No, it wasn't. It was money from a commission check for which Luchs was the primary agent. He gave it to his lawyer who put it in a trust fund until the pending litigation was dealt with.
You simply can't do this kind of thing. You don't withhold paychecks in the middle of a contract dispute pending litigation. He had a contract that he didn't honor. I had the same thing happen to me when a seller's real estate agent took my deposit and put it into escrow, but once the deal broke down, by law that money was mine. He gave it to his lawyer who did the same thing Luchs did. In the end, they paid damages to me for holding my money.
And just how did they start their business??? Hmm?? What you seem to miss in the whole story is that Luchs became the "first class corporate operation occupying high rent skyscraper offices" in Los Angeles. Are you saying that the people who started ProServ didn't "fall into" the business??
How did ProServ start? Donald Dell was a pro tennis player and when he retired he represented his friends. They went on to form a tennis circuit and did the same thing with golf. Then Dell's firm became the biggest sports agency and only rival IMG was close. He put David Falk and those agents through law school, and developed a soup-to-nuts agency that did everything for athletes (agentry, contracts, promotion, media, advertising, finance, etc.) At the time, that was highly enticing for the top young athletes. Of course, ProServ also represented the biggest Hall of Fame coaches in college basketball.
Actually, it is totally relevant. It takes away from the credibility you tried to build for them. Unless you are going to say that they didn't have a hand in Jordan getting a free pass.
I still don't see how Jordan's personal behavior had anything to do with ProServ.
Let me get this straight. You are claiming that these schools haven't made billions over the years off the backs of their sports programs (mainly football)? What friggin fantasy world do you live in?
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The schools have LOST billions. I've seen the breakdowns at Penn State personally. It wasn't pretty. Even the supposed most lucrative program in the USA, Texas, is a money loser.
[/QUOTE]BTW, since you brought up A&M, the Tuition there is $4110 a year. Not $30K.[/QUOTE]
I didn't write the word "tuition." I wrote "cost of education." Big difference. Tuition is subsidized by research foundations, endowments, taxpayers, and more. You honestly don't believe that the cost per student of Texas A&M is $4110, do you?
The average cost per student at big state universities is around $30k. At some state universities, such as Michigan and Virginia, it's actually closer to $40k. You really shouldn't get into this with me, because I can link to a variety of sources that show the blood of college sports. I just did the same exercise for professional purposes as we looked at budget cuts in the SUNY system. We did a survey of programs around the US. The finances are public, it's not a mystery.
OH, and I suggest you do better research on A&M and what happens. Elsa Murano wasn't "promptly fired". She resigned. And from what I have read, she resigned because she didn't live up to the standards that were set and she was given the option of that or being fired. By resigning, she got a nice severance package. Also, if you are going to bring up her asking the AD for money back, you should make sure you have it in proper context. It was in regards to the lofty 42% salary hike that was given to him by the previous President before Murano was appointed. It was also in regards to the extraordinary expenses that the members of the Athletic staff rang up as part of the Bowl game expenses in 2008.
ROFL, everyone else but you understands that people are forced to resign. What a bunch of rationalizations.
And while A&M might have "lost" $38 million, last year, most of that was not from the Athletic Department. In fact, by all accounts, they only finished about $1 mill in the red. And most of that comes from Women's athletics where they spend $20 million to make $1 million. And much of that million comes from a huge increase in administrative salaries, including the AD getting a 42% increase in his salary and a 36.5% bonus. Not to mention a lot of questionable expenses that around from the Bowl Games and other "post season" travel.
What others who are on full scholarships are bringing more money into the Universities?? I'd love for you to explain that statement.
Football revs at Texas A&M backing out academic student fees and direct institutional support are just under $35 million. Football expenses are $26 million. So football forks over $9 million to the AD. But, not included in that $9 million profit are debt service on football infrastructure that the school pays for. ADs don't have the authority to issue bonds, but universities certainly do, and that's why any capital improvement for the football program comes out of academic coffers (unless the funds are privately raised). This is precisely what screwed Oklahoma St when they lost T Boone Pickens' $160 million during the crash. They had already paid for their stadium through university bonds, and the debt service set them back years from expanding the academic side with new buildings they needed for research grants that they had already won. They actually had to return the research grants for lack of infrastructure to conduct the research, and though TBoone came through in the end, it was years too late. This is also how Texas A&M got into a jam. Beyond debt service, you should also count the subsidy (difference between tuition and cost per student) for the football players and that's another $7 million in hidden costs, so that leaves $2 million profit for football not including debt service. Total expenditure on sports outside football and basketball (by the way) is $14.6 million, while total revenues are $7.1 million. Assuming Title 9 is complied with, half that money goes to women. So, that's a $3.5 million loss for women's sports. The fact is, Texas A&M basketball contributes more $$$ not only proportionally but in real dollars than football does.
As for who else on campus brings in big money, I'm laughing. What a question. The AD budget is a small sliver of the total school budget. $60 million is a drop in the bucket for a school with a $1.3 billion yearly budget. State taxpayer subsidy accounts for $265 million. Tuition raises $87 million, of which $53 million is redistributed to students as scholarship for a net of $34 million. Fees raise $137 million with $38 million returned to students for a net of $99 million. All told, the school gets about $400 million from students and taxpayers. The rest of that $1.3 billion, almost $900 million, comes either from the endowment and donations ($55 million) or else from faculty research grants ($845 million). Just to put sport in perspective. When you consider that the vast majority of teachers nationally are part-time (over 66% currently) who work on a per class basis ($2.5k) you can do some quick math and realize that the university exploits this labor (part-timers are mainly grad students who receive tuition remission plus the $2.5k stipend) to make huge profits. For $2.5k, the grad teaches 40 students, at $500 a credit hour, for $20k profit to the university minus operation & maintenance of buildings which is 1/6th of the university budget. So back out $3k and $2.5k (grad salary) from that $20k profit, and each grad student is worth $14.5k of profit per class, or $43.5k a year (if you teach a 2/1, which is most common at state schools, if not a 2/2).
Compare it to football. $2 million in revenues (I'm not even counting the academic debt service or the money football sends to, say, women's sports, I'm just treating the football leftover as straight profit) divided by 85 players = $23.5k a year. And the football players ALREADY make more than grad students (or other exploited employees). The key is, people volunteer for this exploitation.
I don't blame them, since without the university, these players would be plying their trade for the Podunk Vipers in SemiPro football in front of 500 fans. People pay to watch the jerseys, not the players. That's why college ball is popular.
