REPORT: What Kind of Punishment Awaits MSU’s Rival, Michigan?
The Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal surrounding Michigan State’s most hated rival, Michigan, continues to linger, and if anything, it’s heating up.
Earlier this month, Michigan issued a self-imposed two-game suspension to head coach Sherrone Moore for his involvement in the scandal that was brought to light during the Wolverines’ 2023 national championship season.But the NCAA is still expected to act, and a punishment is anticipated to come before the start of the 2025 season.
The question is: What would such a punishment look like?
[S]ome of you think vacating wins is major punishment. I don’t,” Pate said. “Philosophically, I’ve just never thought that. So, anyway, I went on the show the other day, and I said I do not think that the way the media rights deals are structured today is such that the NCAA is going to be allowed to take big, punitive measures against a school that depreciates their value as an asset, because I think there’s too much money at stake from the media rights perspective.And to understand how that all works, to be very clear, I’m not saying Michigan won’t get punished; I’ve never said that. I dare you to find me any evidence of me saying, ‘They’re not going to get punished.’ What I said is, I think they’re going to get punished in a way that doesn’t affect their value in the future.
“And I don’t think vacating wins removes their value in the future. And I don’t think issuing show causes to coaches does that. It hurts, but it doesn’t torpedo their value in the future. You could give show causes, huge fines; I think that will happen. I think a lot of punishment will be handed down; it’s just that none of the punishment will be such that people are less likely to watch a Michigan game in the future.”
So what kind of punishment would “affect their value in the future?”
“If you put a multi-year postseason ban on them, that means that the audience dwindles a little bit,” Pate said.
Pate then countered the counterargument that fans still watched the games when such a punishment has been given before.
“First off, media rights deals were constructed very differently, far less zeros in the past than there are now,” he said. “And nowadays — you got to understand what’s happening here — with the billions that are on the line, those billions are paid because you got some guaranteed draw assets. Ohio State’s one, Oregon’s one, Penn State’s one, Michigan’s one. Everything else is great, but you paid for those four if you bought into Big Ten media rights.
You’re paying money that is ultimately going to the universities, via the presidents. The presidents give the NCAA their power. The NCAA exists to do the bidding of university presidents. That’s the way the entire thing is set up.
“So, if you think for a second that the university presidents that signed off on media rights deals taking in billions in exchange for these assets having a certain agreed upon amount of value are going to let some nickel-and-dime operation of enforcement like the NCAA issue punishment in the way of a postseason ban that devalues the value of Michigan, because less people are likely to watch their games, it is my opinion you’re kidding yourself.”
