http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/WVUSports/201001290044
Big East bucks will grow
Column: Jack Bogaczyk
by Jack Bogaczyk
Daily Mail Sports Editor
The clamor for a major college football playoff continues from the mountain (West) to Boise and beyond. Meanwhile, the bowl system led by a getting-richer Bowl Championship Series continues to mushroom in more ways than one.
Earlier this week, the BCS reported that it had paid a record $24 million to the five non-automatic qualifying conferences, a bump from $19.296 million after the 2008 season.
The hike came primarily because the non-AQ "coalition" conferences had two teams (TCU, Boise State) in the BCS bowls' 10 participants this time. It also meant the six automatic-bid conferences were getting a bit less dough.
The Big East, for example, fell from $18.673 million after the 2008 season to $18 million this time. Ditto for the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-10.
The Big Ten and SEC, which put second teams in the BCS this season, took in $22.2 million each (an additional stipend for at-large berths, by Iowa and Florida).
A year ago, those "second-team distributions" brought the payments to $23.173 million.
The assumption that all of the "Big Six" are getting richer would be flawed, at least for this year. The Big East, for example, received $22.85 million from its six 2009 bowl appearances. The number was $23.323 after the 2008 season.
When the rich will get richer is next year, since a new BCS telecast contract with ESPN/ABC kicks in, moving the games from Fox, with the annual TV rights fee for five games jumping from $83 million annually to the $125 million range.
Why did the Big East dollars drop in the last year of a four-year rotation with the bowls? The reasons were several, and not just because the BCS payment was lower.
The Gator Bowl, despite having a record crowd of 84,129 for Bobby Bowden's goodbye and Florida State-West Virginia, paid the Big East the guaranteed minimum of $2.25 million.
Don't expect the Big East to cry at all over the Florida move of its No. 2 berth from Jacksonville to Orlando and the Champs Sports Bowl, which will pay $2.4 million starting next season.
The other dropoff for the Big East postseason dollars came north of the border. A year after paying $750,000 per team, the conference landed only $400,000 from the International Bowl.
That deal isn't getting renewed, however. The Big East is trading Toronto and the need for passports for the Big Apple and a new bowl at Yankee Stadium, where its No. 4 team will face Big 12 No. 7, and the expected payment to the Big East will be $2 million (or a $1.6 million jump from Toronto).
The Big East received $1.2 million from the Meineke Car Care Bowl this time, $600,000 from the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., and $400,000 from the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Bowl.
Nothing's done yet, but the Big East is expected to re-up with the Pizza and St. Pete games, although whether or how much the dollars in those fifth and sixth Big East postseason destinations might improve remains in the discussion stages. They could approach or reach $1 million.
The Big East, like the rest of its BCS automatic-qualifying brethren, will benefit from the new ESPN deal. Each conference is expected to receive about $4 million more - in the $22 million range - for an automatic bid.
Add in the enhanced lower-tier deals, and the Big East's bowl revenue following the 2010 season figures to climb by more than 30 percent, approaching $30 million.
With that, expect the conference to approve enhanced revenue sharing by its bowl participants starting after this coming season. The conference has been paying $2 million to its BCS team, $1.5 for the Gator berth and $1 million to teams in the third through sixth bowls.
Those numbers should grow, aiding WVU and its league foes, with the Big East adding $7 million in bowl bucks.
* * *
IF YOU are wondering how that other top-two tier Big East bowl team - Notre Dame - did financially as a BCS member without a postseason berth, the answer is the Fighting Irish received its usual BCS member stipend of $1.3 million (reduced from $4.5 million three years ago).
The other non-AQ independents? Army and Navy receive $100,000 apiece annually from the BCS. That's $125,000 less than each of the Football Championship Subdivision Conferences (Southern, Colonial, Ohio Valley, etc.) receive in BCS bucks.
* * *
THE 2010 Big East football schedule is a work in progress, and it probably will be at least another two weeks before it's ready for those other than athletic directors and coaches to debate about which games, played what dates, offer which teams the best chance at a title.
One game that won't move is the Backyard Brawl. The conference and ESPN/ABC have done so well with the game on the day after Thanksgiving, it figures to stay there for a third straight year.
So, you can write down the 103rd WVU-Pitt game for Nov. 26 at Heinz Field. Most of the Big East will be playing again on the so-called "Championship Saturday," or Dec. 4 this season.