The House of Blue

If I'm reading the contract correctly (I'm certainly not fluent in legalese) if UK wanted to opt out of WKU game it would cost $500,000

Yeah, I wouldn't want to give the impression of being soft. Def need to play them and I think we have a better shot since it is the first game of the season.

It will make it that much tougher to get the top in state recruits....at least for the next 2 years before he is gone or fired.

I hope they don't opt out b/c they're scared of Petrino.

Pitino is dead, bro. That's his corpse in a suit on the sidelines. No coach at UL had been dominated by UK like Rick has by Cal.

Just so we're clear, Petrino took over an Arkansas program that went 10-4 and 8-5 in the two years prior to his arrival and went 5-7 and 8-5 in his first two seasons.

Fans of several programs, including UK, have hyped Bobby Petrino as some mythical offensive miracle-worker. He's definitely a good coach but he certainly doesn't deserve the awe or fear that some are ascribing to his taking the WKU job. I have a feeling he'll struggle to put together a good staff at WKU, which will affect his ability to mold a 7-5 Sun Belt program built around the power running game into his mesh passing system in the months between now and next September.

You can pretty much sum up this hire as mutual usage by both WKU and Petrino. He goes there for a few years to try and rebuild his reputation enough that a bigger program will hire him and WKU gets the benefit of a lower-tier D-I program getting some publicity, even if it means poor publicity.

What happens when more skeletons come rolling out of the closet like some have mentioned? I think this was a HUGE gamble by WKU. Then again maybe it was all Internet rumor....

I don't have the financials of an average UK home game in front of me but for UK/WKU in Nashville UK gets 40% of the revenue.

That is what I am trying to find out. If we pay Western $500K. plus pay them what we would normally pay for a team to come to Commonwealth for a game without a return game, how much would this be. Then determine what we would make from a home game vs. what we would make from playing in Nashville. I think the first home game will be a sellout because of the new coaching staff and the excitement surrounding that plus the likely new recruits. Will that many UK fans travel to Nashville to make it close to an economic wash? That is what I am trying to determine. Personally, I would like this staff's first game to be a home game. I think it would be an electric atmosphere in Commonwealth. Does anyone know the economics of what UK would expect to make from playing Western in Nashville? Would we get a black eye if we cancelled the Western game in Nashville, even if we offered to play (and pay for playing) Western in Commonwealth? I don't know if I will be able to make it to Nashville, but I would definitely make it to Commonwealth for the game. Are others in that category or will this look more like the first Music City Bowl game vs. Clemson? Thoughts?GO CATS!!!

If the BBN travels like it has in the past LP field will be like a home field... However it would be great to have an "inauguration" of the new staff at CWS!! Either way... I'll be there!!!

Matt, thanks for the link. Does 40% of the revenue mean that after all expenses are paid out of the gross receipts that UK will receive 40% of that number or is it 40% of the gross revenue prior to expenses being taken out? Obviously, that number will be much different. Also, what percentage does Western receive? Does this mean they get 60%. If UK gets 40% of the gross revenue, then it isn't too bad of a deal for UK playing the game in Nashville. If UK is only getting 40% of the net, I think UK could do much better paying Western $500,000 for the buyout and then another $400,000.00 for coming to play at Commonwealth. If they are not willing to come I am sure we can pick up another opponent for $400,000. This is based on the following assumptions:

- UK would sell, at a minimum, 70,000 tickets for the opening game in Commonwealth. At $30.00 per ticket (which could possibly be between $35 and $40), this would be a gross on ticket sales of $2,100,000.

- Add in another $25 for probably around 15,000 parking passes (I am only guessing at the number of parking passes sold by UK) would give another $375,000.

- I would think if there are 70,000 fans at the game, each fan will likely spend an average of $6 per person on concessions (soda and water were $4 each last year if I am remembering correctly) for another $420,000 in gross revenue.

- For merchandise sales I will just plug in a number of $100,000.

- There would be sponsorships and advertising that could be sold for probably another $100,000.

This is a total of $3,095,000 gross that UK could make for playing at Commonwealth rather than in Nashville. This is not even considering the revenue to be made by local merchants and taxes to be paid to the city and the state, rather than that money going to Nashville merchants and the state of Tennessee. It also does not take into consideration the current staff being able to open up at home in front of the home crowd with an electrified atmosphere.

I don't know on what number UK is paid 40%, but I would assume that the number would be, at the most, 40% of $2,000,000 which would be $800,000. Out of this UK would have to pay for travel, hotel, and eating expenses for the team, coaches, staff, band, etc. I would assume this would be a minimum of $150,000. This would mean, at these assumptions, that UK will make a net of approximately $650,000 for playing in Nashville.

On the $3,095,000 gross for the game being played in Commonwealth, UK would have to pay Western $500,000, and either Western or a different team $400,000 for coming to Commonwealth. which would reduce the number UK would gross to $2,195,000. IDK what UK has to pay for all gameday expenses such as salaries, power bills for Commonwealth, etc., but I assume this number would not be over $200,000. This number ($200K) would reduce UK's gross number to a total or net of approximately $1,995,000, which is almost exactly 3 times more than what UK would net for playing in Nashville. This gives no consideration for revenues made by local merchants and state and local taxes to be received by the city of Lexington and the state of Kentucky

Are my assumptions / guesses way off? Is there another reason for playing in Nashville which are worth not playing the game at Commonwealth? Is it better exposure for UK, better for recruiting, etc. If so, is it worth that much? For example, we could likely better use the extra money on the start of a recruiting room or for the general football recruiting budget to get more coaches into more living rooms because most of the time the parents / guardians are as important in the recruiting process as the recruit in making the ultimate decision on which school to attend. I am not trying to beat a dead horse or over analyze this because I don't think we will try to get out of the game because of the bad publicity which we would receive, but I think this was a bad deal for UK when it was made. I can't see how it could possibly ever be better for UK to play at a neutral site for a certain percentage of the take rather than playing or giving up a home game. It seems as if we were doing Western a favor by agreeing to do this in the first place, however, because of the recent hires of Stoops and his staff, I am willing to give MB a pass on this issue. GO CATS!!!

Hey mods, do us all a favor and ban this asshole. Thanks.