When the Arizona Wildcats finally show up early next season at the “Mini-Dome,” Southern University’s 7,500-seat Clark Activity Center, maybe it will all be worth it for the Jaguars.
The teams will play this year and next as part of the Pac-12’s “Legacy Series” with historically black Southwestern Athletic Conference schools.
Arizona will play at Southern next season. All other Pac-12 schools are doing likewise with other SWAC opponents, too, giving SWAC teams a rare chance to host power conference teams on their home courts.
“It’s a benefit that you get a Pac-12 team to come to your home,” Southern coach Sean Woods said.
But typically, low-major teams actually benefit more financially when playing high-major teams only on their courts, because they can receive about $80,000-$90,000 for a one-time appearance in what is known as a “buy,” “pay” or “guarantee” game. Many low- and mid-major teams routinely go on the road to play multiple buy games each season in order to provide revenue for the rest of their athletic department.
On the other hand, most home-and-home series do not involve cash exchanges, since each team keeps its full revenues when playing at home, an agreement both the Pac-12 and SWAC agreed to keep in their Legacy Series. But the exchange tends to be more even when power teams are playing each other than it might be in this case.
While No. 17 Arizona routinely attracts five-figure crowds to McKale Center at ticket prices that start at $27 and extend into three figures, Southern averaged 3,243 fans last season with ticket prices that start at $10. That price could be increased when Arizona comes to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, next season, but the Jaguars can only cram a maximum of 7,500 people inside the Mini-Dome.
“A lot of us don’t draw (fans), but at Southern University, we do draw, so it will benefit us from a home game perspective,” Woods said. “But financially it doesn’t do anything for us. It actually hurt us a little bit.”
So in order to make up the difference, Southern turned partly to … UNLV, of all place.
The Jaguars arranged one-time buy game at UNLV last Monday, when they lost 66-56, and also added a guarantee game at Saint Mary’s scheduled for Wednesday.
That’s three games out West, but only two for a paycheck.
“This Pac-12-SWAC challenge is good for the conferences but what it does is we had to (pay) our own bill,” Woods said. “Normally when we come out here, it’s a money game, so it’s somewhat paid for. But by us being in a home-and-home, we had to get an extra pay game just to pay for the trip to come out here.”
They also had/ to stay away from home a long, long time. Fourteen days, exactly, counting a Nov. 18 game at Cal that is part of the Emerald Coast Classic multi-team event that will send the Jaguars to Florida over Thanksgiving weekend.
That meant Southern flew to Las Vegas last weekend, played the Rebels on Monday, bused to Tucson on Wednesday and prepared for the Wildcats on Thursday. Then, on Sunday, they’ll fly to San Francisco to prepare for the Saint Mary’s and Cal games.
Oh, and class is still in session the whole time, too.
“We’ve got an academic person coming out this week, because finals are coming up very shortly, so we’ve got to stay on that,” Woods said. “But it just made no sense to come out here and then go back and then come back again.”
They’re trying to make the best of it. Woods gave his guys a night out in Las Vegas to roam around, and the Jaguars have events planned with California alums in San Francisco next week.
And, by tangling with Arizona, they’re playing a role in a series designed to promote education of anti-racism and social justice issues, something Pac-12 deputy commissioner Jamie Zaninovich called an “existentially important area.”
So it’s not all downside for the Jaguars.
“As long as we’ve got a place to practice and food to eat, and things like that…” Woods said, “it is what it is.”
McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.
