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By Thomas O'Toole, USA TODAY
Like most aspects of college football's bowl system, determining a game's per-team payout is more complicated than ever. What you see usually isn't what a school gets.
Changes in Bowl Championship Series revenue distribution and the elimination by the NCAA in the last three years of a minimum payout have helped make it possible for teams playing in the same game to receive different amounts.
Champions from the six major conferences will generate $17 million apiece for their leagues in BCS games. Boise State and Notre Dame, also in the BCS, will make vastly different amounts: $9 million by Boise for five other I-A leagues to share and $4.5 million for independent Notre Dame to keep.
Meanwhile, the Texas Bowl is paying Kansas State $750,000, according to Bob Burda of the Big 12. Its opponent, Rutgers, is getting $500,000, according to Nick Carparelli of the Big East. In the past, bowls had to guarantee at least $750,000. Now they negotiate with conferences.
"To list bowl payouts is deceiving," said Carparelli, Big East associate commissioner. "What you get from each bowl is almost irrelevant."
Dennis Poppe, NCAA managing director for football and baseball, said eliminating a minimum "basically was a change in philosophy. The required payout was somewhat artificial. It was a false payout situation that sometimes required (schools) to purchase a significant amount of tickets."
The Hawaii Bowl, for example, is paying $398,000 to the Pacific-10 for Arizona State's appearance. But the bowl is requiring teams to guarantee only 1,200 tickets, according to Pac-10 spokesman Jim Muldoon, instead of thousands more as in the past.
Many conferences split revenue equally, meaning Duke, which went winless, will receive the same cut from the Atlantic Coast as Wake Forest, which is in the FedEx Orange Bowl. Of course, the exposure and merchandise sales and other revenue streams tied to a BCS game are significant.
Inside some of the bowl payouts:
?The Big Ten will divide $34.4 million and, after all expenses are taken out, each of the 11 schools will receive about $2 million. It will cost the conference about $10.95 million for the seven Big Ten teams to travel to their bowl destinations.
?Other conferences, including the Atlantic Coast, Pacific-10 and Western Athletic, also divide money evenly after expenses. The Pac-10, said spokesman Jim Muldoon, gives "teams a set expense budget plus actual charter costs. It depends on what bowl you go to." Muldoon said the league will pay $300,000 for Arizona State to help cover expenses to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, calling that game a special case.
?The Big East pays schools that make a bowl game on a tiered basis, with a BCS game worth $2.4 million, the second bowl $1.6 million, the third $1.3 million and the fourth and fifth $1.1 million. "We just take all our bowl money, put it together, and we distribute it fairly," said associate commissioner Nick Carparelli, adding that the league wants to make sure schools can cover their expenses.
?At least two bowls, the Chick-fil-A and Texas, pay different amounts to conferences based on the place of those teams in the standings.
Boise State fattens take for second tier
While the six conferences with guaranteed spots in the Bowl Championship Series each receive at least $17 million, the five other I-A leagues will receive a total of approximately $18 million. That's double what they would normally make because of Western Athletic Conference champ Boise State's spot in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
The non-guaranteed leagues (Conference USA, WAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, Mid-American) receive 9% of the projected BCS net revenue, or about $9 million on an annual basis, according to the BCS. That increases by another 9% when a team from one of those leagues is in a BCS game.
The leagues then negotiate a split, with the biggest share going to the participating conference. Of the WAC's money, more than half will go to Boise State. Athletics director Gene Bleymaier projects that at $3 million to $3.5 million.
BOWL PAYOUT BREAKDOWN
Bowl.......................................Per team payout
Poinsettia..................................$750,0 00
Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas........$950,000
R+L Carriers New Orleans.............$325,000
Papajohns.com...........................$300,000
New Mexico...............................$750,000
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces..........$600,000
Sheraton Hawaii..........................$398,000
Motor City.................................$750,000
Emerald....................................$850,00 0
PetroSun Independence.............$1.1 million
Texas......................................$500,00 0 for Big East, $750,000 for Big 12
Pacific Life Holiday....................$2.2 million
Gaylord Hotels Music City...........$1.6 million
Brut Sun.................................$1.9 million
AutoZone Liberty.....................$1.5 million
Insight...................................$1.2 million
Champs Sports.......................$2.25 million
Meineke Car Care......................$750,000
Alamo....................................$2.2 million
Chick-fil-A.............................$3.25 million for ACC, $2.4 million for SEC
MPC Computers........................$250,000
Outback.................................$3 million
AT&T Cotton...........................$3 million
Toyota Gator.........................$2.25 million
Capital One...........................$4.25 million
Rose......................................$17 million **
Tostitos Fiesta.........................$17 million ***
FedEx Orange...........................$17 million
Allstate Sugar...........................$17 million *,**
International.............................$750,000
GMAC......................................$750,000
Tostitos BCS Championship..........$17 million
*
Notre Dame will receive $4.5 million per BCS rule;
**Second teams from conferences receive $4.5 million per BCS rule;
***Boise State estimates it will receive around $3.5 million after sharing with five non-guaranteed conferences. (Figures could vary pending ticket sales.)
Sources: Conferences, bowls, teams, wire reports
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