Fubara stopped Wike from turning Rivers into his private estate – Odili
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — There's more than just school pride and bragging rights to all that bellyaching over who might be in and who might be out of college football 's first 12-team playoff. Try the more than $115 million that will be spread across the conferences at the end of the season, all depending on who gets in and which teams go the farthest. According to the College Football Playoff website , the 12 teams simply making the bracket earn their conferences $4 million each. Another $4 million goes to conferences whose teams get into the quarterfinals. Then, there's $6 million more for teams that make the semifinals and another $6 million for those who play for the title. Most of this bonanza comes courtesy of ESPN, which is forking over $1.3 billion a year to televise the new postseason. A lot of that money is already earmarked — more goes to the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference than the Big 12 or Atlantic Coast — but a lot is up for grabs in the 11 games that will play out between the opening round on Dec. 20 and the final on Jan. 20. In all, the teams that make the title game will bring $20 million to their conferences, all of which distribute that money, along with billions in TV revenue and other sources, in different ways. In fiscal 2022-23, the Big Ten, for instance, reported revenue of nearly $880 million and distributed about $60.5 million to most of its members. The massive stakes might help explain the unabashed lobbying coming from some corners of the football world, as the tension grows in advance of Sunday's final rankings, which will set the bracket. Earlier this week, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark lit into the selection committee, which doesn't have a single team higher than 15 in the rankings. That does two things: It positions the Big 12 as a one-bid league, and also threatens to makes its champion — either Arizona State or Iowa State — the fifth-best among conference titlists that get automatic bids. Only the top four of those get byes, which could cost the Big 12 a spot in the quarterfinals — or $4 million. “The committee continues to show time and time again that they are paying attention to logos versus resumes,” Yormark said this week, while slamming the idea of teams with two losses in his conference being ranked worse than teams with three in the SEC. The ACC is also staring at a one-bid season with only No. 8 SMU inside the cut line of this week's projected bracket. Miami's loss last week all but bumped the Hurricanes out of the playoffs, a snub that ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said left him “incredibly shocked and disappointed." “As we look ahead to the final rankings, we hope the committee will reconsider and put a deserving Miami in the field," Phillips said in a statement. The lobbying and bickering filters down to the campuses that feel the impact. And, of course, to social media. One of the most entertaining episodes came earlier this week when athletic directors at Iowa State and SMU went back and forth about whose team was more deserving. There are a few stray millions that the selection committee cannot really influence, including a $3 million payment to conferences that make the playoff. In a reminder that all these kids are going to school, after all, the conferences get $300,000 per football team that meets academic requirements to participate in the postseason. (That's basically everyone). Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
The Saskatchewan Party's election promises of action on affordability and continued carbon tax exemptions have been fulfilled as the short sitting of the legislature carries on. Both The Saskatchewan Affordability Act and The SaskEnergy (Carbon Tax Fairness For Families) Amendment Act, 2024 passed in the house Thursday in unanimous votes. The affordability act will implement 13 commitments the Sask. Party outlined during its campaign – promising “the largest personal income tax reduction in the province since 2008.” The amendment act will continue to exempt residents from paying federal carbon levies for home heating. The act is estimated to save the average Saskatchewan family $480 next year. Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier Jim Reiter said earlier in the week that he would be reaching out to his federal counterparts to help ensure the tax measures are quickly instituted come Jan. 1, 2025. On Thursday, Premier Scott Moe said he was unaware if Reiter has received an answer to the request. “We would ask them to fast track to change the formulary for employers so that Saskatchewan residents can start receiving, on a monthly basis, the financial advantages that are in [the act],” Moe explained. Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck said her party supported the legislation because Saskatchewan residents desperately need cost-of-living relief. Beck and her MLAs have consistently said the government’s measures stop too short – and have called for the suspension of the provincial gas tax and the removal of the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) on ready-to-eat grocery items. The Sask. Party has moved quickly in introducing its priority bills and amendments during the short sitting. Other pieces of legislation introduced during this week included: NDP calls for investigation fail The Saskatchewan NDP’s repeated attempts to begin an investigation into high food prices in northern Saskatchewan and to compel former Sask. Party MLA Gary Grewal to appear before a legislative committee were again unsuccessful. The opposition attempted to bring both issues forward during proceedings Thursday, utilizing emergency motions. However, both motions, divided among party lines, failed. On Wednesday, the NDP attempted to bring the matters up at two separate committees. The opposition alleges that the government blocked their attempts to introduce the matters. Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck speaks at the APAS AGM on Dec. 3 2024. (Donovan Maess/CTV News) Cumberland MLA Jordan McPhail shared his frustrations on Wednesday with the government’s alleged refusal to hear the issues out. “We let them know that we were bringing a motion forward to committee,” he explained. “Through that process, in the committees this morning, they blocked us bringing that forward.” The government maintained that the NDP was not blocked in making any motion during the committee sittings earlier in the week. “I understand that the NDP are leveling accusations. If you watch the transcript of the meeting, nobody was blocked. There was nothing on the agenda, and quite frankly, the member from the NDP this afternoon was called out for that,” Minister of Justice and Attorney General Tim McLeod told reporters following Question Period on Wednesday. “If they're going to level accusations, they need to be based in fact and if you review the transcript of the meeting, the committee meeting that he's alleging, nothing like that transpired.” The issue of grocery prices in northern Saskatchewan came to the forefront after more than two dozen cases of scurvy were discovered by a doctor in La Ronge, Sask. “People are not able to afford groceries. They're getting diagnosed with scurvy. This is not a hypothetical. This is what's actually happening and it's really frustrating to hear a minister that does not take this seriously, that is trying to silence northern voices and my constituents’ voice here today at the legislature,” McPhail added, referring to McLeod’s comments. “As a father myself of two growing girls, I know the challenges it takes to put as much healthy food into that grocery carts, and I know that it's going to take a government that takes those food security issues seriously to make sure that all families in northern Saskatchewan have that same access to affordable groceries." The opposition has long called for more attention to the case of Gary Grewal, the former Sask. Party backbencher whose hotel received over $700,000 from the ministry of social services by providing rooms to those on social assistance. The province’s Conflict of Interest Commissioner found that Grewal violated rules for elected officials and tasked the assembly with determining a proper penalty. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Moe pointed to the fact that Grewal is no longer an MLA and therefore is now outside the purview of the assembly. “I would say that in this case, this individual didn't run for our party ... he's a private citizen now, and I don't know the last time, under any government, that a private citizen has been summoned to appear before, whether it be a committee or the legislature itself,” he said. Speaking to reporters following Moe, Beck disagreed with the premier’s sentiments and suggested it sets a bad example. “The message we heard from the government today was that an MLA can break the law, and as long as they don't run again, there is no penalty,” she said. "What message does that send to the people of this province? ... just because there, there is no precedent, perhaps, doesn't mean that something shouldn't be done in this case, and I think that's what we'll continue to press for."
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