Expenses To Eat Up F A U Bowl Money

MeanGreen61 · December 10, 2007

From the muts board.

Expenses to eat up FAU bowl money

By MARCUS NELSON

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, December 09, 2007

BOCA RATON — By MARCUS NELSON Palm Beach Post Staff Writer BOCA RATON - When Florida Atlantic players were asked about the significance of making it to the school's first bowl game, many touted the financial windfall for the program.

"We get a fat check and that's good for the university and for the program," FAU quarterback Rusty Smith said. "We can get some new stuff and be able to put that money into the program ... .It would help us in so many ways." Unfortunately for the Owls, making it to the New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 21 doesn't guarantee a big payday for the school.

Both FAU and Memphis will receive a payout of $350,000 per team from the New Orleans Bowl. But that is almost entirely spent on team expenses incurred by playing in the game, said FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos.

"These bowl games are not like BCS bowl games," Angelos said.

"Expenses mount up very quickly. Everyone wants to make this a successful experience, but it can be financially challenging." Angelos expects the team's air transportation to New Orleans to cost at least $115,000 out of the $150,000 set aside for team travel while busses to practice and the Superdome will take most of the rest of the travel budget.

$200,000 is allotted for expenses once in New Orleans such as housing the team at the official team hotel. For the Dec. 21 game, the Owls are required to stay at the Sheraton Hotel from Dec. 17 through the day after the game.

While a team could save money by reducing its expenses with a smaller traveling party, FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger said the magnitude of the game makes him want to bring the entire team. That's 113 players - far more than the 66 players allowed for Sun Belt Conference road games.

"We're taking all of them," Schnellenberger said. "We're not going to make money and we're going to lose money because we are going to spend more than they give us. If you just took 60, it would destroy your program in a heartbeat." Where the Owls could bring in money is through ticket sales for the game.

Some bowls have included tickets as part of the payout, but the school is on the hook for any unsold tickets, which can be expensive.

The New Orleans Bowl allots around 5,100 tickets to each team participating, but unsold tickets can be returned to the bowl without any penalty.

"We don't want making it to the New Orleans Bowl to be a negative experience for any of our schools," said Sun Belt Conference Associate Commissioner Todd Stewart.

The New Orleans Bowl is essentially a break-even proposition for the Sun Belt Conference, and any money generated by the bowl itself is put into a fund along with other money earned by the conference such as revenue from the NCAA men's basketball tournament. That fund is used to run the conference office and whatever is left at the end of the year is split among all 13 Sun Belt Conference members.

Each school in the Sun Belt - including the four that don't sponsor football - share in the pool. FAU won't receive any more from the Sun Belt than any other school, even though it was a co-champion along with Troy. Last year FAU received $40,500 from the Sun Belt Conference, according to school records.

Last season, attendance at the New Orleans Bowl between Troy and Rice was announced at 24,791. It may be difficult to top last year's attendance since both Rice and Troy are a few hours drive from New Orleans.

Bowl executives are hoping FAU fans will be excited about the Owls making their first bowl appearance.

"The fans that are here are very enthusiastic and I hope that enthusiasm will carry over to our bowl game," New Orleans Bowl chairman Paul Valteau said last week after the Owls defeated Troy to clinch the berth in the game.

FAU is pushing New Orleans Bowl tickets and packages which include travel and hotel arrangements.

If FAU could sell most of the 5,100 tickets priced at $40 it is allotted, it could mean an extra $200,000.

"It's very important for us to sell tickets to this event," Angelos said. "It's the very first one and I think it's realistic we could sell all 5,100. It's a challenge, but we think it can work."

~marcus-nelson@pbpost.com

class84 · December 10, 2007

Both FAU and Memphis will receive a payout of $350,000 per team from the New Orleans Bowl. But that is almost entirely spent on team expenses incurred by playing in the game, said FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos.
Wasn't the payout $750,000 when we were going to the games?

CorinthEagle · December 10, 2007

I think you are correct. I'm also curious why the DMN lists the total payout at $325K.

VideoEagle · December 10, 2007

Both FAU and Memphis will receive a payout of $350,000 per team from the New Orleans Bowl. But that is almost entirely spent on team expenses incurred by playing in the game, said FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos.
Wasn't the payout $750,000 when we were going to the games?

It might have been that way on paper, but not in reality. A lot of bowls require schools to sell their entire allotment of tickets. Any unsold are deducted from the pay out. I can’t remember which bowl it is - the Liberty, I think - requires school “donate“ $350,000 toward promoting the bowl. The “donation“ is deducted from the payout. Many bowls require the teams to purchase a certain about of hotel rooms and meals, with the amount deducted from the payout. There are also deductions for stadium expenses, etc.

Teams have not made a big profit on bowl games outside of BCS bowls in years. The SBC decided to go with a “truth in advertising“ approach and advertise the payout as what it actually is.