothing.
 
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