...when Cam is declared ineligible, and Auburn goes on severe probation, we not only get a share of the money that comes from an SEC skool in the NC game, but all the other SEC skools will get a piece of Auburn's share of BCS championship money they'll have to forfeit.
Why we should root for Auburn to win today and win the NC game....
- Thread starter Mutt the Hoople.buhoops
- Start date
the NCAA and Slive have swept this whole thing under the rug. That whole song and dance routine earlier in the week was carefully coordinated with the SEC, Auburn and the NCAA. There won't be any punishment for Auburn or Cam.
I think the money is the same for the NC game win or lose, and we'll get our share, and possibly part of Auburn's share later.
If Auburn wins, they'll always have that NC even if vacated later (only SEC teams that have won NC's could rag them about vacating one). If they lose, they won't have that NC feeling, and the when AU is sanctioned the SEC will be pretty strict to not let them put up any banners or market the SEC Championship. So they will essentially end up with nothing.
Also, just in case NOTHING happens to Auburn over Camgate, AU losing the NC game keeps them from keeping a (tainted) National Championship, and we still get our share of the BCSNCG money.
The next best thing would be what Mutt wrote. AU wins both, gets all that money for the SEC, and later has to vacate both the NC and SEC Championship. Either way, I'm rooting for Auburn to beat South Carolina.
If Auburn wins, they'll always have that NC even if vacated later (only SEC teams that have won NC's could rag them about vacating one). If they lose, they won't have that NC feeling, and the when AU is sanctioned the SEC will be pretty strict to not let them put up any banners or market the SEC Championship. So they will essentially end up with nothing.
Also, just in case NOTHING happens to Auburn over Camgate, AU losing the NC game keeps them from keeping a (tainted) National Championship, and we still get our share of the BCSNCG money.
The next best thing would be what Mutt wrote. AU wins both, gets all that money for the SEC, and later has to vacate both the NC and SEC Championship. Either way, I'm rooting for Auburn to beat South Carolina.
..in fact, if Bowling Green is playing Troy on another channel during the SECCG, I'm watching the Bowling Green vs. Troy game.
The 2010 SECCG is like the 1919 World Series: The fix is in therefore the game is too tainted to be legitimate.
The 2010 SECCG is like the 1919 World Series: The fix is in therefore the game is too tainted to be legitimate.
I have a new hatred for Auburn. Maybe I'm just bitter because they paid off the player that would have taken us to a BCS game possibly. Go Cocks and Go Ducks!
And, I want Cam to win the Heisman and accept it and the national championship trophy with the biggest "mule eating briars" smile you ever saw. I want thisCam Newton-NCAA-SEC crap to stay in the national spotlight as long as possible. I want all the other schools and conferences in this country to continue to have their noses rubbed in this **** until they get a belly full of it and then force the NCAA to bring the Newtons and Auburn to justice. So, <17> you Cam and<17> you Auburn, keep on winning and standing in the national headlight.
I'll be pulling for Ole Miss next time they play Auburn. That's how bad I've grown to hate them.</p>
Actually the money is the same for any BCS title game. the NC does not provide any extra benefits. so regardless if AU goes to the NC or not LSU or ARK will be and we will get the money anyway. I'm rooting for SC just to spite AU
with this coming year getting a big dollar bump.
<h1 style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; padding-top: 14px;">The BCS' Big Split</h1>
Is revenue distribution ‘fair and appropriate’ or too partial to the powerful? It wouldn’t be the BCS without a controversy
<div style="position: relative; top: 12px; left: 480px; width: 120px;">
</div>
By MICHAEL SMITH
Staff writer
<div style="font-size: 9px;">Published January 25, 2010 : Page 01</div>
The Bowl Championship Series will distribute $142.5 million of
revenue from its five bowl games, with 81 percent of it — $115.2
million — going to the big six conferences.</p>
The majority of the rest — $24 million — goes to the coalition
conferences: Mountain West, Western Athletic, Conference USA,
Mid-American and Sun Belt. Notre Dame, as an independent member of the
BCS, takes $1.3 million.</p>
Sound a little uneven? Not really, says BCS Executive Director Bill
Hancock. Schools from those big six conferences accounted for eight
of the 10 teams in the BCS bowls, so those conferences should take
roughly 80 percent of the total payout.</p><div style="padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: right;"><div style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 8px;"><div align="center">
</div><div class="ImageCaption">(Top) National champ Alabama, with help from
fellow SEC power Florida, secured $22.2 million
for the conference.
