Post by econgrad71 on Feb 14, 2006 15:08:21 GMT -5
This makes for some interesting reading...
www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-70293sy0feb12,0,1426476.story?page=1&coll=dp-sports-local
Commissioner guides big MEAC changes
From TV and shoe deals to possible expansion, Dennis Thomas always meets the challenges.
BY MARTY O'BRIEN
247-4963
February 12, 2006
VIRGINIA BEACH -- During his introduction in 2002 as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference commissioner, Dennis Thomas wondered aloud, "What the heck have I gotten myself into?" He was only half-joking.
Thomas was ending a successful tenure as athletics director at Hampton University to lead a conference that was cash-strapped and in need of an image makeover. Four years later, many challenges remain.
MEAC basketball ranks near the bottom of Division I, its tournament overshadowed among regional historically black college fans by the Division II CIAA tournament. MEAC football remains popular among students and alumni, but the conference hasn't won a Division I-AA playoff game in six years.
None of the obstacles has slowed Thomas, who daily promotes the conference with the missionary zeal of a true believer. He views the MEAC as "11 tremendous institutions" carrying on the legacy of historically black colleges that "persevered when access to everything was denied."
His successes are undeniable. During the past three years, the conference has signed an 8-year footwear deal with Nike, a 5-year apparel deal with Russell Athletics and a 7-year television deal with ESPN that will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The conference men's and women's basketball tournaments, set for March 7-11, begin a three-year run at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C., after seven years in Richmond. At least two, perhaps three, schools are expected to join the conference in the next two years, swelling membership to 14.
Last fall, the conference moved its headquarters from a cubbyhole in Greensboro, N.C. to 6,500 square feet in the posh, new Armada Hoffler Tower in Virginia Beach. From his office on the 11th floor, Thomas can see the oceanfront on a clear day.
He talked recently about the even brighter future he sees for the MEAC.
Q: One obvious sign of progress is that there is no lack of schools that want to join the MEAC. Savannah State and Winston-Salem State already have applied for admission, and North Carolina Central is expected to do so after a Division I exploratory year in 2006-07. What is the status of the applicants?
A: Right now we're going through an evaluation process, and we'll have a decision on Savannah State and Winston-Salem in the spring, at our May meeting at the latest. The Council of Chief Executive Officers ultimately makes that decision.
Q: If you expand by two or three schools, that would make you a 13- or 14-team conference. You'd have 11 or 12 football-playing schools, versus nine today. Will you divide the football schools into divisions and create a MEAC championship game?
A: Our long-range strategic plan, if we have 10 or more football-playing institutions, is to possibly go into divisional play and have a championship game. That would give us the opportunity to generate additional revenue. Our champion would forego participating in the Division I-AA playoffs.
Q: If the MEAC championship-game winner isn't going to the I-AA playoffs, will it be playing the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship-game winner for the Black College National title? (Note: The SWAC already skips the I-AA playoffs to conduct a championship game)
A: We've already discussed it. That's part of the game plan. We think we could make it work. We (the MEAC and SWAC) are in discussions.
Q: What is the marketing potential of that game?
A: If we bring back a black national championship, the Heritage Bowl, we'll generate significant, significant revenue for the conference and the institutions that participate.
Q: How do football coaches and athletic directors feel about giving up on the I-AA playoffs?
A: Most people understand and are for the financial benefits of a Black College National Championship game. They understand the revenue from it will be much greater than from the I-AA playoffs.
Coaches always want to win national championships, but on a nationwide level they won't be doing that in the I-AA playoffs. If we do this the way it's supposed to be done, the financial benefit will be well worth playing in a Heritage Bowl.
Q: Until that happens, the black college football dream game is getting the 2005 (Sheridan Broadcasting Network Black College) co-national champions Hampton and Grambling State together for the SWAC-MEAC Challenge in Birmingham, Ala. next year. Gonna happen?
A: Hampton is already in it. The SWAC is trying to work that out with Grambling and hopefully they're going to be there. That game would be something else.
I think the people want to see that game. Both teams ended the year 11-1 and split the votes in the (black college) polls. People want to see that issue decided on the field.
Q: What has been your biggest challenge since becoming commissioner?
A: Getting corporate America to understand our purpose, our mission and our goals and how they fit into that.
Q: What is the most difficult thing to sell about the MEAC?
A: People are not aware of the comprehensiveness of all of our institutions. You can't relegate all of our expertise to being African-American Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We have distinguished faculty on all of our campuses, and you'd be surprised that almost 50 percent are non-African-American. We represent America.
Q: What is the easiest thing to sell about the conference?
