As a football Independent and full member of the A10 this is what UMass's annual revenue intake looks like-

$357,143- TV contract (A10)
$410,852- NCAA Tourney (A10)
$307,553- FBS Playoffs (Independent)
$1,078,548- Annual payout as A10/Indy


By comparison, here is an approx. annual revenue intake for UMass as a full, 13th member of the MAC-

$769,230- TV contract (MAC)
$129,959- NCAA Tourney (MAC)
$1,229,508- FBS Playoffs (MAC)
$2,128,697- Annual payout as MAC full member.


This is the cost, from a dollars earned perspective, of UMass going Independent vs going all sports in the MAC. What is not included in that is the increase in travel costs for scheduling nationally in football, the loss of TV exposure, and the lack of conference championship and bowl opportunities to sell to potential recruits.

That's the price for protecting a bball program that has 1 tournament appearance since 1998.