May 22, 2003
THE NEW ROBBER BARONS
Miami should be ashamed of trying to bilk high school (Orlando Sentinel, 5/21/2003)The Miami Hurricanes obviously need the money; why else would they be making this unfathomable power play? Why would they risk the wrath of their one-time friends? Why would they put years of tradition up for sale just for the sake of protecting their bottom line?
No, we're not referring to UM's impending decision to wreck the Big East. We're talking about the Hurricanes trying to crush little Umatilla High.
"I guess we got Miami worried when we won the district championship last year," cracked Kent Merrill, president of the Umatilla High School booster club. "I thought Miami was trying to join the ACC, not the FHSAA (Florida High School Activities Association)."
If you think the other Big East schools were shocked when they learned about Miami's ACC money grab, think of how Umatilla felt when they received a "cease and desist" letter from UM lawyers recently. The letter informed Umatilla that the "U" in its logo was too similar - criminally similar - to Miami's....
We're talking Umatilla here, folks. This place is so small that the local library closes whenever somebody borrows the book. Umatilla is a suburb of Eustis, for crying out loud....
Miami has told Umatilla it can keep using the logo - as long as it pays UM $2,000 a month.
The Umatilla money would help defray Donna Shalala's $475,000 salary as UM President.
For those who have not been following the ACC-Big East tussle, here's a capsule. The ACC's television contract expires in 2005; it was an extraordinarily rich contract, and they are threatened with a far smaller payout in the next contract. Meanwhile, the Big East's contract expires in 2007, and pays much less -- it was negotiated after Miami went 5-6 -- even though Big East football gets better ratings than the ACC. To add to the mix, Bobby Bowden is 73 and will soon retire from Florida State; the Seminoles went 8-4 last year and recruits are already shying away, so if nothing changes the ACC may soon be without a marquee program. Moreover, NCAA rules allow 12-team leagues to hold a TV-revenue-rich championship game. So the ACC schools, looking to enhance their football revenue, are trying to attract Miami, Syracuse, and Boston College from the Big East, and Miami and Boston College, at least, are eager to go. This, of course, would greatly diminish the Big East and dry up revenues at the remaining Big East schools.
Orrin posted the other day a link to this essay, arguing that universities gave up their religious identities in exchange for money. So academic money-hungriness is no new thing, and abandoning a football league is hardly the greatest betrayal in academic history.
It's no wonder social science models hold that people are motivated primarily by greed. Academics are judging by those around them.