(Bottom) Boise State of the WAC won its second
BCS bowl in four years. The conference gets
$7.8 million this year.</div></div></div>
“It’s a fair and appropriate distribution of the revenue,” Hancock said.</p>
The distribution is based on a formula created in 2004 by the BCS
commissioners and approved by the BCS Presidential Oversight
Committee. The revenue distribution has varied little over the four
years of the most recent media contract with Fox, which pays an average
of $82.5 million annually. The media deal accounts for most of the
revenue, while the rest comes from revenue generated by the Sugar,
Rose, Fiesta and Orange bowls, and the national championship game.</p>
Starting next year, the payouts will be even more, thanks to a new
four-year rights-fee deal with ESPN that will average $125 million a
year, all of which is distributed to the schools.</p>
The money is paid annually by an escrow agent, Heartland Bank of
Leawood, Kan., and each year’s distribution completely empties the
account, Hancock said, meaning all of the revenue is distributed.</p><div style="padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; float: left;"><div style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-right: 8px;"><div align="center">
</div></div></div>
But wherever the BCS goes, controversy is sure to follow and it’s
no different when it comes to distributing the revenue. Not everyone
agrees with the BCS’ method of dispersing funds, mostly those from the
coalition conferences.</p>
It’s really a question of value, says WAC Commissioner Karl Benson.
When a Utah shocks an Alabama or a Boise State stuns an Oklahoma,
doesn’t that demonstrate the value of those teams and conferences to
the BCS? Shouldn’t the payout to the conferences like the WAC and the
Mountain West that send teams to the BCS look like the payout to the
big six conferences?</p>
No, responds Harvey Perlman, chancellor at the University of
Nebraska and chairman of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee. He
says there’s a difference between playing well in a game and
demonstrating the kind of value that drives long-term media contracts.</p>
“Those teams have certainly performed well, but you’re talking
about adding value,” Perlman said. “The real question is whether
including those conferences when you negotiate a TV contract adds to
the willingness of the network to increase the bid. I don’t think
we’ve seen evidence that that’s true.”</p><div style="padding-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; float: right; width: 250px;"><div style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 5px;"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" align="left" bgcolor="#ff0000" valign="top"><div align="center"><font color="#ffffff">2010 BCS Payouts</font></div></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Big Six conferences</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top" width="152">SEC</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top" width="73"><div align="right">$22.2 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">Big Ten</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$22.2 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">ACC</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$17.7 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">Big East</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$17.7 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">Big 12</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$17.7 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">Pac-10</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$17.7 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">Total</font></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><div align="right"><font color="#ff0000">$115.2 million</font></div></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Non-Big Six conferences</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Mountain West</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$9.8 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Western Athletic</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$7.8 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Conference USA</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$2.8 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Mid-American</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$2.1 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Sun Belt</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$1.5 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">Total</font></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><div align="right"><font color="#ff0000">$24 million</font></div></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Other recipients</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top">FCS conferences</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top"><div align="right">$1.8 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top">Notre Dame</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top"><div align="right">$1.3 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top">Army</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top"><div align="right">$100,000</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top">Navy</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top"><div align="right">$100,000</div></td></tr><tr><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#f4f0e3" valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">Total revenue distribution</font></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#f4f0e3" valign="top"><div align="right"><font color="#ff0000"> $142.5 million</font></div></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 10px; line-height: 11px;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Notes:
Each of the big six conferences is allotted an automatic qualifier in a BCS bowl, accounting for six of the 10 BCS berths.
The SEC and Big Ten placed two teams in BCS bowls, which earned them an additional $4.5 million each.
A total of $24 million is distributed among the Mountain West, WAC,
Conference USA, MAC and Sun Belt. About $4.7 million is shared evenly,
while the rest is paid based on a performance formula, agreed to by the
five non-automatic qualifying conferences. The Mountain West gets $6
million because TCU was an automatic qualifier into the Fiesta Bowl,
while the WAC gets $4.5 million for placing a second team from this
group in the BCS.
Notre Dame gets its share each year, and in years when it makes a BCS bowl, it receives an additional $4.5 million.
The revenue is derived from the BCS’ $83 million-a-year media contract
with Fox and bowl payouts. Next season, the BCS’ new contract with ESPN
will increase to $125 million a year.
The big six conferences represent 65 schools, while the other five non-big-six conferences represent 50 schools.
