04-20-2008, 05:57 PM
Some teams lose going to the Final Four?
The part of the article I am going to focus on is highlighted below:
Men's college basketball is the NCAA's cash cow. Yet some teams claim they actually lose money by participating in the Final Four. And in the short term, they may be right.
The NCAA controls all collegiate championships with the exception of Division 1-A football. The large football schools earned the right to stage their own championship, now called the BCS, after successfully suing the NCAA in 1984 under federal anti-trust laws.
But almost 90 percent of the NCAA's total revenue - $614 million in 2007-08 - is generated from staging just one of those championships: The men's basketball tournament. The largest source of that revenue is the television rights fees paid by CBS and ESPN. The NCAA is quick to point out that only 5 percent of its total revenue is used for administrative expenses, with the remaining revenue distributed to member schools and conferences. Distribution is based on a number of factors, including such things as success in the tournament over a rolling period of six years, the number of athletic programs supported by individual schools, and special needs of student-athletes.
If the NCAA only takes 5% of the $600 million plus for operating expenses and disburses the rest of it back to the conferences, why does the 2006 Revenue Distribution section from their own site say they distributed back a total of $310 million?
2006 NCAA Revenue Distribution
Does someone have an explanation as to where the remaining $250 million plus goes to, if indeed the NCAA operating expenses for the entire year (including salaries, travel expenses, etc.) only total $30 million and they distribute back to conferences $310 million?
Cheers,
Neil
The part of the article I am going to focus on is highlighted below:
Men's college basketball is the NCAA's cash cow. Yet some teams claim they actually lose money by participating in the Final Four. And in the short term, they may be right.
The NCAA controls all collegiate championships with the exception of Division 1-A football. The large football schools earned the right to stage their own championship, now called the BCS, after successfully suing the NCAA in 1984 under federal anti-trust laws.
But almost 90 percent of the NCAA's total revenue - $614 million in 2007-08 - is generated from staging just one of those championships: The men's basketball tournament. The largest source of that revenue is the television rights fees paid by CBS and ESPN. The NCAA is quick to point out that only 5 percent of its total revenue is used for administrative expenses, with the remaining revenue distributed to member schools and conferences. Distribution is based on a number of factors, including such things as success in the tournament over a rolling period of six years, the number of athletic programs supported by individual schools, and special needs of student-athletes.
If the NCAA only takes 5% of the $600 million plus for operating expenses and disburses the rest of it back to the conferences, why does the 2006 Revenue Distribution section from their own site say they distributed back a total of $310 million?
2006 NCAA Revenue Distribution
Does someone have an explanation as to where the remaining $250 million plus goes to, if indeed the NCAA operating expenses for the entire year (including salaries, travel expenses, etc.) only total $30 million and they distribute back to conferences $310 million?
Cheers,
Neil
