Jeff Bourne & JMU Show Commitment With Monster Playoff Bid
Both The Breeze and the Daily News Record submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to view the details of JMU’s bid to host a playoff game submitted to the NCAA. Jeff Bourne and the JMU administration went big. Very big. As detailed in Bourne’s open letter to the JMU community, the school bid a whopping $200,677.50 for the right to host an FCS playoff bid. Combined with the projected gameday operating expenses of $152,330 and it shows that JMU and it’s clear that JMU was dedicating some serious resources to securing a home game.
There’s really not much to say here, other than nice job and thank you to Jeff Bourne. The man has took some lumps from the JMU fanbase a few years back when JMU failed to secure a playoff home game. While that blame might have been misdirected, Bourne clearly heard the message JMU fans were sending: we want playoff home games. Everett Withers and the team earned the playoff invitation with their play on the field. Bourne and the admin made sure to get them (and us fans) a home game. The final accounting isn’t done, but with only around 12K fans attending the game, JMU probably lost money on this. Bourne and the admin prepared for that and took steps to ensure that a deficit could be covered with private donations.
As Bourne states in his letter, his job is to put JMU teams in the best position to win. Playing at home in the playoffs does that. It also rewards the fans, shows commitment to success, and keeps the momentum Withers and the players are building going forward. It’s an expense, but a worthy one in our opinion. You’ve heard the expression bringing a knife to a gun fight. Equipped with the knowledge that JMU could very well find itself matched up against the a deep pocketed Liberty, Bourne and company brought not only a gun, but a tank and left no doubt with a monster bid of over $200K.
Obviously, the game didn’t turn out like we wanted with JMU losing a heart-breaker to Liberty. And it would have been great to have more fans show up. But the bid was still worth it. Despite the fact that JMU didn’t break even, it used private donations to cover the loss. It was money well spent if JMU wants to position itself as a winning program and create some enthusiasm amongst the fans. Home playoff games energize and fanbase and can help get things back to where they were a few years ago (or exceed that bar). Well done Mr. Bourne.
Completely agree with the approach by Bourne and JMU Administration. Way to support the football program and secure a home playoff game.
I think it showed a good deal of insight of how the NCAA works with playoff pairings and knowing JMU would most likely have to outbid Falwell U.
Kudos to Bourne of this one!!!!
JMU is always going to be at a disadvantage for attendance during first round home games due to Thanksgiving break.
That’s why next year we just need a first round bye 🙂
WHY COULDN’T WE WIN THE GAME OH GOD WHY I AM STILL SO SAD
I think Bourne and JMU Admin did exactly what they were supposed to do in securing the home playoff game. Not sure what the Breeze and DNR (Do Not Read… I mean Daily News Record) are trying to do here other than stir up controversy.
I applaud Bourne and the JMU Admin for securing the home playoff game!
I completely agree that Bourne and JMU Admin did what they needed to do to position JMU to win and move up to the next level. However, by the Breeze and DNR making this request, it shows our hand to the next time we will be bidding for games. Completely ridiculous that now Liberty, Richmond, and every other school knows where to start their bidding if they think JMU is going to be in the game.
Move to Conference USA will solve all these issues!!
Much respect for JMU administration getting in front of this. Sad that our local “newspapers” took this step but it was bound to happen. So worth the money.