Sources: BCS and the conferences</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>
The BCS’ tie-ins with its bowls and the traditional strength of the
big six conferences are what drive the value of the property, Perlman
said, “not an individual team or performance.”</p>
This year’s Fiesta Bowl pitting coalition conference members TCU
and Boise State on Fox drew an 8.2 rating, which is less than the 10.4
Ohio State and Texas got in the Fiesta Bowl the previous year. Both
games were played on a Monday night. TCU-Boise State generated the
second-highest rating of the three BCS bowls on Fox this year, just
behind the Sugar (8.5) and well ahead of the Orange (6.8), both of
which featured teams from the big six conferences.</p>
The Fiesta’s attendance of 73,227 was higher than the previous two
Fiesta Bowls, which again featured teams from the big six conferences.</p>
“When given the opportunity, we’ve shown that these teams deliver,”
the WAC’s Benson said. “We believe that teams like Boise State and
TCU have become an important piece to the BCS.”</p>
In breaking down the revenue distributed by the BCS, the Big Ten
and the Southeastern Conference are the big winners. Each league put
two teams — Ohio State and Iowa from the Big Ten; Alabama and Florida
from the SEC — into BCS bowls, meaning those two football-mad leagues
will each receive $22.2 million.</p>
The other leagues that qualify automatically into the BCS — the
ACC, Big 12, Big East and Pac-10 — each receive $17.7 million,
accounting for $115.2 million to be distributed among the big six
conferences’ 65 schools. Conferences typically share their BCS and
other bowl revenue evenly, although the Big 12 is an exception and
pays more to the bowl teams.</p>
A bonus of $4.5 million is paid for each additional team that makes
a BCS bowl, which is why the SEC and Big Ten made more this year.</p>
“When you talk about adding value, from a media standpoint, the
Boise States and the Utahs add very little,” said Barry Frank, a media
consultant from IMG who worked with the BCS on its new TV deal with
ESPN. “They’re not population centers. And speaking from a personal
standpoint, in football terms, I can tell you that networks look at
them as ‘Johnny-come-latelies’ to the national scene that don’t play
the kind of schedules that major conferences play.”</p>
A total of $24 million goes to the five coalition conferences from
the BCS this year. There’s a $9.75 million payout that’s automatic
each year, another $9.75 million because TCU earned an automatic berth
into the BCS based on its ranking, and another $4.5 million for the
inclusion of a second team from the coalition, Boise State.</p>
Once the BCS pays the $24 million to the coalition conferences, it
washes its hands of the distribution. The breakdown of that money
among the five conferences, which account for 50 schools, is
determined by a complicated distribution method that the coalition
leagues voted on four years ago.</p><div style="padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: right;"><div style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">
<div style="padding-bottom: 3px;" class="ImageCaption">Boise State and TCU became the first pair of non-
big-six teams to make the BCS in the same year.</div></div></div>
The Mountain West will receive $9.8 million, while the WAC takes
$7.8 million and the rest goes to Conference USA ($2.8 million), the
MAC ($2.1 million) and the Sun Belt ($1.5 million). TCU is a member of
the Mountain West, while Boise State is in the WAC.</p>
As the BCS moves into a new media contract with ESPN, those five
coalition conferences will review and possibly change their
distribution. What’s not known — and Mountain West Commissioner Craig
Thompson won’t talk about it — is how vigorously the MWC will move for
a new distribution system that pays more to the coalition conferences
that send teams to a BCS bowl. Thompson wouldn’t comment on his
plans.</p>
There’s another scenario in play that could greatly enhance the
MWC’s status and perhaps move it onto the same level with the other
big six conferences that receive automatic berths into the BCS.</p>
The Mountain West is two years into a four-year evaluation period
that measures conference power. It’s based on the strength of the
league champion, how many teams are rated in the BCS top 25 and
average ranking for the entire conference.</p>
The BCS has not fully divulged what thresholds must be met for the
MWC to gain an automatic qualifying berth, which makes the whole
process sound eerily like joining a fraternity. But if the MWC could
join the big six club, membership would have its privileges and its
annual BCS revenue would likely double.</p>
“We look at consistency over time,” Nebraska’s Perlman said.
