After a little less than three months, new athletic director J Batt feels Michigan State athletics has "plenty of horsepower" to be a top-10 program.
EAST LANSING —In a little less than three months on the job, at a new university in a new town, J Batt already has traveled to many corners of Michigan.
A lot of his nascent duties as Michigan State’s athletic director have been to ask questions. Of his coaches. Of his athletes. Of his donors and fans. Even of the media.
And he found some surprises about his new home.
“I would just tell you that the positive surprise has been, I've been all over both in the state and nationally, and our folks care a bunch. Call it passion,” Batt said during a roundtable discussion Wednesday, Aug. 27. “We'll call it interest, we'll call it engagement – our fan base, our Spartan athletic family, it matters and they care a bunch. And I certainly anticipated that. Part of the reason I'm so excited to be here and be part of the Spartan athletic family is just how much our fans care.
“It's more than I thought and more than I knew, and it's been really powerful.”
Any unexpected challenges so far?
"You know,” he said, “I don't think I can circle any one particular thing."
Those connections Batt found since being hired by school president Kevin Guskiewicz at the beginning of June stretched from going to Grand Rapids and Detroit and around Lansing, as well as other areas. His assignment, as the school year began this week, is to build a coalition among his constituents to achieve his goal of making MSU a top-10 national athletic program – even in the tumultuous time of name, image and likeness (NIL), revenue sharing and changes to college sports.
“I think it's kind of our secret sauce as we go forward,” Batt said of the Spartans’ connectivity. “It's that all of our folks pulling that same direction gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Here is more of what the 43-year-old Virginia native, hired away from the same position at Georgia Tech, says he has seen so far in his new role and where college sports are heading.
On NIL education for high school and college athletes
“Several different things are important. I think our student athletes, whether high school or in college, I'd say how we're able to help them understand what good representation, what fair representation looks like for them. Whether that's an agent, a marketing representative, whatever is important to them. I think there are some really good agents that are part of the ecosystem that help, that are a good part of the process. There are also some that you know, have created some unfair business practices that disadvantage student athletes in the long run.
“And I think as we look at that in the future, the more we can do that, to educate them about what is common business practice, what (are) good things to agree to, et cetera, whether that's high school or college, it's really important. I think the other part is just the more we can do around financial education, of how do we help them educate themselves about when they are to be successful, whether it's a high school student or a college student, how do they make good use of those dollars? Because those are dollars that, in lots of different scenarios, they might not come by any other way. And how do they manage them, whether it's as simple as budgeting to taxes or how they're able to leverage those those dollars to build a brand or whatever else it might be.”
On MSU’s future relationship with Central Michigan
(CMU's football program had former Michigan staff member Connor Stalions on the sideline for a 2023 game. The Chippewas are under NCAA investigation for it, and MSU and CMU are scheduled to play in 2027 and 2030.)
“I would just say that certainly there's parts of this that are under contract, right? But I'm paying close attention to the ongoing investigation, paying close attention to it. I'll just say: At the end of the day, we're going to do what's best for Michigan State, and that'll be the north star.”
On whether he has heard from anyone at CMU
“You know, I'm not going to make any sort of comment on that, as far as what what they've talked to us about or not. But just know that we'll be focused on what's best for us. “
On selling naming rights to Spartan Stadium and other venues on campus while finding a balance between finding the best fit and most money
“So what I would say is let's start with the what's changed, or the why. And you know, we've talked a lot about it today. The changes in college athletics, like them or not, have created additional pressure on revenue. And so I think the 30,000-foot change that you've seen is that, because of that pressure, we've got to consider more things that potentially we may not have done in the past. And certainly naming rights of stadiums, fields, other opportunities to monetize, optimize, we will be looking at all of those.
“The key is, and you mention it, is that you've got to find the right intersection between the business terms of an opportunity and aligning those with the institutional values of your university. And I'll tell you that is something that is, in this chair, the most important part of that is being aligned with your leadership, right? So alignment with Dr. Guskiewicz around what are those visions, what are that those values, what is his vision long-term for the university, why would we partner with a certain group? Because it's certainly a ton of visibility, a ton of brand recognition, but making sure that the business terms have to be right. But at the same point in time, who the partner is matters.”
Is there a timeframe for selling naming rights?
“I think it's when you find the right fit and the right partner, you would certainly consider it. Again, all those things, we've got to put on the table. I've said a lot of different times that if you zoom out from college athletics, in any industry where there's change, there's opportunity. Our industry has gone under probably one of the most transformative changes in the last few years, really even accelerating into the post House era. There's opportunity to take ground right now. And so I think what you'll see from us is not being on our back foot, but instead being on the front foot, finding opportunities, being strategic about that path and considering all opportunities to drive revenue are important.
“I'll say, and this is I think something important, we talk a lot about what's changed in college athletics – NIL, transfer portal, all those things. I think the business acumen, the focus on revenue, the things that we've needed to do to evolve college athletics that we're doing every day at Michigan State is we're building out a team and those sort of things, a lot of that has to do with protecting and maintaining what's staying the same, which is that college athletics is fundamentally about opportunities, right? And about protecting the student athlete experience and the opportunities broadly. That's really what we're in this for. And as it evolves, it takes different realities and different pressures to drive revenue and all those sorts of things. Part of that is to protect the overall opportunities provided by college athletics.”
Have companies reached out to MSU about buying naming rights?
