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SOUTH ORANGE – Bryant Felt walked into the 13,000-square foot practice gym that is the heart of the newly opened “Seton Hall Basketball Performance Center” Thursday with a broad smile.
“The finished product is absolutely remarkable,” the university’s director of athletics said.
The $55 million, three-story addition to the Richie Regan Recreation and Athletic Center has been years in the making, and its completion vaults Seton Hall from having the Big East’s worst hoops practice facility to arguably its finest – complete with a players’ lounge and dining room, a steam room and sauna, and wall-sized photos of program greats lining the halls.
This week’s ribbon-cutting comes as the Pirates are playing another game of catch-up with their hardwood peers in an even more important category – funding. Coming off a rare last-place campaign thanks largely to a death of roster-building resources, Seton Hall is injecting some much-needed capital into head coach Shaheen Holloway’s war chest. The catalyst is an impending ability for schools, for the first time, to share revenue with their athletes.
Last year, program payrolls were dependent on fan donations. That proved problematic for the Hall, which had tapped its donor base for roughly $25 million to subsidize the practice facility (the rest was covered by bond). As a result, Holloway had just $1.5 million to spend on his roster this past season, which was believed to be the lowest or one of the lowest sums in the Big East.
So, sharing university revenue is a lifeline.
“For us, automatically it’s a help,” Felt said. “Your supporters, your donors, your most loyal people can give those monies, those funds to the athletic department and get their tax deductions.”
The expectation within the Big East is that all of the schools will budget between $4-8 million for roster-building purposes, Gannett New Jersey has learned. Seton Hall’s budget projects to be in the middle of that range. A boost from outside of the athletic department is one of the keys.
“The university (hierarchy) is stepping up and saying, ‘We know how important basketball is. Basketball is certainly a massive part of the identity of Seton Hall University and we want to see that be successful,’” Felt said. “So the school has stepped up and they’re going to be contributing to the revenue share number that we can utilize for our programs.”
In other words, Seton Hall is not relying solely on its dividend from the Big East’s TV contract for its revenue-share plan. The university side is partnering with athletics – a much-needed supplement.
“That’s big,” Felt said. “We’re excited about it and our fans should be excited about it. We are incredibly committed to making it work. We know we have put together the resources on revenue sharing to be competitive.”
The next few weeks will be telling. On the first day that the transfer portal opened, Seton Hall’s best player – sophomore wing Isaiah Coleman – entered it.
“I understand fans are upset when they see a student-athlete going into the portal and it’s obviously one of our better players,” Felt said. “Everyone is losing players, even blue bloods. I get it – it’s hard for the fan.”
Pirate Blue, the athletic department’s fundraising arm, will take the lead in managing revenue sharing, Felt said, with fan collective Onward Setonia remaining active in a supporting role.
“There’s been a narrative out there that the Big East is in a great position because it’s basketball-only,” Felt said. “I think that’s an incredibly optimistic view and I don’t think it’s the wrong one – it certainly sounds nice. But in my opinion, it would be a bit foolish for us to think automatically we’ll be in a better position.”
The Big Ten, whose schools are expected to spend the maximum of $20.5 million in revenue sharing (the Big Ten’s football-driven TV-contract revenue dwarfs the Big East’s), has advised its athletic departments to apportion the lion’s share for football and $3 million for men’s basketball. Seton Hall, like most of its Big East brethren, will focus its revenue sharing entirely on men’s and women’s basketball, with the men’s team getting most of the pie.
“The football schools always have the advantage,” Felt said. “The SEC, think they’re going to sit there and say, ‘The Big East has an advantage over us?’ And allow that to happen? That’s where the collectives are going to kick in. That’s why the collectives are going to be incredibly important at that level."
Mike McBride, who Felt hired two years ago for the newly minted position of deputy athletics director for Revenue Generation, NIL & Strategic Initiatives, is leaving to work at Rice University (Felt said his family wanted to return to Texas).
“Right now we’re working with our coaches to figure out what the best use of that position is,” Felt said. “Is the next thing the general manager? It’s certainly the sexy thing; everybody is hiring one. I’m not saying we’re not doing it – I know what we do need; we need someone who can help with these negotiations and also can help when it comes to salary cap management.”