“Looking forward, I don’t know that they change the equation, but
certainly their performance over time makes it difficult to not look
at them.”</p>
<h1 style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; padding-top: 14px;">The BCS' Big Split</h1>
Is revenue distribution ‘fair and appropriate’ or too partial to the powerful? It wouldn’t be the BCS without a controversy
<div style="position: relative; top: 12px; left: 480px; width: 120px;">
</div>
By MICHAEL SMITH
Staff writer
<div style="font-size: 9px;">Published January 25, 2010 : Page 01</div>
The Bowl Championship Series will distribute $142.5 million of
revenue from its five bowl games, with 81 percent of it — $115.2
million — going to the big six conferences.</p>
The majority of the rest — $24 million — goes to the coalition
conferences: Mountain West, Western Athletic, Conference USA,
Mid-American and Sun Belt. Notre Dame, as an independent member of the
BCS, takes $1.3 million.</p>
Sound a little uneven? Not really, says BCS Executive Director Bill
Hancock. Schools from those big six conferences accounted for eight
of the 10 teams in the BCS bowls, so those conferences should take
roughly 80 percent of the total payout.</p><div style="padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: right;"><div style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 8px;"><div align="center">
fellow SEC power Florida, secured $22.2 million
for the conference.
(Bottom) Boise State of the WAC won its second
BCS bowl in four years. The conference gets
$7.8 million this year.</div></div></div>
“It’s a fair and appropriate distribution of the revenue,” Hancock said.</p>
The distribution is based on a formula created in 2004 by the BCS
commissioners and approved by the BCS Presidential Oversight
Committee. The revenue distribution has varied little over the four
years of the most recent media contract with Fox, which pays an average
of $82.5 million annually. The media deal accounts for most of the
revenue, while the rest comes from revenue generated by the Sugar,
Rose, Fiesta and Orange bowls, and the national championship game.</p>
Starting next year, the payouts will be even more, thanks to a new
four-year rights-fee deal with ESPN that will average $125 million a
year, all of which is distributed to the schools.</p>
The money is paid annually by an escrow agent, Heartland Bank of
Leawood, Kan., and each year’s distribution completely empties the
account, Hancock said, meaning all of the revenue is distributed.</p><div style="padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; float: left;"><div style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-right: 8px;"><div align="center">
But wherever the BCS goes, controversy is sure to follow and it’s
no different when it comes to distributing the revenue. Not everyone
agrees with the BCS’ method of dispersing funds, mostly those from the
coalition conferences.</p>
It’s really a question of value, says WAC Commissioner Karl Benson.
When a Utah shocks an Alabama or a Boise State stuns an Oklahoma,
doesn’t that demonstrate the value of those teams and conferences to
the BCS? Shouldn’t the payout to the conferences like the WAC and the
Mountain West that send teams to the BCS look like the payout to the
big six conferences?</p>
No, responds Harvey Perlman, chancellor at the University of
Nebraska and chairman of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee. He
says there’s a difference between playing well in a game and
demonstrating the kind of value that drives long-term media contracts.</p>
“Those teams have certainly performed well, but you’re talking
about adding value,” Perlman said. “The real question is whether
including those conferences when you negotiate a TV contract adds to
the willingness of the network to increase the bid. I don’t think
we’ve seen evidence that that’s true.”</p><div style="padding-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; float: right; width: 250px;"><div style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 5px;"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" align="left" bgcolor="#ff0000" valign="top"><div align="center"><font color="#ffffff">2010 BCS Payouts</font></div></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Big Six conferences</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top" width="152">SEC</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top" width="73"><div align="right">$22.2 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">Big Ten</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$22.2 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">ACC</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$17.7 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">Big East</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$17.7 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">Big 12</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$17.7 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top">Pac-10</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#e8eef4" valign="top"><div align="right">$17.7 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">Total</font></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><div align="right"><font color="#ff0000">$115.2 million</font></div></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Non-Big Six conferences</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Mountain West</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$9.8 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Western Athletic</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$7.8 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Conference USA</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$2.8 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Mid-American</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$2.1 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top">Sun Belt</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" valign="top"><div align="right">$1.5 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">Total</font></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><div align="right"><font color="#ff0000">$24 million</font></div></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Other recipients</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top">FCS conferences</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top"><div align="right">$1.8 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top">Notre Dame</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top"><div align="right">$1.3 million</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top">Army</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top"><div align="right">$100,000</div></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top">Navy</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ecfeeb" valign="top"><div align="right">$100,000</div></td></tr><tr><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#f4f0e3" valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">Total revenue distribution</font></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;" align="left" bgcolor="#f4f0e3" valign="top"><div align="right"><font color="#ff0000"> $142.5 million</font></div></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 10px; line-height: 11px;" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Notes:
A total of $24 million is distributed among the Mountain West, WAC,
Conference USA, MAC and Sun Belt. About $4.7 million is shared evenly,
while the rest is paid based on a performance formula, agreed to by the
five non-automatic qualifying conferences. The Mountain West gets $6
million because TCU was an automatic qualifier into the Fiesta Bowl,
while the WAC gets $4.5 million for placing a second team from this
group in the BCS.
