Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.
Friends, by the time you read this on Monday, I’ll be in Las Vegas, chatting with ADs, school athletic administrators, vendors, academics and more over at NACDA. I’m here today, tomorrow and a teensy bit on Wednesday morning, and would be happy to chat if you’re free! I’m booked both nights and all morning on Monday, but I do have a little time during the midafternoons on both dates. Drop me a line!
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Between my reporting work and the Extra Points Library, I track how much lots of stuff in college sports costs. Coaching salaries, travel expenses, vendor contracts, health insurance, you name it. It helps to know this stuff, because its the details that turn “stacks of money” into championship athletic departments.
But I don’t track everything. And there’s one type of vendor contract that schools regularly pay for that I honestly didn’t have any idea how it worked.
Halftime shows!
You don’t see this very often in college football, because your halftime entertainment is (usually) a school marching band. Those aren’t outside performers, those are regular ol’ students who typically aren’t being paid for that specific performance.
But basketball? Well, that all depends. Sometimes there isn’t a halftime show. Sometimes the halftime performance is a university pep band. But sometimes, a school will bring in actual professional performers, from the World Famous Red Panda, to magicians, other musicians, even animals.
To learn what that stuff costs (and what’s in those contracts)…we have to fire up the FOIAMobile.
For example, here’s what we got from West Virginia, who shared a contract with the great Mutts Gone Nuts LLC:
Based on all the contracts I’ve inspected, I certainly don’t think $3,650 is out of the question or unreasonable, although its a little funny to see that juxtaposed to a line stating that the performance is only gonna be six minutes. Performance Dogs of Ohio only charged Ohio State $750 based on the contract I saw, but most other halftime shows (animal or otherwise) were in the $2,500-$5,000 range.
But hey, these are elite canine athletes, and of course that fee includes the set up time, travel, insurance, everything else. Makes sense to me, and it also makes sense that a contract should have some language to help the school understand what is required to keep the dogs healthy, happy and safe.
And here’s Texas A&M, who brought in Steve Max! The MASTER OF SIMON SEZ
So I gotta admit, I didn’t realize this was the sort of thing that could even be a halftime show, but there are plenty of videos on the guy’s website. He’s very high energy and good at crowd work, and I can see why any venue would look to potentially bring him in for some good ol’ wholesome family entertainment.
So far, I’ve inspected halftime show contracts from Ohio State, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, West Virginia, LSU and Louisiana Tech. None of them seem especially funny (beyond the fact that official state invoices exist for something called ‘the Master of Simon Sez’, but this one clause caught my eye…
So on December 17, the Cincinnati Bearcats hosted Alabama State. According to the contract we obtained via FOIA, Cincinnati booked the Indiana Pacers Power Pack as a halftime act. Basically, they’re professional dunkers.
Cincinnati was charged $2,000 for the performance, plus milage, which seems pretty reasonable, compared to professionals dogs or Simon Sez perfomrances. Cincinnati also agreed to give the performers water and towels. That’s a far cry from the ol’ No Green M&Ms Van Halen rider.
But the contract that the Indiana Pacers sent out appears to be the same one they’d use if somebody wanted to book the team mascot as well as the Power Pack. And if you’re going to book a professional mascot, then:
NOBODY CAN KNOW THE TRUE IDENTITY OF THE BOOMER THE INDIANA PACERS MASCOT. Some say the mascot is actually former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. Others say it’s former Indiana Pacers big man Dale Davis. Me? I think it’s the Homefield Apparel guy.
But if you learn the identity over the course of booking the mascot for your event, you cannot tell anybody. It’s a state secret.
Anyway, we’ll add more of the halftime show contracts to the Extra Points Library, in case any of the ADs reading this want to book the Zooperstars next season or something. And if we get any other funny contract riders or interesting notes, we’ll share those too.
But not the identity of any mascot performers. Your secret is safe with us.
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