How Much Money Are The Big Ten and Pac-12 Losing?

As a result of COVID-19, the Big Ten and Pac-12 cancel their football seasons, college sports programs face a financial apocalypse. Big Ten & Pac12 could lose up to $1B in revenue after canceling fall football. 

Canceling college football season for the safety of student-athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic will cost Big Ten athletic departments more than $275 million in ticket sales and could reach $1 billion in total lost revenue, according to NCAA fiscal reports obtained by The Post.  At one end, Rutgers faces a vanishing $49 million, while cash-cow Ohio State’s would be out $104 million and include a league-high $50 million in lost tickets alone. It’s no wonder the Big Ten and like-minded Pac-12 are hoping to move football season to the spring rather than call it off.

These big-revenue programs are part of the NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) — 130 football teams in all, whose athletics department budgets ranged from $16 million to $207 million in 2018. This 10-conference subdivision includes the only college football teams that still might play this fall — a number that dwindles by the day, with the news Tuesday that the Big Ten and the Pac-12 conferences have canceled the fall season.

With the cancelation of fall football in the Big Ten and Pac-12 nations, many analysts have noted that the absence of gameday action would hit local economies hard. While this may still have been the case as long as the capacity of the stadium is reduced, there is no question that the economic effects of the movements would be important.

The impact however reaches well past local companies and athletic departments. Television networks could lose tens of millions, if not a great deal more. Fox Sports is now one of the major losers, as the network has a large presence in the Big Ten and Pac-12 — Fox owns the Big Ten Network.

“The twin postponements will erase some $165.7 million in sales from Fox’s fall ledger, with the Big Ten accounting for the bulk of the losses — around $124.8 million, versus the $40.9 million the company generated with its 2019 Pac-12 slate,” Crupi wrote. “Nor will any further relief be forthcoming via Fox’s most recent rights deal, which would have seen it carry 23 Mountain West games beginning this fall.”

Patrick Rishe, director of the sports business program at Washington University in St. Louis, used our database and other sources to project that the Power 5 would collectively lose more than $4 billion in football revenues from a mass cancellation, with each of its 65 programs losing an average of $62 million.

Looking at fixed expenses, our database shows that 54 of the public Power 5 institutions (data for private institutions is not available) hold $7.4 billion in total athletics debt for which they pay a combined $578 million in annual debt service. Read more.  

The lack of unifying leadership in making decisions about a fall season underscores college football’s broken and fragmented governance system. Unlike the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament, the FBS’s 10 conferences manage their lucrative postseason championship—the College Football Playoff—independent of the NCAA.

Not to mention all of the great athletes that are transferring to other active football programs in the SEC and ACC.  Huge losses! 

Fake Laws Designed By Phony Lawmakers

Here is a prime example of a fake law "closing hair salons" for Coronavirus fears and yet the House Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi gets to break the law herself.  This is hypocrisy at its finest moment while American small business owners are getting crushed.  Coronavirus rules and local laws not be obeyed by everyone, especially those in political power. 

A fundraiser for the San Francisco-based hair salon whose owner says she needs to relocate her business after releasing video of a maskless House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reached its goal of $327,000+, the salon owner announced. Erica Kious thanked those who donated to a GoFundMe page for her amid her feud with Pelosi (D-Calif.).

It is easy to think that we should all react the same way to events, new laws, and rules in the world and so should we have similar responses to them. But that’s not quite what happens in our brains.  Most people do not have the capacity to capture all the information that is coming through our senses – what we see, hear, and feel. 

Instead, we pay attention to the information that is most relevant to us and use it to create an interpretation of what is happening in the world. In other words, we tell ourselves a story about what is happening and then react to our story.  Some people have common sense reasoning and some just do what they are told.   Some people also call this common sense or independent thinking.  Where has our common sense gone? 

How Much $ Does Your State Unemployment Trust Fund Have Left?

Many states entered the crisis with drastically inadequate unemployment compensation trust funds. Trust funds in California, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia are nearly or completely gone, with depletion imminent in Connecticut, Texas, Illinois, and Kentucky as well. According to these projections, a dozen states only have enough left in their funds to pay out a month’s worth of benefits based on those who have filed for or are receiving benefits to date; since payments lag claims, it may take an additional week or two for funds to be fully exhausted.

According to the Treasury Department, nine states—California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia—have already been approved for federal loans (called Title XII Advances) in anticipation of the exhaustion of their trust funds. States must repay these advances (with interest starting in 2021), and if they still have outstanding balances after two years, in-state businesses will face higher federal unemployment insurance taxes to compensate for the state being in arrears.

Mandatory business closures and shelter-in-place orders have radically accelerated job losses compared to the steadier pace of layoffs in prior recessions, meaning these claims likely represent a far greater share of the ultimate total than did any week’s claims during the Great Recession. But the numbers are still staggering, with every likelihood of sobering numbers in coming weeks as well.

