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Why Mark Richt can't have nice things.
Progress, of a sort…
McGarity wouldn't say that Georgia will have an indoor facility in five years, but Richt and McGarity have talked about the subject recently when the Bulldogs had to go indoors. McGarity said he would look further into it.
They're talking! That's nice.
Of course, as you might expect, the real problem will be who pays for such a thing. You can be damned sure it ain't coming out of the reserve fund. In fact, McGarity's got just the idea for coming up with the jack – you people support Mark Richt, you pay for it.
"I know a lot of people say they would love to contribute," McGarity said. "If we do that, let's see who will step up (for an indoor facility). Everybody says there are thousands that would love to, but when it comes time to write the check or to make that happen … I think the perception is that we print money around here and that's not really the case. We do have a healthy reserve (around $70 million), but I think what people have to understand is we have $120 million in debt."
Maybe they could have GPB host a telethon. Operators are standing by to take your calls, Dawgnation!
Filed under Georgia Football, It's Just Bidness
50 responses to "Why Mark Richt can't have nice things."
McGarity is making a point that I've not ever heard, and maybe undermines the little jabs the senator has been making for the last few years. $120 million in debt? How does that compare to other athletic departments?
According to this Bama and LSU have over $200M in debt. Even Georgia Tech found a way to pony up the bucks an indoor facility. Time for McGarity to cut the crap and get this done.
http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/dollars/post/_/id/2837/vols-financially-strapped-but-not-alone
There's $70 million on reserve and they're turning a $45 million per year profit. Do the math. The debt isn't that big a deal.
Well, that's all well and good but if the university has a $70 Mil reserve fund and is making $45 Mil a year in profit why the hell should there be ANY debt? A lot of smart business guys I know believe in debt as long as interest rates are low, like they are now. They also get to right the payments off. But rates are poised to go up as they have been artificially suppressed for years by action taken by the Federal Reserve. That cannot go on forever. One of my best friends is an economist and he has been telling me it is coming and soon. A lot of financing that is feasible at 3% is not feasible at 8%. The interest alone on $200 Mil at 8% is $16 Mil per year–and that is without reducing the principal. This information is very disturbing IMHO. And sorry, but I have to pose this question: Where did the $200 Mil go?
Bernanke actually said the Fed's plan is possibly to keep ZIRP going until even after unemployment gets under 6.5%. I don't see rates rising significantly until the funds rate starts climbing, which looks like 2015 at the earliest.
But who the hell knows for sure? If we are going to get such a facility, would be nice to lock in whatever new debt would be required at today's rates.
Lorenzo Dawgriguez
They might keep ZIRP going because the employment participation rate is as low as it has been for almost 40 years. I don't see much increase in rates anytime soon and I want it up now that I can see retirement in the near future. But still, I keep thinking the golden $$$ goose of college football can't last much longer. Of course, I have been thinking ticket prices and pro salaries will have to start coming down for the last 10-15 years and they have only gone waaaay up.
Mayor of Dawgtowm
Bought a hamburger lately? We have significant inflation in this country already. Interest rates have to follow. Rick's estimate of 2015 may be right –that's 13 months away.
My cohorts in governement/ non profit lending could answer better than I but you can lock in a relatively low long term interest rate right now either via a swap if you have a floating rate instrument or just issue a bond(by low I mean as low as a long/ medium term rate is probably going to be in the next few years). Banks and fixed income investors are still very much hungry for assets and looking for yield in this environment. Now the interest rate could be as high as in the 7's or 8's but I don't know what UGA's credit rating is/would be. Also keep in mind that 45MM profit figure is post interest and depreciation which a lender would add back in when considering how much cash flow a borrower has to service debt.
If the rate is 8% and the balance financed is $200 Mil the debt service would be $16 Mil per, seriously eating into that $45 Mil annual profit.
AthensHomerDawg
This is silly. Have you actually ever built anything? Seriously. Buildings, streets, infrastructure. Yada yada. Our nut is 125 million not that 200 you purposed against the 45 mil annual profit. WUWT? FSU spent $135/ sq2 for their building. I read it was paid for before it started. And by who? YEP. McGarity wants to do the same thing. Duh? Just whip out the check book and all roads lead to the Crystal? Ya'll been getting by on government salaries too long. This gravy train has a "bubble" too sports fans.
Frankly, I like the conservative trend. And for you pay the man fans…Bobo has an agent… if he needs more money it's his job to take care of his client. Richt does too. Grantham has one… 75000 bump was sweet. Ouch . Someone owes Willie an apology.
Hijo… keep up son. This is for you.
http://www.sicemdawgs.com/2013/06/foley-field-renovation-plans-announced/
Mr. Sanchez
$70m in the bank, yet we need a fundraising drive to get $10m or so for long, long, loooooooooooooooooooong overdue renovations to Foley.
joyridingdawg
Really, really..? We do not need an indoor facility. Let's buy a special teams coach and make sure our players have some Coca Cola money to play around with,
You've completely missed the point.
Well, it happens occasionally. My hair is turning blonder every day.
Billy Mumphrey
If Richt was ever gone, for whatever reason, would McGarity ever spend enough to get the caliber coach the anti-Richt crowd is expecting?
Well, the reality is Richt will be gone at some point if only because he retires. I don't see him coaching for 25 years like VD did. He's entering his 14th season. I see 20 years max from CMR. We've likely got only 6-7 more years from CMR.
