Wow!
Talk about spin!
Quote:The WAC just completed a six-year, $1 million-per-year deal with ESPN and is in the process of finalizing a new contract. The conference also re-upped deals with Sports West and CSTV.
The WAC's old deal with ESPN guaranteed the league less than $400,000 in fees per year per the El Paso Times not $1 million. The NEW deal was for $1 million and all media reports indicate that ESPN voided that contract when UTEP left so we don't know the new numbers.
Quote:Tech spent $834,825 on travel in its last season in the Sun Belt and $982,432 during the 2002-03 season in the WAC, a difference of $147,607. The WAC also pays travel expenses to the men's and women's basketball tournaments, while the Sun Belt does not.
The final year in the Belt, Tech was a football independent. Their football travel included a trip to Hawaii and only four home games. Playing an 8 game Sun Belt schedule instead of going to Kansas State, Penn State, Miami, and Hawaii means their travel that season was probably about $230,000 more than it would be as a Sun Belt member.
The 2002 season used in the article for WAC travel featured conference trips to Dallas and Houston that are going away and another road trip to Texas to play TAMU. That means 2002 travel is under-stated compared to future WAC membership.
Even if replacing SMU and Rice with NMSU and USU raises travel only $5,000 per trip over the WAC in football in conjunction with the inflated travel for the final SBC year, the difference in WAC bottomline vs. Sun Belt is $140,000 to the postive being in the Belt vs. the reported $100,000 to the postive being in the WAC reported in the article.
Quote:The WAC has bowl tie-ins with the Silicon Valley Football Classic, the MPC Computers Bowl (formerly the Humanitarian Bowl) and the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. There is also the possibility of a tie-in with the Mobile Bowl.
Mobile has never exercised its right to take a WAC team (Tulsa is the only eastern team to ever be bowl eligible since it was signed). Odds are slim that the Mobile Bowl will extend the deal since the MAC is doing well and has always sold its ticket allotment.
Hawaii is only a factor if the Warriors win fewer than 7.
The SVFC has consistently failed to meet the deadline to file its letter of credit. The NCAA said earlier this year that if the letter is not timely filed there will be no extensions granted and the bowl de-certified. After their stunt in 2001 of taking Fresno before Tech had been placed, and their threat to pull the plug in 2003 if they weren't allowed to take Fresno, the health of that bowl remains questionable until proven otherwise. Boise has proven that they will support their game and it remains one the WAC's brightest spots.
Quote:There were also some hard feelings when Tech bolted. Exhibit A was the Sun Belt's decision to pull the 2001 men's and women's basketball tournament from Tech after it had been awarded the bid.
This is such a tired whine.
The Sun Belt bylaws and constitution provide that a team that has announced its intent to withdraw cannot host a conference championship event. Tech voted for the rule, there's no hard feelings involved in following the rules.