The revenue is derived from the BCS’ $83 million-a-year media contract
with Fox and bowl payouts. Next season, the BCS’ new contract with ESPN
will increase to $125 million a year.
Sources: BCS and the conferences</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>
The BCS’ tie-ins with its bowls and the traditional strength of the
big six conferences are what drive the value of the property, Perlman
said, “not an individual team or performance.”</p>
This year’s Fiesta Bowl pitting coalition conference members TCU
and Boise State on Fox drew an 8.2 rating, which is less than the 10.4
Ohio State and Texas got in the Fiesta Bowl the previous year. Both
games were played on a Monday night. TCU-Boise State generated the
second-highest rating of the three BCS bowls on Fox this year, just
behind the Sugar (8.5) and well ahead of the Orange (6.8), both of
which featured teams from the big six conferences.</p>
The Fiesta’s attendance of 73,227 was higher than the previous two
Fiesta Bowls, which again featured teams from the big six conferences.</p>
“When given the opportunity, we’ve shown that these teams deliver,”
the WAC’s Benson said. “We believe that teams like Boise State and
TCU have become an important piece to the BCS.”</p>
In breaking down the revenue distributed by the BCS, the Big Ten
and the Southeastern Conference are the big winners. Each league put
two teams — Ohio State and Iowa from the Big Ten; Alabama and Florida
from the SEC — into BCS bowls, meaning those two football-mad leagues
will each receive $22.2 million.</p>
The other leagues that qualify automatically into the BCS — the
ACC, Big 12, Big East and Pac-10 — each receive $17.7 million,
accounting for $115.2 million to be distributed among the big six
conferences’ 65 schools. Conferences typically share their BCS and
other bowl revenue evenly, although the Big 12 is an exception and
pays more to the bowl teams.</p>
A bonus of $4.5 million is paid for each additional team that makes
a BCS bowl, which is why the SEC and Big Ten made more this year.</p>
“When you talk about adding value, from a media standpoint, the
Boise States and the Utahs add very little,” said Barry Frank, a media
consultant from IMG who worked with the BCS on its new TV deal with
ESPN. “They’re not population centers. And speaking from a personal
standpoint, in football terms, I can tell you that networks look at
them as ‘Johnny-come-latelies’ to the national scene that don’t play
the kind of schedules that major conferences play.”</p>
A total of $24 million goes to the five coalition conferences from
the BCS this year. There’s a $9.75 million payout that’s automatic
each year, another $9.75 million because TCU earned an automatic berth
into the BCS based on its ranking, and another $4.5 million for the
inclusion of a second team from the coalition, Boise State.</p>
Once the BCS pays the $24 million to the coalition conferences, it
washes its hands of the distribution. The breakdown of that money
among the five conferences, which account for 50 schools, is
determined by a complicated distribution method that the coalition
leagues voted on four years ago.</p><div style="padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: right;"><div style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">
<div style="padding-bottom: 3px;" class="ImageCaption">Boise State and TCU became the first pair of non-
big-six teams to make the BCS in the same year.</div></div></div>
The Mountain West will receive $9.8 million, while the WAC takes
$7.8 million and the rest goes to Conference USA ($2.8 million), the
MAC ($2.1 million) and the Sun Belt ($1.5 million). TCU is a member of
the Mountain West, while Boise State is in the WAC.</p>
As the BCS moves into a new media contract with ESPN, those five
coalition conferences will review and possibly change their
distribution. What’s not known — and Mountain West Commissioner Craig
Thompson won’t talk about it — is how vigorously the MWC will move for
a new distribution system that pays more to the coalition conferences
that send teams to a BCS bowl. Thompson wouldn’t comment on his
plans.</p>
There’s another scenario in play that could greatly enhance the
MWC’s status and perhaps move it onto the same level with the other
big six conferences that receive automatic berths into the BCS.</p>
The Mountain West is two years into a four-year evaluation period
that measures conference power. It’s based on the strength of the
league champion, how many teams are rated in the BCS top 25 and
average ranking for the entire conference.</p>
The BCS has not fully divulged what thresholds must be met for the
MWC to gain an automatic qualifying berth, which makes the whole
process sound eerily like joining a fraternity. But if the MWC could
join the big six club, membership would have its privileges and its
annual BCS revenue would likely double.</p>
“We look at consistency over time,” Nebraska’s Perlman said.
“Looking forward, I don’t know that they change the equation, but
certainly their performance over time makes it difficult to not look
at them.”</p>