Perhaps if he was asked to outline all the details of the buyouts and what MU is expected to get, he would answer that question.
You indicate that you know precisely what he was asked... so, since you were there, would you care to share your transcript?
The "next" contract would be the next contract...Doesn't matter when it occurs.
Hold up.
If "next" contract is referring to a potentially renegotiated one, then it merely means that Marshall and leftovers are guaranteed to not suffer from a lesser contract in these remaining 3 years... which, I figure most of us already assumed was the case. I don't know that I ever would have considered that part of an "exit fee" since we wouldn't actually be getting anything above what we were always supposed to get, had they left or not.
If "next" contract is referring to the contract that would follow after these 3 years and is yet to be negotiated, then if there is no renegotiation, that would be good, as long as that next contract was a long-term contract of some sort... on the other hand, if there is a renegotiation, as I think Hamrick inadvertently hints he is anticipating, as I said in my original post, the earlier projections would fall excruciatingly short of what was reported back-when.
And regardless, it appears that Hamrick is saying there are two parts to what has been referenced as an exit fee... the "flat $500k" plus other money intended to make up for what we always would have gotten had the Big East raid not taken place... which is very different from the earlier understanding that the $6.6 mil was itself the fee, and that that was over and above what our current TV contract was scheduled to pay out to us.
So anyhow, you're welcome to your inclinations... I don't make the accusation that you're "spinning" just because you choose to voice those.
Reasonable people understand that it's left cloudy, and probably not smart to assume their interpretation is the only one that has validity.
And remember, this isn't a vital point to those of us who think you're being premature is being Pollyannas... we thought it's a bad deal before, we think it's potentially an even worse deal now. Potentially much, much worse. Potentially, we might learn that the real "spin" has come from the CUSA official who originally put the $6.6 million estimate out there.
And again, for Marshall's sake, I'd like to think you're right in your inclination. But hopefully someone will pursue it and we'll get more precise info sometime soon.