STATESBORO, Ga. () — Sports Director Joey Lamar recently interviewed Georgia Southern Athletic Director to talk about how the House settlement affects the Eagles’ athletic department.
Joey Lamar: Chris, thank you for joining me today. I truly appreciate it. The House settlement has been a significant topic in college conversations as institutions try to understand how to handle it. Could you clarify Georgia Southern’s stance on the House settlement? Will you be opting in?
Chris Davis: This represents another major development and shift in college sports. Yes, we at Georgia Southern University have decided to participate in the House settlement.
JL: That’s a really big deal because there is part of the settlement, as you know, at least $20.5 million dollars will be able to go to student athletes. Do you know what percentage will go to football?
CD: Well, first of all, to clarify, so the 20.5, that’s a max amount. So we will not have 20.5 million. We’re continuously looking at every aspect of the revenue opportunities, the licensing opportunities with our student athletes.
JL: Do you know what number amount dollar amount now you guys are projecting to?
CD: Yeah, that’s a great question, Joey. I think in this ever-changing landscape, what the number looks like? We’re going to be in seven figures.
JL: I looked at some of the financials. There’s a lot of support from student activity fees, from direct institutional support and in-direct institutional support. Are you looking at increasing the student activity fee at all or getting more direct support from the institution to help kind of fund this?
CD: When you have enrollment growth and you have institutional growth, you have the ability to then have the impact to your athletic budget. But we’re also looking at it to continue to raise money on the private side through donations, trying to drive larger in-season tickets. I’m looking at every revenue vertical. From a student fee, to answer your question on that piece, there’s a lot that comes into how that all is done. It’s set forth and there’s a major connection that goes internally inside the institution with student government, as well as USG, the University System of Georgia, and everyone being on the same page.
JL: Has there been any discussion among the directors, along with Commissioner Gill trying to rework the media rights deal so you can have a little bit bigger payout so ease some of that pressure?
CD: We’re looking at everything really. You know what it’s really driving? A curious mind and an area of saying is this the best way to look at it? Are we positioned? Because just you want to create more opportunities to have a different TV rights deal or whatever? You can’t [do that]. We’re contractually obligated right now. We’re in a contract. But that doesn’t mean that the preparation on how you’re doing it and realizing that the Sun Belt has some real uniqueness. If there ever was an opportunity to do like like patches on the jerseys because there’s talk about that. For instance, last year we had the logo on the field. We were one of the first schools to do the logo on the field in the whole country. That’s a credit to our Georgia Southern Sports Properties and Terry Harmon and that group. But when that happened — here’s a question — if you did it conference-wide could you generate more revenue? That’s a curious mind attitude.
