The Sunday, October 8th Courier Journal will blast out a series of pieces all surrounding the money flow at the University of Louisville, most of which has gone to a few prominent leaders even as athletics shows an annual net loss.
Here’s Tom Jurich’s earnings sheet for 2016:
With all of the reverberating tremors from the U of L’s various scandals, perhaps the most eye-opening revelation is just how much money was being sopped up by Tom Jurich, Rick Pitino, former president James Ramsey, and their associates.
The Courier-Journal has done exhaustive pieces on Pitino’s 98% grab of previous Adidas money intended for the basketball program, and Jurich’s extremely healthy revenue stream.
Pitino is out and with very little chance of getting much severance or endorsement deals.
With Jurich’s fate yet to be determined, this series appears to be the newspaper’s not-so-impartial statement for the board of trustees to oust him and retain acting athletics director Vince Tyra.
Dr. Ricky Jones compares U of L to Vito Corleone‘s money laundering Genco Olive Oil Co. in the Godfather films.
Professors complain about beleaguered academic funding and rightfully so. Students fees rise while people who buy tickets to athletics events get zinged year after year.
It’s all a jam but nothing changes the base reality that the market pays what demand allows. Jurich and Pitino, and to a lesser degree football coach Bobby Petrino, have earned millions because the fan base has been willing to accept the pricing of tickets and seat licenses.
Now with a scandal-laden athletics department, U of L will have to lower prices like Walmart to reenergize a disappointed, embarrassed, and increasingly disinterested fan base.
If you’re a day trader, just wait a few months and be ready to jump back into the market and buy seats on the cheap. If U of L gets an NCAA death penalty, the bottom will fall out of the market until a young, brash coach comes along to reignite interest.
The problem for college basketball and especially football is that kids aren’t as interested in them as previous generations.
Soccer owns the future and Louisville leaders are making way for a stadium that could make millions of discretionary dollars shift away from U of L to LouCity FC.
For your entertainment dollar and peace of mind, the soccer stadium is the new gold rush.