MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS
SOUTHWEST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY
AUGUST 26, 2004
1. Roll Call
Present- Dr. Barbara Burns, President of the Board (by
conference call)
Mr. Thomas Carlson, Governor (by conference call)
Mr. William Darr, Governor (by conference call)
Mr. Michael Duggan, Governor (by conference call)
Mr. Michael L. Franks, Vice President of the Board (by
conference call)
Ms. Mary Sheid, Governor (by conference call)
Ms. Phyllis Washington, Governor (by conference call)
Ms. Kelli Wolf, Student Governor
Also
Present- John Keiser, President
Kent Kay, Associate Vice President for Finance
Gregory P. Onstot, Vice President for University
Advancement
Greg Burris, Vice President for Administration & Finance
John F. Black, General Counsel
John W. McAlear, Secretary of the Board
2. Presiding --- The presiding officer for the meeting was Dr. Barbara Burns, President of the Board of Governors. She called this conference call meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. in the Parliamentary Room of the Plaster Student Union on the campus of Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.
3. Approval of an Award of a Contract for Exclusive Television Rights for SMS Bears and SMS Lady Bears Basketball Games --- Mr. Greg Onstot, Vice President for University Advancement, presented a resolution (Bids & Quotations No. 1131-04) recommending that Mediacom be awarded exclusive television rights for SMS men's and women's basketball games for the time period of August 26, 2004 through June 30, 2007. He summarized that they wanted to expand the number of games on television - Mediacom proposed to televise sixteen games while KY-3 proposed twelve games. The sixteen games were made up of seven away games and one home game for each of the men's and women's basketball programs. Mediacom waived the cost of televising the football games on closed circuit. This amounts to about $27,000 over a three-year period. Mediacom is willing to televise some other sports along with televising the coaches' shows throughout the state. They have allowed us to sell advertising for eight spots per game at $250 per spot that comes to $2,000 per game. Finally, they have provided $65,000 in advertising each year compared to $10,000 from KY-3. For these reasons, we are recommending to go with Mediacom. The downside of this decision is for the loyal fans who live in rural areas and are not able to get cable in their areas. He ended by saying that they believe the positive points of the Mediacom proposal outweigh the negative points.
Ms. Sheid first commented that Bill Rowe and Greg Onstot have done a phenomenal job on this matter. She understands that they need to seek the best financial arrangement for the university. As a board member, she believes she needs to look at the needs of the people that our university services. She is concerned about the number of people this adversely affects if we leave KY-3. Mr. Franks next commented that television revenue is just one revenue stream that athletics has. If we cannot grow our television revenue there will be more pressure to raise ticket prices. Also, he commented that there is no guarantee that the games will air on KY-3 if they are awarded the contract – last year, two games went on UPN that does not have near the coverage. He added that the trend is that all sports are increasingly being shown on cable as opposed to an over the air medium. Mr. Carlson asked if we had the right to terminate the contract if we felt the quality of the broadcast was poor. Mr. Onstot, with the assistance of Ms. Brenda Lanning, read from the contract that SMSU could terminate the contract. Mr. Carlson then commented that he has heard that KY-3 broadcasts into about 380,000 homes. He asked how many subscribers Mediacom had. Mr. Onstot responded that they have 153,000 subscribers but they have added some cities that bring the total to about 180,000. Mr. Onstot also added that they are in several area cities in surrounding states. Mr. Carlson summarized that he acknowledges that the Mediacom is about four times better financially, but he is worried about the recruitment aspect – have we placed a value on the fact that KY-3 is going into about 2 ½ times more homes than Mediacom. Mr. Onstot commented that he could not put a dollar value on that. Mr. Carlson then remarked that it is his understanding that the Board could reject both proposals and ask them to go back and sharpen their pencils. Dr. Keiser replied that both bids could be worse on a rebid – there is no guarantee that the proposals would be better. Mr. Onstot replied that we would have to contract with a company to do our first football game that is one week from tonight and that we would probably not have our first football coach's show. Dr. Keiser also added that both bidders were given the opportunity to enhance their bids but neither Mediacom nor KY-3 enhanced their original bid. Ms. Washington commented that right now there is no way she could support the administration's recommendation – she has not received any positive feedback on this recommendation while she has received numerous negative comments. She does not want it believed that this Board does not care about people. Mr. Duggan remarked that if we turn the Mediacom package down, legislators in Jefferson City could hold that against us in our requests for higher appropriations. Ms. Sheid replied that she has heard from several legislators – she stated that Representative Maynard Wallace believes this would be a disservice to take the games off of free television. Mr. McAlear then read a statement that he had received from Representative Wallace about his belief that this would be a disservice to the people of the region and an extremely bad public relations move.
Mr. Carlson then moved to reject both bids and to go through the process again. Mr. John Black asked to interrupt to correct one answer that Mr. Onstot gave after consulting with Ms. Lanning. He said that our RFP or the proposals submitted do not require the bidder to provide any particular package. It is at their discretion as to what level package the televised games are to be carried on. Dr. Burns asked if there was a second to Mr. Carlson's motion. Ms. Washington seconded the motion.
A roll call vote was taken on the motion. Those voting for the motion – Governors Carlson, Sheid, and Washington; those voting against the motion – Governors Burns, Darr, Duggan, Franks.
Dr. Burns declared the motion failed by a 3-4 vote.
Mr. Franks then moved to approve the resolution recommending that the University contract with Mediacom for televising its games. Mr. Darr seconded the motion.
A roll call vote was taken. Those voting for the motion – Governors Burns, Darr, Duggan, Franks, and Sheid; those voting against – Governors Carlson and Washington.
Dr. Burns declared that the motion passed by a 5-2 vote.
Mr. Carlson commented that this wasn't an easy decision and that he appreciated the hard work that everybody put into it.
4. Date of Next Meeting --- The date of the next regularly scheduled meeting was set for September 17, 2004.
5. Adjournment --- Dr. Burns adjourned the meeting at 4:40 p.m. on the motion of Mr. Franks, the second of Ms. Sheid, and the unanimous vote of the Board.
John W. McAlear
Secretary