Delany says Indy was best for first Big Ten game

NCAA Football Betting Lines

08/14/2010 -

SEATTLE (AP) -Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany says he decided on Indianapolis for the first conference championship game in football because it was the simplest choice to make.

Delany was at a downtown Seattle hotel on Saturday as Michigan faced the NCAA infractions committee. Delany declined to comment about the hearing during a lunch break.

Delany says he wanted to give television partners a firm idea of where the first title game would be played, then move forward with better study of where the game would be played in the future. The league welcomes Nebraska next year and becomes a 12-team conference.

Delany says a decision on divisions for the 12 teams could be coming within a month.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Wwwstarluck NCAA Football Betting News

<< Guillen out of lineup on first day with Giants
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Newly acquired Jose Guillen is not in the starting lineup on his first day with the San Francisco Giants.Guillen was acquired on Friday in a trade with Kansas City for a player to be named. He joined his new team Saturday but man

<< Chelsea opens title defense in style
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Didier Drogba scored three times to help Chelsea coast to a 6-0 win over West Bromwich at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to open the Premiership season. The defending champions needed just six minutes

<< Kang, Korda to battle for Women's Amateur title
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jessica Korda and Danielle Kang won their semifinal matches at the U.S. Women's Amateur on Saturday to advance to Sunday's 36-hole final. Korda cruised to a 4 & 3 win over Stephanie Sherlock, w

<< Clijsters advances past injured Ivanovic in Cincy
Mason, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kim Clijsters eased into the final of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open on Saturday when Ana Ivanovic was forced to retire after completing just three games of their semifinal match. The fou

<< Tullo shoots 65 to win Rolex Trophy
Geneva, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chile's Mark Tullo fired a seven-under 65 Saturday to capture his first European Challenge Tour win at the Rolex Trophy. Tullo finished 72 holes on the Golf Club de Geneve course with a 22-under 2

Rodriguez apologizes to teammates, fans for fight >>
NEW YORK (AP) -Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez has apologized to teammates and fans for a physical altercation at Citi Field this week that resulted in his arrest and a team-imposed two-game suspension.Rodriguez joined the Mets Saturday and recited

Women's baseball World Cup suspended >>
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -The women's baseball World Cup has been suspended a day after a player was stuck by a stray bullet during a game.The International Baseball Federation says the teams are safely back in their hotels after an unnamed Hong Kong

Irish scrimmage ends first week of camp >>
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -Notre Dame center Dan Wenger and offensive tackle Matt Romine were held out of practice and a scrimmage Saturday, one day after suffering concussion symptoms during drills.First-year coach Brian Kelly says the medical staff di

Fan hit by bat at Rays game >>
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -A fan seated behind the first-base dugout was injured by a thrown bat in the first inning of the Baltimore Orioles' game at Tampa Bay.Baltimore leadoff man Brian Roberts lost control of his bat during a swing and it flew i

Keselowski wins at his home track for second straight year >>
Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michigan native and current points leader Brad Keselowski overcame two clutch problems on pit road to win the CARFAX 250 Nationwide Series race in front of his home crowd at Michigan International for the

FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.