Awhile back we learned the names of the eight teams that will be competing in the inaugural Varsity Cup and
today we learned who will play who and where. The teams have been seeded one through eight with BYU taking the top seed and UCLA taking the last seed. The opening round of the competition will feature two doubleheaders. The West regional will be held at BYU and will feature (1) BYU vs. (8) UCLA and (5) Air Force vs. (4) Utah. The East regional will take place at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland and will feature (3) Dartmouth vs. (6) Navy and (7) Notre Dame vs. (2) Cal. the winners of each regional will play on April 27th at the campus of the the higher-seeded team. The final will be held at BYU's South Friend on May 4th.
At first it may seem a bit odd to have doubleheaders rather than matches on four separate campuses, but by combining matches they are turning each regional into an event. Who on the East coast wouldn't want to go see that tasty double-header. A match featuring both BYU and Utah is also sure to bring in a crowd. According to the press release broadcast details will be announced later.
CPD to this? Going backwards. JC and co. must not be happy. Thought this was going to be big stadium and broadcast on TV with big revenue for the big boys in the college game? WTF is this crap!?
ReplyDeleteIt's not backwards from the perspective of these clubs. If they make any money from this, it's more money than they would have been making before.
DeleteOn the flip side, if they lose money on this, USAR will not be there to pick up the tab. Who pays for the deficit if a VC event loses money?
DeleteHave you never been to Navy-Marine Corps stadium in Annapolis? It seats over 20,000 and its a beautiful stadium in a fun town. Annapolis will rock that weekend. We are driving up from the Carolina's. See you after the match at McGarveys Saloon on the City Dock !!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought Utah was suspended
ReplyDeleteThey were, past tense. The club fulfilled the requirements by the university for reinstatement.
ReplyDeleteNot according to their school. They're not supposed to be using the name 'University of Utah' or the logo.
DeleteJust catching up with college rugby in the USA after being abroad for a few years. Obviously I expect Cal, BYU, Utah and Navy, but where is Life, Ark State, St. Mary's, Penn State and Army? Have they dropped off and been replaced by these other team?
ReplyDeleteThe Varsity Cup is a move by 'brand' schools to pull away from Division 1-A (the CPD) and try to make money for themselves. Life, Arkansas State, St. Mary's etc. continue to play in Division 1-a. They're not considered 'brandworthy' enough for this event.
DeleteSounds short sighted. Looks like it is failing already with the final at a stadium that only holds 2500.
DeleteI heard they wanted Rio Tinto but apparently weren't willing to take on the costs. Apparently they realized they'd lose a lot of money if BYU or Utah weren't there.
DeleteDo you know for a fact that those schools were not invited ? Or did those schools say "no" to the offer ?
ReplyDeleteIf I was a betting man I'd say Army was offered but they are 7's centric. I would not offer Life or Joe's Truck Stop school either. I'd like the other two schools to be in the Varsity Cup.
Army is 7s centric? Is that why they weren't at 7s nationals?
DeleteArmy declined due to competition/cost/benefit considerations. They'd rather play a meaningful schedule, not a 3-game knockout tournament. Schools in the Varsity Cup are not eligible for D1-A competition.
Sounds like Nigel and his interns are at work. The BYU stadium holds 5,000 and if BYU Cal get in the final who is to say BYU won't use the football stadium ? I like the fact that these schools are trying to do something for themselves and promote the game. USA Rugby has done a horrible job with college rugby. USA Rugby does a horrible job with High School rugby. USA Rugby does a poor job period. So Nigel, don't have BYU and Cal do all the work then run out of town with the money. I am a college rugby fan and love that these schools are trying to improve college rugby in America.
ReplyDeleteIt's never hard to spot bitter David Smyth, is it?
Deletebyucougars(dot)com(slash)(slash)facilities(slash)soccer
DeleteOfficial capacity: 2,140
But ol' davey boy smyth thinks nearly 3,000 schmucks are going to pay $30 to stand on the sideline. This whole competition is hysterical.
Why don't Cal and BYU just play a home and away series as a cash spinner? This Varsity Cup thing only works if it draws huge crowds, mainstream broadcasters and generates revenue. It doesn't look like it is on that path.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you say its not on that path ?
ReplyDeleteIt hasn't been held yet. TV has not yet been announced.
If they sell 5,000 tickets which is totally doable at twenty dollars a head they make $100,000 grand and its their money. This makes total sense. I think $30.00 is the max ticket price which makes it $150,000.
If ESPNU doesn't want the deal maybe BYU tv does. Thats an international audience on Direct tv.
USA Rugby should have taken some of the pot from past years finals and at least off set cost for some teams. It's very poor form for Nigel to be hauling in $250,000 a year from youth and college membership fees and give nothing back. Nigel should resign and take his cronies with him.
No stadium operation costs? No production costs? Do tell us this path to success and free money! And isn't BYU still using 30 year old polynesians while everyone else has college-aged kids?
DeleteThe Varsity Cup is full of the same type of a-holes who run Wall St. They want everyone else to take all the risk but then give them the profits.
ReplyDeleteWhy would BYU or Cal charge its teams for using its fields ?
ReplyDeleteProduction cost are absorbed by this crazy thing called commercials.
Sounds like you have little to no business sense. This is basic stuff here.
You don't know what you're talking about. First, the ad revenue goes to the broadcaster to broadcast the event. Not to pay for the production of the event (i.e. athlete travel, venue, announcers, camera, editing, sound, etc, etc). Typically for a minor sports event like this the production costs are paid for by the event organizer and/or sponsors. If this event was going to be televised the organizers would have either committed to pay for the production from event revenues (i.e. tickets, concessions, parking, etc) or had secured a sponsor to pay the production cost in return for branding of the event. In that case we would see something like "Old Navy presents the rugby Varsity Cup on ESPN" and they would have some of the commercial spots and on field branding. None of that is happening as far as we can tell. This tells me they are going to webcast or put it on BYU TV once it is confirmed that BYU will be in the final. Don't think BYU TV is going to broadcast any rugby unless BYU playing.
DeleteAgreed about BYU TV only covering if BYU is in final. There is enough money in the pot to make money from commercials. This is no different,though smaller, then any sporting event. If two good teams with a following ie, spend money on tickets and such, BYU TV will make this happen and it will work. If all eight teams get enough money to cover their budget or come close its a success. Hate all you want but this is the American way. Tell USA Rugby to pound sand and do it yourself.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason BYU didn't get Rio this year is because BYU grad Dave Checketts sold the team. I doubt it was USA Rugby that got that stadium in the past, it was BYU working with an successful grad.
Keep doubting but winners push through obstacles and my bet is they thought this through. BYU tv stopped showing club sports after they signed contract with espn for sports. My bet is if its BYU Cal, espnu covers the match. If espnu says no thanks, BYU tv takes it. Just my hunch. I could be totally wrong. But USA Rugby is crazy if they think BYU Rugby will get a pro stadium and put the affair on for USA Rugby to walk away with the money and be no recourse. They will do it themselves. I have nothing to do with BYU or BYU rugby. I am in sales and marketing for Fortune 80 company and a rugby fan, if you've ever done business with these folks you know they do their homework.
Is English your first language? Your post is hardly literate.
DeleteLooking forward to seeing Cal in Annapolis, long trip for them but nice to see them make a journey.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the first year and I am pretty sure broadcast schedules and Ad rights are sold way in advance. But I hope it works out. Would love to see great rugby on TV - even on a minor network (Armed forces TV? The Military Channel?) Showing we play sports common to our Nato allies has to be a good thing - and DoD can fund it since they already have tons of broadcast media people in Washington...