“There's certainly lots of people that I'm sure would love to put their name on Spartan Stadium, yeah.”
On generating additional revenue beyond NIL to support athletes, particularly in football
“We're going to be on the front edge of that. The first part is understanding what that means exactly, of what an above and beyond the cap fair market value, valid business purpose, NIL means. And so certainly, I've spent a lot of time understanding what that is. And we're going to be aggressive about working with Spartan Sports Marketing, PlayFly (our MMR partner), to help provide and find different opportunities for student athletes. We've moved kind of away from fundraising around collectives, and we are very focused on working with our MMR partner to provide opportunities. Again, all those opportunities have to meet a valid business purpose. They'll need to be run through the NIL Go system by the student athletes and the partners. But it's an important part of where we're going to continue to evolve. ...
“We're going to do it above board. We're going to do it above board here, and we're going to be focused on opportunities that provide, that are within range of compensation, are valid business purpose, that run through the NIL Go system. I believe our student athletes have real fair market value NIL that can be monetized by partners to achieve not only the partners' goal, but also student athletes' goals. Part of our job is to be in a place and in a posture that we're able to support that.”
On changes to NIL structure with the new College Sports Commission, and whether he feels the CSC might overtake the NCAA for governance
(Batt helped create the CSC as part of the NCAA's House Settlement Implementation Committee.)
“What I would say is that it is working. The post-House settlement era and the advent of the CSC, it is working. There have been thousands of deals that have gone through the clearinghouse already. Some of them have been greenlighted, some have been declined. And so it is working. It's not perfect, I'll admit. Having served on the House implementation committee, I think the understanding from the start is that it would be an evolutionary process, that there would be new and different realities that developed and became clear as we went through kind of concept, implementation, early learnings.
“And it's evolved – rules, rulings, all that has taken place. Clarifications have been needed. There will be more of that, right? I think as they go forward, as (CSC head) Brian Seeley starts, he's reviewing deals every day. And so I would tell you it is working. There needs to be more change and evolution, but it is working.”
On how the CSC and NCAA will work in tandem to enforce rules to create fair competition
“I would just say that the CSC is going to have the ability to create its own amount of kind of enforcement opportunities around these particular NIL Go set up and the revenue sharing amounts and those sorts of things. And so they're going to have their own tools to use, and those, I think, will be really effective.”
On laws in different stats that challenge the authority of the CSC and NIL Go initiatives
“What I would just say is that I think what you bring up is a reason why federal legislation so important. There's the Scores Act in Congress as we speak. I think we anticipate that it may hit the floor of the House in the next month. I wouldn't bet my house on it, but I'm hopeful that we'll make progress there. A federal solution is really going to be important to creating federal preemption of all the different state laws, codifying benefits for the student athletes, codifying some of the parts and pieces of the House settlement, clarifying student athletes. Well, there's a lot of that in there. I think that the key is that everybody wants to compete on a level playing field. And so I think because of all the different state laws that do exist, maybe are coming through, it's really important that we get a federal standard in place as we go forward.”
On whether the Power Four conferences could break away, or, potentially, the Big Ten and SEC building a coalition with different rules
“There are certainly differences across all the conferences. And the economic realities of some of that, that has created different differences. But at the end, it's still a fundamentally important part that they stay a part and piece of the same system.”
On whether the Big Ten might lower its requirement of 14 sports in the revenue-sharing era, and his thoughts on MSU’s 23 varsity sports
“I'd tell you I don't see any significant shifts in either of those. I'm certainly not going to speak for the commissioner. But I wouldn't see that as something on a go-forward basis. And Michigan State-wise, we're in a good spot.
On scheduling more marquee home opponents in football
“I'd say that you've got to have the right balance for having your best content, interesting games. Having those for your fanbase is really important. Balancing that with competitive aspirations also is important. So certainly that's a blend of both as we go forward.”
On whether conferences would allow for a governing body to create schedules or if that power will remain with the individual schools
“As far as the football scheduling, I tend to think that every campus and the decisions around that is so hyperlocal that I tend to think that those would remain with campuses. I certainly can't predict the future, but that would be the way in which I'd see that being.”
On what he sees with the MSU athletic department’s financial health and ability to attract more donors
“We certainly need to continue to find new and different ways to drive revenue, as everybody does. I would say that our donor base, our corporate partner base, our fan interest, the strength of our alumni, yeah, we're absolutely in a good place. Now certainly, I would tell you the thing that's most important is that we're all pulling in the same direction.
“And so that that aligns around kind of shared vision, shared priorities, shared goals, right? Like, we're not going to back up from what I said in the first press conference, that we're going to be a top 10 athletic department. That means we need to win championships. Aligning that strength of donor base, strength of fan base. And how we get to that? That's really what we've been working towards and working on.
“I think we absolutely can get to that. We've got plenty of horsepower in the in the collective donor base, fan base, the state of Michigan. It's certainly there.”
On the future of the proposed Spartan Gateway District project
(The Spartan Gateway District project is a mixed-use development plan for the west entrance of campus, slated to include a new $150 million Olympic sports arena.)
“We're still in the planning phase of that. Certainly I'm getting up to speed on that planning process. I think we're really lucky that we have a president who is leading really incredible, sustainable growth on our campus, including the the Gateway District.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State AD J Batt on Spartan Stadium naming rights, CMU spat
Category: General Sports