After a 7-25 season, Seton Hall will take a hit to its men’s basketball season-ticket sales, which spiked after last year’s NIT title run. Felt said the program will look to generate revenue through creative scheduling. Event organizers are offering fat appearance fees, although the Pirates’ impending appearance November’s Maui Invitational Tournament is not one of those.
Don’t be surprised if Holloway books a one-off non-conference game or a two-year series on semi-neutral courts designed to collect money for revenue sharing purposes.
“Yes, that will absolutely be a possibility,” Felt said. “We have plenty of opportunities we’re already looking at where they can provide us with some revenue.”
Seton Hall is never going to lead the Big East in roster payroll. Billionaire-fueled programs like St. John’s or Creighton, with its through-the-roof ticket sales and alumni engagement, are going to add a huge chunk of outside money to their internal revenue-share figures.
But the completion of the performance center ends a decade-long focus on upgrading the Hall’s outdated facilities and clears the deck for a full pivot to name-image-likeness (NIL) opportunities and revenue sharing.
“Most of our larger commitments (to the performance center) were made before NIL kicked in,” Felt said. “Will it help that all our facilities are built now and the focus will be strictly on revenue share now? 100 percent.”
The men’s basketball team started using the performance center in late February – a bunch of players and coaches were walking its halls Thursday. The women’s basketball program, which is coming off a 23-win season, is taking over some of the facilities the men had been using in or around Walsh Gym, and those are in the final stage of a facelift. A third part of the facilities project, the renovation of the recreation center’s fieldhouse for use by the general student population, is complete.
With the performance center unveiled and a plan to address revenue sharing, Felt seeks to assure fans that the commitment is real. He points out that he and Holloway are alums who are in their destination jobs.
“Sha and I are both Seton Hall guys – we’ve been on this campus since back in the late 1990s when I was a senior and he was a freshman,” Felt said. “This place runs through our blood. Seton Hall means the world to me – I met my wife here, it’s who I am, it’s a big part of my identity, it’s where I grew up. Same with him. We’re so invested in making this work.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Seton Hall basketball practice facility, revenue-sharing plan unveiled
Continue reading...
“The finished product is absolutely remarkable,” the university’s director of athletics said.
The $55 million, three-story addition to the Richie Regan Recreation and Athletic Center has been years in the making, and its completion vaults Seton Hall from having the Big East’s worst hoops practice facility to arguably its finest – complete with a players’ lounge and dining room, a steam room and sauna, and wall-sized photos of program greats lining the halls.
You must be registered for see images attach
This week’s ribbon-cutting comes as the Pirates are playing another game of catch-up with their hardwood peers in an even more important category – funding. Coming off a rare last-place campaign thanks largely to a death of roster-building resources, Seton Hall is injecting some much-needed capital into head coach Shaheen Holloway’s war chest. The catalyst is an impending ability for schools, for the first time, to share revenue with their athletes.
Last year, program payrolls were dependent on fan donations. That proved problematic for the Hall, which had tapped its donor base for roughly $25 million to subsidize the practice facility (the rest was covered by bond). As a result, Holloway had just $1.5 million to spend on his roster this past season, which was believed to be the lowest or one of the lowest sums in the Big East.
So, sharing university revenue is a lifeline.
“For us, automatically it’s a help,” Felt said. “Your supporters, your donors, your most loyal people can give those monies, those funds to the athletic department and get their tax deductions.”
You must be registered for see images attach
The expectation within the Big East is that all of the schools will budget between $4-8 million for roster-building purposes, Gannett New Jersey has learned. Seton Hall’s budget projects to be in the middle of that range. A boost from outside of the athletic department is one of the keys.
“The university (hierarchy) is stepping up and saying, ‘We know how important basketball is. Basketball is certainly a massive part of the identity of Seton Hall University and we want to see that be successful,’” Felt said. “So the school has stepped up and they’re going to be contributing to the revenue share number that we can utilize for our programs.”
In other words, Seton Hall is not relying solely on its dividend from the Big East’s TV contract for its revenue-share plan. The university side is partnering with athletics – a much-needed supplement.
“That’s big,” Felt said. “We’re excited about it and our fans should be excited about it. We are incredibly committed to making it work. We know we have put together the resources on revenue sharing to be competitive.”