A: We really have some tremendous institutions that are doing great things in their communities and on their campuses. From Howard and its medical, dental and law schools; to Florida A&M and its nationally known business school; to Norfolk State and its accredited business school; to Hampton with its (doctorate) programs in physics and pharmacology; to Maryland-Eastern Shore, where it is doing cutting-edge research in horticulture; all the way to North Carolina A&T with its well-known engineering program.
Q: What do you consider your biggest successes?
A: Moving the conference onto solid financial ground was critical. Bringing ESPN on board was huge. That had to do with branding and being associated with one of the most well-known sports, entertainment and broadcasting entities in the world. Now we're in the mainstream of things.
All of the sudden, ESPNU shows the Florida Classic and the Citrus Bowl is sold out with 71,000 for FAMU and Bethune-Cookman. People are saying, 'Ya'll have that football game?' It's an education process, a brand-building process that ESPN has provided for us.
We had four basketball games on ESPN networks for the Martin Luther King Holiday. When I heard the announcers on ESPN2 talk about what a tremendous atmosphere it was for the Bethune-Cookman (at) North Carolina A&T game, I'm saying to myself, 'If you go to an HBCU, that's what you get. Not all people understand that until they are exposed to it.
Q: Speaking of basketball, an article in the Raleigh News & Observer last month labeled the local buzz about the MEAC Tournament as "barely audible." Do you agree?
A: No. I disagree. I told the reporter (Janell Ross) that the article wasn't factual or accurate and it was one of the most negative articles I've ever read. This is why I say it wasn't factual and wasn't accurate: How can you compare the first year of the MEAC (in Raleigh) against the sixth year of the CIAA being there?
Let's compare the first year the CIAA was in Raleigh, then compare it after our first year there. To me, that's more accurate and more objective. They did not do that. They want to compare (CIAA) attendance in Charlotte in terms of pre-tournament ticket sales in Raleigh. It's just not a fair comparison.
All I told the reporter is if you want to compare apples to apples, compare our attendance to what the CIAA was the first year in Raleigh, then compare the second and third years. That's a more accurate analysis.
Q: You have a determination to make the MEAC Tournament as big as the CIAA. Can you?
A: We want to make it better, and we're going to make it better. But let me be very clear: There's enough room for both of us to be successful in the marketplace. I want the CIAA to do well. I take offense when people want to pit one against the other.
Q: During a recent game at Hampton University, I heard one older gentleman telling another that he was going to the CIAA Tournament because he didn't think the MEAC was "hitting on nothing." Is it a correct perception that alumni from MEAC schools formerly in the CIAA would rather go only to the CIAA event? If so, how do you change that?
A: We have to engage the alumni and get them to come. The CIAA was in business long before us, so you have an allegiance for them more than double our existence. But we've got to do a better job engaging our alumni to come to our tournament.
Our market value has a larger footprint than just a basketball tournament. But we have to keep marketing it to our alumni. I believe we're going to get there, and the naysayers will see that we're going to get there.
Q: You are launching a marketing plan to sell the basketball tournament. What are the key components?
A: You have to engage all of your clientele and give them not only Division I basketball, March Madness, but you have to give them an entertainment value. And that entertainment value has to be what they want. You have to market to them coming to the tournament as a whole, not just until their team loses. A tournament is an experience with all of the different things going on.
Q: What are the additional selling points?
A: Raleigh and Wake County are crazy about basketball. The venue (the RBC Center) is a better venue (than the Richmond Coliseum), and we have entertainment value throughout the week that will be appealing to our clientele. There's the Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary concert, nationally known gospel singers.
We have the Tom Joyner Morning (radio) Show. We have a comedian, J. Anthony Brown, coming in. We have Showtime at the Apollo. We have Greek Step shows. We have our Alumni Old School Party. We have Monique, a nationally know TV personality. There's a lot of things happening; we're very pleased and we can get it done.
Q: But the basketball has to get better. What as commissioner can you do to facilitate that improvement?
A: We've got to keep investing in it. The role I play is to impress on the presidents and chancellors that you've got to provide the resources if you want to see a significant dividend on your investments.
We've tried to give them more resources to improve their programs. The Nike contract: huge. It saves each institution more than $7,000 per year. The Russell contract: huge. The ESPN contract: off the charts. I'm telling you, this is going to help our conference.
Q: Right now you've got one North Carolina school (A&T) in the conference. Won't it help the basketball tournament if current CIAA schools Winston-Salem and North Carolina Central are admitted?
A: I would hope so, if, and I repeat, if they are admitted into the conference. We don't want to put the cart before the horse. No decision has been made regarding either.
Q: The MEAC has 11 schools, two or three more want to get in and you've had increasing success attracting corporate sponsorship. Is this a sleeper conference that five or six years from now is going to raise eyebrows in collegiate sports?
A: I tell corporate America that we're an undervalued resource and that you'd better get on board now because we're about to explode. In the next two, three, four years the country is going to understand what the MEAC's value is.
