We know why UMass rejected the MAC's offer for full membership- the A10 is a superior basketball conference to the MAC. Nobody can argue that. There is also an assumption that along with superior quality comes superior revenue, so staying in the A10 not only makes sense, it makes dollars and cents. But, is that really the case? Will UMass make as much money as an FBS Independent/A10 as they would as a full member of the MAC? Here is my attempt to do the math-

I'm comparing 3 primary sources of revenue- TV Contracts, Basketball Tournament Revenue, and Football Playoff Revenue.

TV Contracts- In 2013 the A10 signed an 8yr/$40M contract with ESPN/CBSSports/NBCSports. Divided equally amongst 14 teams that comes out to $357,143/yr per school (source). As an FBS Independent UMass won't have any TV revenue associated with their football team. The MAC recently signed a 13yr/$124M deal with ESPN, starting in 2014 (source). Divided equally amongst 13 teams that comes out to $733,728/yr per team in the MAC.

$357,143/yr- A10
$733,728/yr- MAC


Basketball Tournament Revenue- Money earned from the NCAA Tourney is a little more tricky to calculate because its paid to the conference in units that are spread over 6yrs and the value of the units changes each year and each conference can determine how the payouts are distributed to its members. I was, however, able to find the sum total of payouts distributed from 1991-2015 (source). Over the last 25 years UMass has received a total payout of $8.87M, or $354,800/yr as a member of the A10. By comparison, the average MAC team over that time has received a total payout of $2.87M, or $114,800/yr.

$354,800/yr- A10
$114,800/yr- MAC


Football Playoff Revenue- In 2014 the 3 Independent FBS teams not named Notre Dame (Army, Navy, BYU) received a total of $922,658 for the CFP. Assuming that is split evenly, and assuming UMass as a new independent would be able to step into Navy's spot when they join the AAC next year, the avg. payout as an FBS Independent is $307,553. The 5 conferences that make up the G5 received a total of $75M. Assuming an even distribution of $15M per G5 conference that would be $1,153,846/MAC school (source).

$307,553/yr- IND
$1,153,846/yr- MAC


Based on these calculations the total revenue for each option would be-

$1,019,496/yr- A10/IND
$2,002,374/yr- MAC full

I'll admit, I was surprised by these numbers, its not what I was expecting. Let me know if I've made an egregious error somewhere.

I wouldn't even try to challenge your numbers, but there are other elements to consider when making a decision like this besides revenue. What are the costs involved for UMass being a MAC vs A-10 member? How do entry and exit fees come into play? UMass would obviously desire to position themselves in a "higher-value" conference...is that "easier" as a MAC or A-10 member? If UMass is only independent for a short time, then gets an AAC invite, then their decision was a good one. Do you place more value on now or tomorrow? Only time will tell how this plays out.

Basketball Credits are paid over six years and considering the sheer number of teams, games, and wins that the A10 has had in the tournament the past six tourneys... I can't image that the number is as close as you're saying for basketball unit credits.

The A10 had 3 teams in with four credits this year and six teams in and ten units last season... just to compare to our one bid, one unit each of the last two years... Below is a Washington Post article that is through 2013's revenues (prior to last year's big run by the A10) and that conference had 4x the basketball revenue at that point...

Washington Post NCAA Unit Explanation/Breakdown

(Scroll to the bottom, put your mouse over the conference bubbles at the bottom and a box will appear with each conferences payouts and overall revenues and how much is from basketball up til last season.)

Overall, you'll see in 2013 that the MAC made slightly more as a conference. That small difference probably wasn't enough to sway them to join and leave rivals, a more condensed east coast footprint for Olympic sports, and more "basketball brand names" to help attendance at home games.

Something else to consider is how those conferences actually distribute the money. Not everybody gets an equal share of the pie.

(03-30-2015 09:21 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  Basketball Credits are paid over six years and considering the sheer number of teams, games, and wins that the A10 has had in the tournament the past six tourneys... I can't image that the number is as close as you're saying for basketball unit credits.

The A10 had 3 teams in with four credits this year and six teams in and ten units last season... just to compare to our one bid, one unit each of the last two years... Below is a Washington Post article that is through 2013's revenues (prior to last year's big run by the A10) and that conference had 4x the basketball revenue at that point...

Washington Post NCAA Unit Explanation/Breakdown

(Scroll to the bottom, put your mouse over the conference bubbles at the bottom and a box will appear with each conferences payouts and overall revenues and how much is from basketball up til last season.)

Overall, you'll see in 2013 that the MAC made slightly more as a conference. That small difference probably wasn't enough to sway them to join and leave rivals, a more condensed east coast footprint for Olympic sports, and more "basketball brand names" to help attendance at home games.

Here's the payout distribution fund for '09-'13 (source, pg 9).

A10
$5,562,540 ('08-'09)
$6,443,977 ('09-'10)
$5,751,936 ('10-'11)
$7,023,915 ('11-'12)
$8,101,952 ('12-'13)
$469,776/yr Avg. Payout Per Team

MAC
$1,442,140 ('08-'09)
$1,333,237 ('09-'10)
$1,917,312 ('10-'11)
$1,695,428 ('11-'12)
$2,209,623 ('12-'13)
$132,273/yr Avg. Payout Per Team (W/UMass)

The A10 has averaged $337,503 more than the MAC over the last 5 years, $97,503 more than gap over 25 years. That still leaves about a $900K/yr gap between being a full member of the MAC vs FBS Indy/A10.

