Iâm pretty surprised by that. Guess weâll see if it passes.
I wonder if the general assembly will have anything to say about this between now and then. They are already a little worked up about the fee increase they just did in Blacksburg.
Also wonder if this is like the UNC stuff they did for Belichick where itâs kind of fake until they actually have to do it and can absolutely alter it if they need to.
We probably need to throw a couple of extra bucks into the football pool to not be overtaken in realignment discussions.
Position VT to be competitive for top allocation of media rights and conference revenue
Shared responsibility between the institution and donors
Institutional subsidy within state limit
Includes limited increases in student fees consistent with state cap over multiple years
Targeted fundraising campaign
Bridge funding to reach sustainable financial position by FY30 through enhanced media revenues, conference allocations, and other self-generated revenues
Slides 5 and 6 have more of the details. They project $30 mil of the increase coming from fundraising each year, and the rest from institutional support, student fees, and bridge funding (TBH I donât really understand what this is, even with the definition they give).
Bitter has more details. Sounds like theyâre taking the money from the university and crossing their fingers the money comes from donors later. I wouldnât bank on this additional financial commitment beyond a year or so.
My guess? Deal with private equity by 2028.
Is it private credit from someone? Or a bridge loan from the endowment? Weâve done loans from the endowment based off future expected donations before. This campaign seems less solid than what weâve done that on though.
There must be a fair amount of accounting and auditing for this for a comprehensive program that at various points will involve both paying players and also following public procurement law when public dollars are involved.
Like a lot of people, I was very dubious of where that 30M a year of âphilanthropyâ was going to come from. I listened to part of the TechSideline podcast yesterday where Bitter talked about this. They seem to think those projections are a mix of promised, anticipated, and aspirational donations. Tech didnât just pull that 30M number out of thin air, so it seems like a target they are aiming for based on a mix of data and âhopes and dreamsâ. I wish them luck. Not sure if 30M a year is sustainable for them, but who knows.
My hunch is that year one the university kicks in to hit that number but after that you get the university promised number and then eat whatever you kill on the donation front. Thatâs still a ~$27m increase in funding which is a lot, but $30m PER YEAR in new donations is a lot. Itâs not like theyâve been turning money away they can go grab! And until recently vibes were high down there, people loved Pry!
We should call this âContenders or Pretendersâ week. A lot of teams have an opportunity to make a statement as a contender in the conference or walk away as pretenders with work to do.
Can Louisville go on the road and beat Pitt?
Can Cal fly across the country and beat BC?
Which Duke, NC State, and Syracuse teams show up?
And yes ⊠is FSU or UVA legit?
Aside from the FSU/UVA game, there arenât a lot of flashy matchups this week, but a lot of games where teams can take a huge leap forward in having really good seasons.
My understanding is that this is being reviewed by the GA right now for not just them but us and JMU as well. It is part of the fee formula adjustment being considered. I imagine that is about to become much higher salience for those in Richmond.
Just talked with my Hokie source and they seem to think the first 2 years of the donor money is basically already committed by a group of a few donors that John Rocovich has assembled. Not all of it yet though.
With Gundyâs firing, Dabo is now the 4th longest tenured coach in college football after Kirk Ferentz (who has been at Iowa since last century), Kyle Whittingham and Troy Calhoun. Dabo took over as interim HC at Clemson just a few months before we hired Tony Bennett, to give you an idea of the shelf life of college football coaches.
Okay yeah it sounds like a âhereâs how weâd spend the money if they donate it can you preapprove thatâ meeting not a âwe have the moneyâ plan approval.
The Hokies in my life believed they had enough to commence with the plan for at least a year. I wonder if thatâs what the small amount is referring to. This makes it sound even less than that honestly.
Really think this ends with them committing a ton of money almost entirely to football and then cutting sports or taking in money from a really problematic funding source to keep the plate spinning in a few years.
Man I love the comment from the VT official. âWe just need to get to 10% of our all-time high new gifts number each year for the next 5 years, no biggie.â is basically what the comments amount to.
Florida State
Virginia
Virginia Tech
NC State
San José State
Stanford
California
Boston College
Louisville
Pitt
Duke
Syracuse
Georgia Tech
Wake Forest