This interactive tool below allows you to see how the most recent week’s initial unemployment compensation claims in each state compare to average and peak weekly claims during the Great Recession. Most states are woefully unprepared for the magnitude of the challenge ahead. Entering the crisis, 21 states’ unemployment compensation trust funds were below the minimum recommended solvency level to weather a recession. Six states had less than half the minimum recommended amount, representing 37 percent of the U.S. population.

Read Here for How Does Unemployment Insurance Work

Going forward it will be necessary to ensure that (1) those who lose their jobs have access to extended unemployment benefits that allow them to remain home throughout the crisis if they cannot be employed in a sector that is consistent with telework or appropriate social distancing, and (2) the taxes that fund unemployment insurance don’t overly burden businesses struggling to survive. It’s hard to accomplish both aims. To do it, the states will almost certainly require federal assistance. Higher taxes are coming whether you like it or not.

What is the news saying?

There are lots of news articles telling claimants and not to worry.   Here is another article from CNN saying that unemployment benefits will still be paid even if state funds run out.

How are States combating the likely massive unemployment fraud? 

Orange County Beach Cities File Restraining Orders on California Governor Gavin Newsom's Beach Closure Orders

Huntington Beach and Dana Point city councils voted Thursday to challenge Governor Gavin Newsom’s orders to temporarily close all Orange County beaches beginning Friday. 

Huntington Beach City Council plans to file an injunction challenging the constitutionality of the governor’s order to close the beaches. Dana Point City Council also joined in voting to seek a temporary restraining order to stop the state. 

In a statement on Thursday, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said his intention “is to not take enforcement action on this order.”

County Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel, Supervisor Don Wagner and State Senator John Moorlach strongly condemning his “hard close.”

Democratic Congressman Harley Rouda also called on Newsom to rethink the move.

According to the City Attorney, there is no foreseeable end date for the closures.

Hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all Orange County beaches to close, the Huntington Beach City Council voted Thursday evening to challenge the State order.

After meeting in closed session to discuss the measure, the council voted 5-2 to “take any legal action to challenge the governor’s executive order,” City Attorney Michael Gates said. The two dissenting votes came from council members Barbara Delgleize and Kim Carr.

Huntington Beach Mayor Lyn Semeta said the city hopes to get an injunction soon, but it will close its beaches in the meantime.

“We’re very concerned about if we happen to be the only Orange County beach open at that point,” she said. “That would be very difficult on our marine safety officers.”

Huntington Beach leaders aren’t the only ones in Orange County at odds with the governor’s decision.

The Newport Beach City Council — which voted Tuesday to keep its beaches open — plans to meet this weekend to discuss a similar challenge to the directive.

Newsom’s order also met sharp criticism from county supervisors, with one calling the move an “abuse of power.”

The comments came during a news briefing on the county’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was held just hours after Newsom announced the temporary closure of all local and states beaches in O.C.

Earlier in the week, the governor had criticized beachgoers who crowded O.C. shores amid a heatwave over the weekend, defying the state’s stay-at-home order meant to curb spread of the novel coronavirus.

O.C. Supervisor Michelle Steel called the governor’s actions “arbitrary” and said it was an act of retribution against the county.

“We should be rewarding our communities for practicing safe social distancing, not punishing them by closing down only Orange County beaches and this is not acceptable,” she said. “I will be looking into the right response to the governor’s overreaction and abuse of power.”

Semeta shared a similar sentiment, saying she was shocked Newsom issued the directive without warning — especially because she felt the city “did a really good job, in terms of all the measures we put in place to try to make social distancing happen.”

Steel praised local police departments for ensuring that social distancing was being followed at the beaches.

“The major point of contention that has lead to this situation are a few misleading pictures… taken at the particular angle which made it look as if beachgoers were crowding,” Steel said.

Supervisor Don Wagner echoed Steel’s statement, saying that the “telephoto lens distorted what was going on on the beach.”

“It is clear to us that the governor… is basing the decision to single out Orange County on a couple of press photos,” Supervisor Don Wagner said.

After a media question that mentioned there were also videos of the crowded beaches, Wagner rolled back, saying, “We are not saying there is 100% compliance…” The few violations don’t mean that all beaches have to be shut down, he added.

When asked whether the county would try to sue Newsom or the state, Wagner said, “I don’t foresee legal action but ultimately we are going to be guided by counsel … We want to work with the governor.”

O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes said while he hasn’t seen the actual order, he doesn’t plan to take enforcement action.

“My intent … is to seek voluntary compliance,” Barnes said. “I have no desire to enforce … through arrest.”

The governor’s office issued a letter to the O.C. Board of Supervisors hours later, saying the closures would go into effect Friday.

“Our State Department of Parks and Recreation is shifting to full closure of all Orange County State Beaches on a temporary basis,” the letter states. “Additionally, beaches operated by local governments in Orange County are directed to institute full closure.”

Open letter to Gavin Newsom's failured Covid-19 response. 

5 days later Gavin Newsom says we "Based on data, its' safe to begin opening California again."