Post by krazykev on Sept 15, 2006 5:09:33 GMT -5
By Rob Daniels
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO -- A year after it was contractually obligated to do so, the non-profit organization that ran the now-defunct Aggie-Eagle Classic has failed to pay N.C. A&T $53,190 for its participation in the 2005 football game.
Reginald Wade, A&T's assistant vice chancellor for business services, said Thursday that the university has received $96,810 of the $150,000 described in the contract as a minimum guaranteed payout.
N.C. Central, A&T's opponent in the game, has received its $150,000, said Kyle Serba, a spokesman for that school's athletics department. Both universities must use the game revenue for scholarships.
In 2002, A&T and N.C. Central ceded administrative duties of the event to the Capital Area Sports Foundation, a tax-exempt arm of Raleigh city government chartered specifically to operate that one football game at N.C. State's Carter-Finley Stadium.
Federal tax returns name Lawrence Wray, a Raleigh assistant city manager for more than 20 years, as the foundation's chief operating officer. Wray did not return telephone calls or an e-mail seeking comment. Dee Todd, A&T's athletics director, declined comment Thursday.
The contract specifies that full payment is due on the day of the game -- Sept. 5, 2005, in this case. A&T lost the game 23-22.
When A&T announced Sept. 13, 2005, that it would suspend the Central football series and end the Aggie-Eagle Classic, Todd cited a desire to eliminate the middle man and play a home game on Labor Day weekend, among other factors.
The end of the rivalry elicited some anger, mostly from Central. Bill Hayes, who became the Eagles' athletics director shortly after A&T fired him as its football coach in 2002, called it "a shame" and spoke of an impending "void" in the landscape of black college football.
Instead of facing Central, which A&T first played in 1924, Todd signed a deal to renew a rivalry with Winston-Salem State.
The Aggies and Rams played Sept. 2 before an Aggie Stadium crowd of 21,005 -- the largest attendance for any game hosted by a Division I-AA school that weekend. A&T kept almost all of the revenue from that game.
The university has not provided ticket sales information requested by the News & Record. Assuming the school sold 15,000 tickets at an average price of $15 each, A&T made about $225,000.
A&T won't collect a big payday next year because it will play at Winston-Salem State. But A&T's two-year average revenue of about $112,500 equals the highest single-year receipt from the Aggie-Eagle Classic. For now, it's greater than what the university got from the 2005 game.
A&T and WSSU have informally discussed a revenue-sharing agreement starting in 2008 that would give the visitor a greater cut of the gate receipts than it has earned in the past.
"Maybe it wouldn't be 50-50," Todd said. "Maybe 70-30. But at least you'd get something every year."
Cursory examination suggests A&T can equal its revenue from the Aggie-Eagle package if the series with Winston-Salem State remains popular. The Rams play at Bowman Gray Stadium, a 17,000-seat municipal facility that can be sold out if Aggies supporters are as numerous (7,500 or so) as Rams fans were Sept. 2 at Greensboro.
As for the Aggie-Eagle contract, tax returns suggest the foundation had made money in the past three years. The 2002 game registered a profit of $90,951, the 2003 event lost $42,607, and the 2004 Classic, the most recent one for which records are available, produced a $13,255 surplus. That works out to a net profit of $61,599 over three years.
The contract calls for the universities to receive an unspecified bonus payment in any profitable year. As of Thursday afternoon, A&T attorneys were checking athletics department records and studying the contract to determine if the school is owed money in either of the two profitable years.
A&T officials had not seen the foundation tax return that covers the 2005 Aggie-Eagle Classic as of Thursday.
Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rdaniels@news-record.com
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO -- A year after it was contractually obligated to do so, the non-profit organization that ran the now-defunct Aggie-Eagle Classic has failed to pay N.C. A&T $53,190 for its participation in the 2005 football game.
Reginald Wade, A&T's assistant vice chancellor for business services, said Thursday that the university has received $96,810 of the $150,000 described in the contract as a minimum guaranteed payout.
N.C. Central, A&T's opponent in the game, has received its $150,000, said Kyle Serba, a spokesman for that school's athletics department. Both universities must use the game revenue for scholarships.
In 2002, A&T and N.C. Central ceded administrative duties of the event to the Capital Area Sports Foundation, a tax-exempt arm of Raleigh city government chartered specifically to operate that one football game at N.C. State's Carter-Finley Stadium.
Federal tax returns name Lawrence Wray, a Raleigh assistant city manager for more than 20 years, as the foundation's chief operating officer. Wray did not return telephone calls or an e-mail seeking comment. Dee Todd, A&T's athletics director, declined comment Thursday.
The contract specifies that full payment is due on the day of the game -- Sept. 5, 2005, in this case. A&T lost the game 23-22.
When A&T announced Sept. 13, 2005, that it would suspend the Central football series and end the Aggie-Eagle Classic, Todd cited a desire to eliminate the middle man and play a home game on Labor Day weekend, among other factors.
The end of the rivalry elicited some anger, mostly from Central. Bill Hayes, who became the Eagles' athletics director shortly after A&T fired him as its football coach in 2002, called it "a shame" and spoke of an impending "void" in the landscape of black college football.
Instead of facing Central, which A&T first played in 1924, Todd signed a deal to renew a rivalry with Winston-Salem State.
The Aggies and Rams played Sept. 2 before an Aggie Stadium crowd of 21,005 -- the largest attendance for any game hosted by a Division I-AA school that weekend. A&T kept almost all of the revenue from that game.
The university has not provided ticket sales information requested by the News & Record. Assuming the school sold 15,000 tickets at an average price of $15 each, A&T made about $225,000.
A&T won't collect a big payday next year because it will play at Winston-Salem State. But A&T's two-year average revenue of about $112,500 equals the highest single-year receipt from the Aggie-Eagle Classic. For now, it's greater than what the university got from the 2005 game.
A&T and WSSU have informally discussed a revenue-sharing agreement starting in 2008 that would give the visitor a greater cut of the gate receipts than it has earned in the past.
"Maybe it wouldn't be 50-50," Todd said. "Maybe 70-30. But at least you'd get something every year."
Cursory examination suggests A&T can equal its revenue from the Aggie-Eagle package if the series with Winston-Salem State remains popular. The Rams play at Bowman Gray Stadium, a 17,000-seat municipal facility that can be sold out if Aggies supporters are as numerous (7,500 or so) as Rams fans were Sept. 2 at Greensboro.
As for the Aggie-Eagle contract, tax returns suggest the foundation had made money in the past three years. The 2002 game registered a profit of $90,951, the 2003 event lost $42,607, and the 2004 Classic, the most recent one for which records are available, produced a $13,255 surplus. That works out to a net profit of $61,599 over three years.
The contract calls for the universities to receive an unspecified bonus payment in any profitable year. As of Thursday afternoon, A&T attorneys were checking athletics department records and studying the contract to determine if the school is owed money in either of the two profitable years.
A&T officials had not seen the foundation tax return that covers the 2005 Aggie-Eagle Classic as of Thursday.
Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rdaniels@news-record.com
This is why I hate these chitlins classic. You have wannabe big timers messing with your money. A&T got shafted in the so called Cincinatti Classic about 5 or 6 years ago and never got paid all of their money if they got any.
