I think there are several specific cases and that the journalist who wrote the story has mixed the numbers from different cases together, so they don't make sense. That said, I think it's the $14.95 and the $57 numbers that matter. As far as I can tell, it seems the article is saying the student athletes actually did pay $14.95 per night and the NCAA is saying that no regular person could possibly have stayed there at that rate. The NCAA is saying that $57 per night is the cheapest rate that they would believe was not a special deal for the student athletes.
While I have no idea what hotel we're talking about or what they charge, or how true any of this is, the basic concept of the allegation seems reasonable to me. If you had never, ever charged any other non-athlete customer less than $57 per night, but you regularly let athletes stay for $14.95 per night, that would sure look like you were giving an improper benefit. Rob Sent from my iPad On Feb 17, 2012, at 4:29 PM, John Vega <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Feb 17, 2012, at 8:17 AM, Shane Ford wrote: > >> The bulk of improper benefits come from 12 athletes staying at the Whitney >> Hotel at $450 each for a two-bedroom suite. >> The NCAA found the hotel a few miles off campus charged a rate of $14.95 per >> athlete for two-bedroom suites. The NCAA said the rate should've been more >> than $57 per night for each athlete. One football player who spent more than >> year at the hotel, the NCAA said, received an extra benefit worth $19,280. >> The NCAA said the school received $47,000 worth of improper benefits from >> the rate reduction. > > Color me confused. > > Is the NCAA saying that the Whitney rate was too low; too high, or that > student-athletes shouldn't be allowed to stay in hotels? > > I'd be stunned to find a hotel that offered a rate of $14.95 per person for a > two-bedroom suite. Not even on Priceline. > > If the rate should have been $57, the University got overcharged. How is that > a benefit to the players (unless the football players happen to own the > hotel)? > > -Zeb > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