Twistification
Yes. Good question. McGarity is making the debt excuse not to build an indoor facility, even though (according to those on this site) he can pay this debt off in no time. And he is using this excuse to beg for alumni funds.
So this points to 'no', however it must be noted that Grantham is one of the higher paid assistant coordinators in college football. So who the hell knows.
ARDawg
I'm out here in Arkansas, longing to be Georgia-bound in just a few short hours for the holidays. The Texas fans this way consider Richt a viable candidate for their job. Do I believe it will ever happen? No. But I have been struck by how positively they view him, as opposed to a large segment of our base. Interesting.
Rocket Dawg
That's because a large segment of our fan base are a bunch of spoiled, whiny assholes.
Indeed! 🙂
Please Rocket, be more accurate…spoiled, whiny, delusional assholes.
Now Scorpio… Delusional….not us!
+1 RD. We are Top 5 in that ranking every year. UGA fans are like parents who kick their kid's asses for making 94 on every test.
We'll, a 94 is not 100!
We're the Chinese of the SEC?
沒錯!除了我們黨更加
Grantham's replacement
The 4 million given to the academic fund should go towards the debt. If I wanted to write a check to the King Adams memorial academic fund I would fill out the top part with something other than Hartman fund.
Scrambledawg
When donations to the Georgia Fund, Arches Campaign, etc, dried up because of Adams, he found a pot o gold elsewhere. He's a scumbag.
I was proud to make a donation this year to the Georgia Fund. It's the first I've made since he deposed Vince in the manner he did ; and I made sure every year they called to let them know id happily contribute once that carpet bagging $hithead was gone. And I did. Happily.
It's a plot. He's a double agent, just like Muschamp . . .
He's an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.
Nah, he's a soldier.
ScooBoo
I Want My Two Dollars!!!
Hilarious, that paper boy has a future in collections! Makes me want to head for the slopes.
MykieSee
The horror…. Awesome quote.
Damn Red Panties
Everything about UGA football seems to have some stipulation like "should an indoor facility have a track?" Wouldn't that drive up the cost? Do they want to host indoor track meets? Where does TitleIX fit into the thinking? Florida doesn't have one. Other teams can use it. etc. etc. I think more time will have to pass to make sure Adams won't haunt them with the BOR. Remember his comments as he left about closing in the west end of the stadium, which everybody knows is unwanted and not needed, but he said it anyway just to make his point.
Build the damn thing and name it after Adams for spite so they don't have to name The Arch after him at some point.
There's a spot on River Road where I like to pee that would be good to name after Mike Adams.
CoachSpurlock
Speaking of spending money, I talked to a kid here in Columbus that is getting recruited by Auburn, Alabama, and Georgia. He said when you visit Bryant-Denny, they take the recruits into a nice room with replicas of Crystal Footballs and FatHeads of Bama legends where Saban comes in pre-game and puts on a show. At Jordan-Hare they call it the "Heisman Room" and it has replicas of Heisman awards and bowl trophies, etc. He said when he went to a Georgia game, they took him into a cinder block room with bare walls and a couple of tables and some sofas. He was turned off immediately. Of course, his dad played at Auburn, so you'd think he'd be an AU lean. However, he doesn't want to live in his dad's shadow, so he was wide open. He plans to commit to Bama now, and cites the cinder block room as the reason he dropped UGA from his top 3. If that's true, what the hell are we doing?
If this^^ is true things are truly at a disturbing point at B-M.
You've obviously not been to B-M. It's truly impressive. I'm not suggesting Auburn or Bama have not outspent us in this regard, but this is not even a remotely factual representation of UGA facilities.
If that was the case then how do we seem to pull top 10 classes year after year?
I was also under the impression also that our facilities were top notch. FWIW, the kid was not talking about B-M Hall, but the recruiting room at Sanford Stadium. It's a room where they take recruits and their families prior to a game so they can meet the coaches. All I can tell you is what the kid thought about the differences at the 3 schools in this aspect and we did not impress. I spoke with his mother and she said the same thing (although she really liked Richt, much more than Saban or Malzhan).
X-Dawg
ADGM's legacy may be his epitaph: "I saved enough to lose everything"
IveyLeaguer
{"turning a $45 million per year profit. "}
That's not "real" profit I assume, but before expenses or other obligations? Otherwise, the reserve should be much bigger, the debt should be much less, etc.. And we could build a $30M state of the art IPF and pay cash for it.
I know that's gotta be way off, but just wondering how …
To start with, the athletic department is funneling $4 million/year to the school… at least that's the part they make public.
Also, I don't know if you're assuming the debt level is static, but they've been paying it down.
My point isn't to mock McGarity for being a prudent manager. That's good, especially if you remember the financial state of the athletic department during parts of Dooley's tenure. But the suggestion that the department is strapped for cash and that the fan base is going to have to step up to make an IPF a reality is a complete joke that deserves all the mockery I can manage. Even more so once the new TV revenues start rolling in…
Blutarsky is the Sh...
So which one of you alums didn't take the recent survey sent out about your "perception" of UGA and not copy blutarsky.wordpress.com as your source of all news GA? Fuckers. It happened to come out right around the time Bernie said things perfectly. Damn Senator I swear I gave them hell about that practice facility and promised to donate if they would listen to us. You are the fucking man bro! Cheers!
Silk Road Bitcoin
http://jesuschristsiliconvalley.tumblr.com