November 21, 2011
Montana AD Confirms JMU was Outbid
Mike Barber
DukesofJMU.com Staff
Montana athletic director Jim O'Day, chairman of the NCAA I-AA football selection committee, said Monday the decision to give Eastern Kentucky a home game over James Madison in Saturday's first round of the playoffs came down to money - and lots of it.
"That ended up on a bid," O'Day said Monday. "Eastern Kentucky had a higher bid to host the game for the NCAA."
O'Day wouldn't reveal the bid amounts but said there was a sizeable difference between what JMU and EKU offered.
"It was considerable," O'Day said. "It was considerable."
Responding to a Freedom Of Information Act request, JMU released its bid submissions to the NCAA to the Daily News-Record on Monday.
To host a first round game, JMU bid $46,768.50. The minimum required bid is $30,000.
JMU's bids were significantly higher for the next three rounds, when the school projected larger crowds. Saturday's game could be hurt by both the Thanksgiving holiday, the fact that school is not in session and the competition from the weekend's Virginia-Virginia Tech.
For a second-round game, when the minimum is still $30,000, JMU bid $76,168.50. For the third round (minimum $40,000), it bid $100,056. For the fourth round, when the minimum is $50,000, Madison bid $125,743.50.
JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne said Sunday he believed the Dukes had been outbid by the Colonels. Bourne said he was surprised by the how much schools were willing to pay for home games this year.
"We ended up submitting what we felt was a very competitive bid based on prior history and what we felt was appropriate in regard to our stadium," Bourne said. "We're seeing a real shift in the types of commitments people are willing to make. To me this is a significant change."
Eastern Kentucky's willingness to enter a bid high enough to top JMU - bids were due to the NCAA with two games left in the season - is surprising outcome when you consider the Colonels average just over 7,267 fans a game in Richmond, Ky., and their largest crowd of the year was just over 10,000.
JMU, meanwhile, drew 25,002 fans a game this year at renovated Bridgeforth Stadium.
But in a statement from Bourne posted on JMU's website Sunday night, the athletic director said he projected a crowd of just 12,000 for a potential first-round home game the weekend after Thanksgiving, when most students have left the area on break.
O'Day said he couldn't comment on the committee's decision not to award Colonial Athletic Association champion Towson one of the five seeded positions in the tournament, because - with Montana in consideration - O'Day had to step out of the room for that debate and vote.
He said he sat outside the meeting room at the NCAA's Indianapolis headquarters, enjoying a diet Coke and "relaxing."
As for the exclusion of Delaware, which did not make the playoffs with a 7-4 record, in large part due to a D-II win over West Chester, O'Day said the Hens were one of the final teams up for consideration.
"They were very much in consideration," O'Day said. "Their six wins were quality wins. I know they feel a little slighted that they didn't get in."
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