DRC - WKU success huge $$$ for SBC
DRC Mean Green Blog
March 20, 2009
WKU's success will be huge for SBC financially
7:33 AM Fri, Mar 20, 2009
Brett Vito
In these troubled economic times, everyone is looking for ways to make a little extra cash or at least hang on to what they have.
Luckily for the Sun Belt Conference, it has Western Kentucky -- the new conference cash cow.
One of the big issues the league was facing up until last year was that it wasn't getting a very big slice of the NCAA Tournament pie. There is no bigger money-maker for college conferences than the tournament due to the NCAA landing an 11-year, $6 billion TV contract with CBS in 1999.
The NCAA distributes that money to conferences based on their teams' success in the tournament. Each game a team from a league plays equals one unit that equates to a dollar amount that the league receives. The units last for six years.
Up until last year, the Sun Belt had just six units representing a one-and-done from one of its members in six straight years.
Each unit from 2007-08 was worth $191,000. They go up a little in value each year.
To make a long story short, in 2006-07 the Sun Belt picked up just over $1 million in NCAA Tournament money. The Missouri Valley landed $4.2 million, while the Atlantic 10 received $4.7 million. The Big East cashed in at $14.8 million.
Each league has its own was of distributing the cash, but it is split up between the schools in the league.
Like most everything else in college athletics, it's a system that makes the rich richer.
The Sun Belt isn't a rich league, but it will be a little better off, thanks to the Tops. WKU has already earned the Sun Belt three extra shares the last two years (Two games in the second round and another in the Sweet 16) and could earn the league more.
Even if they don't, if you take the $191,000 a unit was worth in 2007-08, multiply it by the three additional shares WKU has earned so far the last two years and then multiply it by six (the length of time a share lasts) and you have $3.4 million.
Divide that total by the 13 schools in the league and you come up with about $264,000 for each school in the league.
I am not sure about this, but I think the league office also takes a share. Even if you divide by 14 you still come up with about $245,000 for everyone with their hand in the pot.
That is just a ballpark estimate of the extra money each school would pick up from three extra tournament games over a six-year span. It doesn't include the shares WKU received for the first round, which the Sun Belt would have gotten anyway.
The point is everyone in the Sun Belt is going to benefit financially from the Tops' success. It might not be on the court, where WKU is going to be pretty tough to beat because of the recruits it has and will land due to the publicity it received and is continuing to receive from its success in the tournament.
But we do know each school will benefit when it comes to its bottom line. If you know anything about the Sun Belt and its schools, a little extra cash certainly will help matters.
|