You must be registered for see images attach
The next few weeks will be telling. On the first day that the transfer portal opened, Seton Hall’s best player – sophomore wing Isaiah Coleman – entered it.
“I understand fans are upset when they see a student-athlete going into the portal and it’s obviously one of our better players,” Felt said. “Everyone is losing players, even blue bloods. I get it – it’s hard for the fan.”
Organizational changes
Pirate Blue, the athletic department’s fundraising arm, will take the lead in managing revenue sharing, Felt said, with fan collective Onward Setonia remaining active in a supporting role.
“There’s been a narrative out there that the Big East is in a great position because it’s basketball-only,” Felt said. “I think that’s an incredibly optimistic view and I don’t think it’s the wrong one – it certainly sounds nice. But in my opinion, it would be a bit foolish for us to think automatically we’ll be in a better position.”
You must be registered for see images attach
The Big Ten, whose schools are expected to spend the maximum of $20.5 million in revenue sharing (the Big Ten’s football-driven TV-contract revenue dwarfs the Big East’s), has advised its athletic departments to apportion the lion’s share for football and $3 million for men’s basketball. Seton Hall, like most of its Big East brethren, will focus its revenue sharing entirely on men’s and women’s basketball, with the men’s team getting most of the pie.
“The football schools always have the advantage,” Felt said. “The SEC, think they’re going to sit there and say, ‘The Big East has an advantage over us?’ And allow that to happen? That’s where the collectives are going to kick in. That’s why the collectives are going to be incredibly important at that level."
Mike McBride, who Felt hired two years ago for the newly minted position of deputy athletics director for Revenue Generation, NIL & Strategic Initiatives, is leaving to work at Rice University (Felt said his family wanted to return to Texas).
“Right now we’re working with our coaches to figure out what the best use of that position is,” Felt said. “Is the next thing the general manager? It’s certainly the sexy thing; everybody is hiring one. I’m not saying we’re not doing it – I know what we do need; we need someone who can help with these negotiations and also can help when it comes to salary cap management.”
You must be registered for see images attach
Ticket-sales, scheduling
After a 7-25 season, Seton Hall will take a hit to its men’s basketball season-ticket sales, which spiked after last year’s NIT title run. Felt said the program will look to generate revenue through creative scheduling. Event organizers are offering fat appearance fees, although the Pirates’ impending appearance November’s Maui Invitational Tournament is not one of those.
Don’t be surprised if Holloway books a one-off non-conference game or a two-year series on semi-neutral courts designed to collect money for revenue sharing purposes.
“Yes, that will absolutely be a possibility,” Felt said. “We have plenty of opportunities we’re already looking at where they can provide us with some revenue.”
Seton Hall is never going to lead the Big East in roster payroll. Billionaire-fueled programs like St. John’s or Creighton, with its through-the-roof ticket sales and alumni engagement, are going to add a huge chunk of outside money to their internal revenue-share figures.
You must be registered for see images attach
But the completion of the performance center ends a decade-long focus on upgrading the Hall’s outdated facilities and clears the deck for a full pivot to name-image-likeness (NIL) opportunities and revenue sharing.
“Most of our larger commitments (to the performance center) were made before NIL kicked in,” Felt said. “Will it help that all our facilities are built now and the focus will be strictly on revenue share now? 100 percent.”
The men’s basketball team started using the performance center in late February – a bunch of players and coaches were walking its halls Thursday. The women’s basketball program, which is coming off a 23-win season, is taking over some of the facilities the men had been using in or around Walsh Gym, and those are in the final stage of a facelift. A third part of the facilities project, the renovation of the recreation center’s fieldhouse for use by the general student population, is complete.
You must be registered for see images attach
With the performance center unveiled and a plan to address revenue sharing, Felt seeks to assure fans that the commitment is real. He points out that he and Holloway are alums who are in their destination jobs.
“Sha and I are both Seton Hall guys – we’ve been on this campus since back in the late 1990s when I was a senior and he was a freshman,” Felt said. “This place runs through our blood. Seton Hall means the world to me – I met my wife here, it’s who I am, it’s a big part of my identity, it’s where I grew up. Same with him. We’re so invested in making this work.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Seton Hall basketball practice facility, revenue-sharing plan unveiled
Continue reading...
