http://www.msnbc.com/news/947043.asp?0dm=C17TS Clarett won’t jump to NFL Maurice Clarett said he didn’t have any plans to challenge the NFL’s rule against leaving school early, ESPN reported Thursday. Attorney Scott Schiff had told the USA Today earlier this week that Clarett, a sophomore, would consider challenging the rule against leaving college earlier. Clarett has since fired Schiff, ESPN reported. Clarett briefly watched his Ohio State teammates practice Thursday before he worked out in the weight room. Clarett is not practicing with the defending national champions because of investigations by the NCAA and a university committee, but he is still allowed to attend practice. “We’re not requiring him to be there. He’s certainly free to stop by,” coach Jim Tressel said Wednesday. “He is not suspended from being on the grounds, if you will, but he’s not taking part in any activities, meetings or practices, that type of thing.” Clarett watched practice for four or five minutes Thursday before working out at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, athletic department spokesman Steve Snapp said. He said Clarett’s appearance was not a sign that the player is closer to being reinstated to the team. “Don’t read anything into it,” Snapp said. A 10-member university committee is investigating a teaching assistant’s claim that Clarett walked out of a midterm exam last fall and later passed the course by taking an oral exam. He is under investigation by the NCAA for use of a 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that was broken into while on overnight loan from a car dealership. In a police report, Clarett said he had lost more than $6,000 in clothing, cash and stereo equipment in the theft. He later acknowledged that he had exaggerated his losses to police. Tressel said Clarett is focused on returning to the Buckeyes. “It’s hard on anyone if they don’t get to be a part of the group,” Tressel said. “I know he would rather be here, that’s for sure. I know he plans on being here. That’s certainly his goal.” The NFL currently prohibits players from entering the NFL draft until they’ve played three years of college. coma: It's actually three years removed from high school, just an assumption that those three years were spent in college Steve McIntosh of the Columbus city prosecutor’s office said the city wouldn’t pursue charges unless an insurance company or police filed a complaint. He said no complaint about Clarett had been received. Falsification of a police report is a misdemeanor. A person who filed a false report generally would not be charged for the offense unless it was connected to a more serious crime, such as insurance fraud, he said. Despite injuries last season, Clarett set school freshman records with 1,237 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. The defending champion Buckeyes open Aug. 30 at home against Washington. ============ Poor Maurice. Too many things on his plate to pursue a long battle that he won't win. Oh well, on the bright side, if he were to pursue the lawsuit, by the time it's over, he'll satisfy the NFL rule anyway. This way he'll save a lot of money, which he'll need to recoup his stolen booty. Cheer up space cowboy, the 2004 season will soon be over.
Btw, Looking up that info on the income of Ohio State's athletic department is some of the hardest to find information on the internet. If you go directly to the school's web site it is almost impossible to find. The school's annual report is easy to find but the athletic program's revenues and expenses are burried in other accounts, and I can almost gurantee, if it wasn't for some reporting requirements that have to due with Title IX, it would almost be impossible to see how much theses programs are making. Another thing about the $25MM figure, it doesn't include suites and club seats. I didn't want to add those totals in because I didn't know if those numbers are directly attributable to the football program, but that's another $8.8MM in revenue.
Just take $46/seat times 100,000 seats times 8 homes games this year and last gives you about $36.8M. Some of the seats are students (around $20-25/game) and soem are comped to the team and opposition. So the $26M for tickets is about right. Like most places they set aside the luxury box money. I believe most of it went to off-set the renovation in a building fund.
