Michigan & Ohio State Say No to SBC

I'm a little late in posting, but looks like Michigan and Ohio State backed away from renaming their annual football game: SBC Michigan-Ohio State Classic. Somewhat surprised, because when I blogged about the deal, I got much of my information from the official Internet site for Michigan sports. Heck, they had put out a press release and linked to the SBC site specially created to play up the rivalry. Therefore, if I had to guess, I would suspect that some alums got wind of the deal and expressed their displeasure. Granted I too had some objections to the deal, but those were put to the side when I found out that each school would get about half a million for the two-year deal. Therefore, I think they should have pressed on. Heck, the money could have paid for the President’s salary for a year. Hmmm. I’ll definitely have to make sure that all future donations sent to the University are specifically earmarked for scholarship.

OSU-Michigan naming-rights deal dropped

October 28, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times
Forgoing more than $1 million, the University of Michigan and Ohio State on Wednesday walked away from a naming rights deal that would have renamed their annual football game the SBC Michigan-Ohio State Classic.

SBC Communications had offered each school $260,000 for each of the next two years. A logo for the Nov. 20 game featuring SBC's name was to have been displayed on the scoreboard and on signs around Ohio Stadium, but not on the field or players' uniforms.

The order of the two school names was to be switched for next year's 102nd annual meeting in Ann Arbor.

Michigan athletic director Bill Martin said he and university president Mary Sue Coleman decided that giving a formal title to what has been known to generations of fans as simply ''The Game'' was unacceptable.

''The money was not the issue,'' Martin said during a telephone interview. ''It was a matter from president Coleman's perspective and mine in the final analysis that this was inconsistent with the values that we share with the greater Michigan family.