Sixty-eight teams played in 34 bowl games this past season. And while all of the teams considered it an accomplishment to receive a bid, nabbing one isn’t as prestigious as it once was. Every college football fan knows this, but most Saturday couch potatoes accept that the money the schools receive make the end of December snoozers worthwhile. But what if the schools are losing money on these irrelevant games?
Rutgers who defeated North Carolina St. 29 to 23 in the PapaJohns.com Bowl returned home to New Jersey $184K in the hole.
Rutgers University collected $1.2 million for its trip to the PapaJohns.com Bowl last December. But by the time expenses were paid and the coaching staff given its performance bonuses, the school lost more than $184,000, according to reports filed with the NCAA.
While the football team’s expenses were more than covered through the Big East Conference — which pools playoff money — the university spent more than $200,000 to send faculty, staff and 187 members of the band and cheerleader squads to the game.
College football is a lucrative business, but will the weak economy force schools to pass on bowl bids? My gut says no, but in the short term I do think there will be cuts and penny pinching during the (possibly shortened) trips. One solution might be higher payouts for the participating teams. The PapaJohns.com Bowl’s $300K payout was the lowest of the 34 bowls, even though it helped the city of Birmingham generate$10.6M of economic impact.
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