Discussion for article #234733
shorter Emmert : “We love the money.”
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Gov. Mike Pence (R-eligious Pandering) must be a big fan of Russia. First he sets up Pravda Indiana and now he is copying Putin’s anti-gay law.
What next, will he annex southern Illinois claiming that it is really a part of Indiana?
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Well, no final four games for me this year.
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True dat; but the larger point is, the NCAA’s got more than enough problems already without taking on board this sort of baggage that Indiana has tacked on to its most massive money maker. The NCAA Tournament brings in over a billion dollars annually, and there’s no way even a thoroughly compromised hack like Emmert is about to put that at risk.
I think the NCAA is making the right call. Changing the venue at this point would only hurt the fans who’ve paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for tickets, reservations, etc. It’s just too late in the game, with the Final Four only two weeks away, to find another empty venue that could hold the same capacity and a city in which there’s not another significant event happening that weekend. The logistics of changing venues make it nearly impossible.
I say this as someone who would LOVE to see UK forced to play as far away from KY as possible.
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Money talks and justice walks.
Excellent point well articulated. Unwinding preset arrangements can be cause unfair hardships on genuine innocent parties. The issue for all businesses will be how this is handled going forward where consequential pressure can create local pain that is entirely justified by the good results it aims to produce. An example: Arizona is the only state with an MLK Holiday by the vote of the people. This is because the Arizona legislature (maybe even more unenlightened now than then) and incumbent governor Evan Mecham were adamant about there NOT being a paid MLK Holiday with the arguments (1) that he was not a big enough person to deserve it and (2) that it would be too costly to give all those state employees the day off. It was a difficult and winding road to the good outcome. But action by the NBA and especially the NFL in jerking the 1993 Super Bowl from Phoenix were surely impactful. The civil rights model is in place. Going forward it is imperative to make Indiana squeal from the deserved economic hurt the state government has imposed on its citrizens.
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“We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill.”
Exactly how will the NCAA ensure athletes and visitors are not “impacted negatively?”
This discriminatory bullshit is now STATE LAW.
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Nor any of the products advertised during it.
Be real interesting if assorted stars refused to participate in the games.
Not as short but just as true “We already treat our student athletic slaves like shit, so why would this law bother us?”
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Like you say the fact that these games are only two weeks out makes their reluctance in moving an event this size more understandable. I think the real test will be in if they are willing to put their money where their mouth is and move those events that are far enough out as to still be feasible.
Final Four isn’t exactly a thing you can just up and change at the last minute. Which the Indiana legislature knew perfectly well when it passed this bill when it did.
Oh, and Go Big Blue.
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Sure you can. The presidents of the final four can order the teams home to play another day when the NCAA gets its head on straight. One of those teams may be from Xavier, an historically Black college; do you think they might stand for discrimination after all they fought for? North Carolina State and Duke OTOH…
Nuyhuh, right. Sure they can. Just that simple. Expose your university to, literally, hundreds of millions of dollars in breach of contract liability. Crush the hopes and expectations of the alumni who provide a third to a half or more of your school’s academic funding, thereby ensuring their financial and moral support in the inevitable imbroglio. Tell all the people who spent money on tickets and made plans to take time away from work to see this game, they can just suck it. because grand symbolic gestures take precedence. Tell all the Title IX sports financed by NCAA tournament money they’ll just have to call off their seasons next year because we have an important principle to make here at the last minute.
Surely an excellent way to win the admiration and support for your cause of all of the people whose hopes and expectations you took a last minute shit upon.
Are the unicorns glorious and the rainbows especially bright on your planet?
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You just haaaad to do that…Hmph
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Now, now. I’m absolutely confident the 'Cats will meet a team in red in the Elite Eight.
What a colossal mess that would be that would cost fans millions of dollars, would totally upend the tournament schedule, not to mention TV scheduling for the final games. The NCAA would have to scramble around searching for a venue that could hold the necessary capacity and was available for three nights. People who’d saved up to go to the games would lose money on flights, hotel reservations, rental cars, etc. The people who would get hurt the most would be by far the fans, vendors, players, and those fighting for LGBT equality.
A team in red. LOL
Please, Lord, don’t let it be us. I just can’t take it for a third time in 4 years.