Kentucky Pays UMass $50k to Avoid Playing Them

By all accounts, Billy Gillispie's honeymoon period with Wildcat fans has gone swimmingly. Despite the "Black Monday" (5/14) disappointment of losing three heralded recruits (Jai Lucas, Beas Hamga and Michael Sanchez all announced that they were heading elsewhere that day) Kentucky landed the Big Prize -- literally -- in 6'8" Power Forward Patrick Patterson. Make no mistake about it, Billy Clyde had to get him, and he did.

The Big Blue Nation's dream-like haze following Patterson's much-hyped announcement has suffered only minor interruptions. Today Kentucky executed an opt-out clause for a late November game against UMass, whose head coach, Travis Ford, is a former Kentucky player. The game was scheduled by former head coach Tubby Smith, reports say, to help out Ford's program, and would have taken place at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

The cost to the Wildcats to back out of the game? $50,000... chump change compared to the $250,000-$300,000 the match would have generated. And of course, Kentucky being a marquee opponent would have brought a lot of media and publicity to UMass.

The outcry from some corners was swift and predictable: Andy Katz, who has not been particularly kind to the Cats throughout the Tubby-to-Minnesota, Donovan-not-to-UK saga, took a rather negative view of the proceedings, and UMass Athletic Director John McCutcheon made it clear that Kentucky's choice put them in a major bind. Since 7,000 tickets had already been sold, refunds must be granted by UMass, and it seems reasonable to believe that the $50,000 buyout will do little more than cover the costs of exchanging the worthless tickets back into cash for those customers.

The Kentucky basketball blogosphere appears to feel similarly. A Sea of Blue's Truzenzuzex writes:

Mr. Barnhart, this is highly unethical and a black mark on Kentucky basketball. If the best we can do is to break our word when it is inconvenient to keep it, well, we just aren't setting a very good example for the kids we purport to be educating. UMass contracted with us in good faith, even securing another date when the first one proved to be inconvenient to UK. They worked hard to get this game done, and we hire a new coach and use that as an excuse to screw them.

Matt Jones from Kentucky Sports Radio has a slightly more philosophical and, in my view, pragmatical take:

Kentucky honored its business and contractual obligations in ending the deal with UMASS. However it went about its decision in a way that leaves some Kentucky fans (including me) a little queasy. Travis Ford gave a lot to the program and it is a shame that this business decision will have a negative effect on his new program. However, under Billy Clyde the rules have changed. It is a new era in Kentucky basketball and the old ways of doing business have been altered for a new focus on producing a top-notch product on the floor. In so doing, there are going to be some feelings hurt and some toes stepped on. We love Travis, but playing at UMASS was not in Kentucky's best interests....and from now, on for good and for bad, those interests will be priority #1.

I'm inclined to agree more with Jones than Tru in this case. This is a business, the former sheriff made the date, and Kentucky's athletic department feels that breaking the engagement is the best thing for Kentucky basketball. As Jones writes, Kentucky did not break its contractual obligation; the university fulfilled it in its entirety by making the $50,000 opt-out payment. Perhaps the cost to nix the game was set too low, but my guess is that since beggars can't be choosers -- and in this case, UMass is definitely a beggar -- so they took what Kentucky offered and a deal was struck that met the aims of both parties at the time.

Business is business, folks. I don't blame Kentucky for their decision in this case. Early pre-season home games this year will be absolutely packed by Wildcat fans as interest in the "new" Kentucky basketball program will be at an all-time high, and the Kentucky brass doesn't want to give one of those gems up for a trip to Boston to play UMass.