(03-30-2015 04:31 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  Football Playoff Revenue...The 5 conferences that make up the G5 received a total of $75M. Assuming an even distribution of $15M per G5 conference that would be $1,153,846/MAC school (source).

$307,553/yr- IND
$1,153,846/yr- MAC

...I'll admit, I was surprised by these numbers, its not what I was expecting. Let me know if I've made an egregious error somewhere.

I remembered the topic of college football playoff revenue distribution being discussed here shortly after the season ended. I went back and found an article a Marshall fan posted regarding this issue:

http://www.herdzone.com/sports/m-footbl/...15aaa.html

If I'm interpreting the article correctly, the MAC received a total of $14 million from this past season's playoff revenue, which is a bit lower than the estimated total and would, therefore, slightly reduce the average revenue per MAC school.

The average revenue, though, would still be far higher for each MAC school in comparison to an independent. Also, if the MAC improves on its bowl performances in future seasons, the playoff revenue distribution could very well exceed the $15 million estimate. The Mountain West, for example, received $23 million based on its performance this past season.

A-10 and CUSA on National TV every Saturday. Mac was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND this year. UMass made the right decision because the MAC commissioner is incompetent. MAC should have multiple games on ESPNU and ESPN2 every Saturday.

perimeterpost, Appreciate the work you've done. We like the MAC, but we have a holy war between basketball and football fans. There are some UMass basketball fans arguing going to the American would be a step down in basketball.

There are somethings that you may not realize as there is unequal revenue sharing in the A10, with teams earning the credits, keep 75% and the pool of credits left behind by Temple,Xavier, Butler.

Here an estimate of NCAA dollars and is off but closer to the actual number. Thought the share left for CFP would be higher and closer to 600k and could be wrong.

It really doesn't matter as we would have needed Temple to even have a chance to go all in.

Steinbrecher is a good commissioner. You have a lot to be proud of and basketball is heading in the right direction. Football is solid, with a top, middle and bottom tier. We'll be OK being independent, but would have rather been in the MAC.

Don't worry about our home game schedule. Our AD is still finishing up business at Georgia Tech and has lots of scheduling experience and ties. Will be OK, but not as good as being in the MAC.

The thing to remember is playing at Gillette is not a true home game for us, but visitor teams like it and helps with scheduling.


http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic-...st12494529

(03-30-2015 04:31 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  We know why UMass rejected the MAC's offer for full membership- the A10 is a superior basketball conference to the MAC. Nobody can argue that. There is also an assumption that along with superior quality comes superior revenue, so staying in the A10 not only makes sense, it makes dollars and cents. But, is that really the case? Will UMass make as much money as an FBS Independent/A10 as they would as a full member of the MAC? Here is my attempt to do the math-

I'm comparing 3 primary sources of revenue- TV Contracts, Basketball Tournament Revenue, and Football Playoff Revenue.

TV Contracts- In 2013 the A10 signed an 8yr/$40M contract with ESPN/CBSSports/NBCSports. Divided equally amongst 14 teams that comes out to $357,143/yr per school (source). As an FBS Independent UMass won't have any TV revenue associated with their football team. The MAC recently signed a 13yr/$124M deal with ESPN, starting in 2014 (source). Divided equally amongst 13 teams that comes out to $733,728/yr per team in the MAC.

$357,143/yr- A10
$733,728/yr- MAC


Basketball Tournament Revenue- Money earned from the NCAA Tourney is a little more tricky to calculate because its paid to the conference in units that are spread over 6yrs and the value of the units changes each year and each conference can determine how the payouts are distributed to its members. I was, however, able to find the sum total of payouts distributed from 1991-2015 (source). Over the last 25 years UMass has received a total payout of $8.87M, or $354,800/yr as a member of the A10. By comparison, the average MAC team over that time has received a total payout of $2.87M, or $114,800/yr.

$354,800/yr- A10
$114,800/yr- MAC


Football Playoff Revenue- In 2014 the 3 Independent FBS teams not named Notre Dame (Army, Navy, BYU) received a total of $922,658 for the CFP. Assuming that is split evenly, and assuming UMass as a new independent would be able to step into Navy's spot when they join the AAC next year, the avg. payout as an FBS Independent is $307,553. The 5 conferences that make up the G5 received a total of $75M. Assuming an even distribution of $15M per G5 conference that would be $1,153,846/MAC school (source).

$307,553/yr- IND
$1,153,846/yr- MAC


Based on these calculations the total revenue for each option would be-

$1,019,496/yr- A10/IND
$2,002,374/yr- MAC full

I'll admit, I was surprised by these numbers, its not what I was expecting. Let me know if I've made an egregious error somewhere.

Thanks for the post.

Whenever folks post some non-sense about say EMU moving down to say FCS I point to these numbers to show how much each MAC school is receiving as a MAC school (not to mention those very large payout for road game guarantees. EMU is to receive I believe 1.25M from Missouri in 2016 for one football game).

Say what one will, 2M is a nice 'guarantee' to plug into a spreadsheet for the finances of a MAC team.

Add 1 - 2M in guarantees from away football games.

We can see MAC programs with 3 - 4M without selling one ticket.

Doesn't moving down to FCS sound more and more a way to lose MORE money?