We have the right strategy and plan in place. You've got to realistically believe. «
www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-70293sy0feb12,0,1426476.story?page=1&coll=dp-sports-local
Commissioner guides big MEAC changes
From TV and shoe deals to possible expansion, Dennis Thomas always meets the challenges.
BY MARTY O'BRIEN
247-4963
February 12, 2006
VIRGINIA BEACH -- During his introduction in 2002 as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference commissioner, Dennis Thomas wondered aloud, "What the heck have I gotten myself into?" He was only half-joking.
Thomas was ending a successful tenure as athletics director at Hampton University to lead a conference that was cash-strapped and in need of an image makeover. Four years later, many challenges remain.
MEAC basketball ranks near the bottom of Division I, its tournament overshadowed among regional historically black college fans by the Division II CIAA tournament. MEAC football remains popular among students and alumni, but the conference hasn't won a Division I-AA playoff game in six years.
None of the obstacles has slowed Thomas, who daily promotes the conference with the missionary zeal of a true believer. He views the MEAC as "11 tremendous institutions" carrying on the legacy of historically black colleges that "persevered when access to everything was denied."
His successes are undeniable. During the past three years, the conference has signed an 8-year footwear deal with Nike, a 5-year apparel deal with Russell Athletics and a 7-year television deal with ESPN that will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The conference men's and women's basketball tournaments, set for March 7-11, begin a three-year run at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C., after seven years in Richmond. At least two, perhaps three, schools are expected to join the conference in the next two years, swelling membership to 14.
Last fall, the conference moved its headquarters from a cubbyhole in Greensboro, N.C. to 6,500 square feet in the posh, new Armada Hoffler Tower in Virginia Beach. From his office on the 11th floor, Thomas can see the oceanfront on a clear day.
He talked recently about the even brighter future he sees for the MEAC.
Q: One obvious sign of progress is that there is no lack of schools that want to join the MEAC. Savannah State and Winston-Salem State already have applied for admission, and North Carolina Central is expected to do so after a Division I exploratory year in 2006-07. What is the status of the applicants?
A: Right now we're going through an evaluation process, and we'll have a decision on Savannah State and Winston-Salem in the spring, at our May meeting at the latest. The Council of Chief Executive Officers ultimately makes that decision.
Q: If you expand by two or three schools, that would make you a 13- or 14-team conference. You'd have 11 or 12 football-playing schools, versus nine today. Will you divide the football schools into divisions and create a MEAC championship game?
A: Our long-range strategic plan, if we have 10 or more football-playing institutions, is to possibly go into divisional play and have a championship game. That would give us the opportunity to generate additional revenue. Our champion would forego participating in the Division I-AA playoffs.
Q: If the MEAC championship-game winner isn't going to the I-AA playoffs, will it be playing the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship-game winner for the Black College National title? (Note: The SWAC already skips the I-AA playoffs to conduct a championship game)
A: We've already discussed it. That's part of the game plan. We think we could make it work. We (the MEAC and SWAC) are in discussions.
Q: What is the marketing potential of that game?
A: If we bring back a black national championship, the Heritage Bowl, we'll generate significant, significant revenue for the conference and the institutions that participate.
Q: How do football coaches and athletic directors feel about giving up on the I-AA playoffs?
A: Most people understand and are for the financial benefits of a Black College National Championship game. They understand the revenue from it will be much greater than from the I-AA playoffs.
Coaches always want to win national championships, but on a nationwide level they won't be doing that in the I-AA playoffs. If we do this the way it's supposed to be done, the financial benefit will be well worth playing in a Heritage Bowl.
Q: Until that happens, the black college football dream game is getting the 2005 (Sheridan Broadcasting Network Black College) co-national champions Hampton and Grambling State together for the SWAC-MEAC Challenge in Birmingham, Ala. next year. Gonna happen?
A: Hampton is already in it. The SWAC is trying to work that out with Grambling and hopefully they're going to be there. That game would be something else.
I think the people want to see that game. Both teams ended the year 11-1 and split the votes in the (black college) polls. People want to see that issue decided on the field.
Q: What has been your biggest challenge since becoming commissioner?
A: Getting corporate America to understand our purpose, our mission and our goals and how they fit into that.
Q: What is the most difficult thing to sell about the MEAC?
A: People are not aware of the comprehensiveness of all of our institutions. You can't relegate all of our expertise to being African-American Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We have distinguished faculty on all of our campuses, and you'd be surprised that almost 50 percent are non-African-American. We represent America.
Q: What is the easiest thing to sell about the conference?
A: We really have some tremendous institutions that are doing great things in their communities and on their campuses. From Howard and its medical, dental and law schools; to Florida A&M and its nationally known business school; to Norfolk State and its accredited business school; to Hampton with its (doctorate) programs in physics and pharmacology; to Maryland-Eastern Shore, where it is doing cutting-edge research in horticulture; all the way to North Carolina A&T with its well-known engineering program.
Q: What do you consider your biggest successes?
A: Moving the conference onto solid financial ground was critical. Bringing ESPN on board was huge. That had to do with branding and being associated with one of the most well-known sports, entertainment and broadcasting entities in the world. Now we're in the mainstream of things.
All of the sudden, ESPNU shows the Florida Classic and the Citrus Bowl is sold out with 71,000 for FAMU and Bethune-Cookman. People are saying, 'Ya'll have that football game?' It's an education process, a brand-building process that ESPN has provided for us.
We had four basketball games on ESPN networks for the Martin Luther King Holiday. When I heard the announcers on ESPN2 talk about what a tremendous atmosphere it was for the Bethune-Cookman (at) North Carolina A&T game, I'm saying to myself, 'If you go to an HBCU, that's what you get. Not all people understand that until they are exposed to it.
Q: Speaking of basketball, an article in the Raleigh News & Observer last month labeled the local buzz about the MEAC Tournament as "barely audible." Do you agree?
A: No. I disagree. I told the reporter (Janell Ross) that the article wasn't factual or accurate and it was one of the most negative articles I've ever read. This is why I say it wasn't factual and wasn't accurate: How can you compare the first year of the MEAC (in Raleigh) against the sixth year of the CIAA being there?
Let's compare the first year the CIAA was in Raleigh, then compare it after our first year there. To me, that's more accurate and more objective. They did not do that. They want to compare (CIAA) attendance in Charlotte in terms of pre-tournament ticket sales in Raleigh. It's just not a fair comparison.
All I told the reporter is if you want to compare apples to apples, compare our attendance to what the CIAA was the first year in Raleigh, then compare the second and third years. That's a more accurate analysis.
Q: You have a determination to make the MEAC Tournament as big as the CIAA. Can you?
A: We want to make it better, and we're going to make it better. But let me be very clear: There's enough room for both of us to be successful in the marketplace. I want the CIAA to do well. I take offense when people want to pit one against the other.
Q: During a recent game at Hampton University, I heard one older gentleman telling another that he was going to the CIAA Tournament because he didn't think the MEAC was "hitting on nothing." Is it a correct perception that alumni from MEAC schools formerly in the CIAA would rather go only to the CIAA event? If so, how do you change that?
A: We have to engage the alumni and get them to come. The CIAA was in business long before us, so you have an allegiance for them more than double our existence. But we've got to do a better job engaging our alumni to come to our tournament.
Our market value has a larger footprint than just a basketball tournament. But we have to keep marketing it to our alumni. I believe we're going to get there, and the naysayers will see that we're going to get there.
Q: You are launching a marketing plan to sell the basketball tournament. What are the key components?
A: You have to engage all of your clientele and give them not only Division I basketball, March Madness, but you have to give them an entertainment value. And that entertainment value has to be what they want. You have to market to them coming to the tournament as a whole, not just until their team loses. A tournament is an experience with all of the different things going on.
Q: What are the additional selling points?
A: Raleigh and Wake County are crazy about basketball. The venue (the RBC Center) is a better venue (than the Richmond Coliseum), and we have entertainment value throughout the week that will be appealing to our clientele. There's the Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary concert, nationally known gospel singers.
We have the Tom Joyner Morning (radio) Show. We have a comedian, J. Anthony Brown, coming in. We have Showtime at the Apollo. We have Greek Step shows. We have our Alumni Old School Party. We have Monique, a nationally know TV personality. There's a lot of things happening; we're very pleased and we can get it done.
Q: But the basketball has to get better. What as commissioner can you do to facilitate that improvement?
A: We've got to keep investing in it. The role I play is to impress on the presidents and chancellors that you've got to provide the resources if you want to see a significant dividend on your investments.
We've tried to give them more resources to improve their programs. The Nike contract: huge. It saves each institution more than $7,000 per year. The Russell contract: huge. The ESPN contract: off the charts. I'm telling you, this is going to help our conference.
Q: Right now you've got one North Carolina school (A&T) in the conference. Won't it help the basketball tournament if current CIAA schools Winston-Salem and North Carolina Central are admitted?
A: I would hope so, if, and I repeat, if they are admitted into the conference. We don't want to put the cart before the horse. No decision has been made regarding either.
Q: The MEAC has 11 schools, two or three more want to get in and you've had increasing success attracting corporate sponsorship. Is this a sleeper conference that five or six years from now is going to raise eyebrows in collegiate sports?
A: I tell corporate America that we're an undervalued resource and that you'd better get on board now because we're about to explode. In the next two, three, four years the country is going to understand what the MEAC's value is.
We have the right strategy and plan in place. You've got to realistically believe. «
