Bowl Game in The Bahamas

[VObserver]

I'd like to know what the payout would be. I would think a bowl game in The Bahamas would at least come with a big fat payout to offset the increased travel costs and entice a school to pick them over other bowls.

Bowl games do not have payouts. Each school has to buy (discounted) tickets with a face value of the announced payout. If you don't sell enough tickets, you lose money; hence every school loses their butt on the Hawaii bowl..

[castsdan]

Bowl games do not have payouts. Each school has to buy (discounted) tickets with a face value of the announced payout. If you don't sell enough tickets, you lose money; hence every school loses their butt on the Hawaii bowl..

Yes they do, for example the payout for the New Orleans Bowl is roughly $500,000 per team, now after you figure in conference revenue sharing each team goes home with less than that. You are correct that each team has to buy X amount of tickets and if they don't sell them they will lose money, see UCONN in the sugar bowl a few years ago

Here's the link that shows you the payout for each bowl
http://www.ncaafootball.com/Bowls.aspx

ETA: the safety concerns with playing in the Bahamas would be no different than any other bowl game played in a big city such as: New Orleans, New York, Miami, Detroit, etc...

[Policarp]

Bahamas v Detroit in winter. Not much to debate. Been to both.....gimme da beach.

[CajunDreDog]

Yes they do, for example the payout for the New Orleans Bowl is roughly $500,000 per team, now after you figure in conference revenue sharing each team goes home with less than that. You are correct that each team has to buy X amount of tickets and if they don't sell them they will lose money, see UCONN in the sugar bowl a few years ago

Here's the link that shows you the payout for each bowl
http://www.ncaafootball.com/Bowls.aspx

ETA: the safety concerns with playing in the Bahamas would be no different than any other bowl game played in a big city such as: New Orleans, New York, Miami, Detroit, etc...

This is incorect. VO is correct. You have to sell $500,000 worth of tickets to the New Orleans bowl to get your payout.

[Boomer]

Well I think I would really like it--My Son-in-law is the director/partner of the LPGA tourney in the Bahamas------ Hell I might start playing golf!!! Anyway he and my daughter are there quite often and I think it is time for the old man to check it out---They never come to UL games except the 2 Bowls that were about 4 blocks from their house---Oh and she did help carry the goal post after T-A and M!!! maybe she is good luck!!!

[BeauCajun]

Well I think I would really like it--My Son-in-law is the director/partner of the LPGA tourney in the Bahamas------ Hell I might start playing golf!!! Anyway he and my daughter are there quite often and I think it is time for the old man to check it out---They never come to UL games except the 2 Bowls that were about 4 blocks from their house---Oh and she did help carry the goal post after T-A and M!!! maybe she is good luck!!!

Boomer, the cruise ship will leave out of Don's Boat Landing 3 days prior to the game.

[VObserver]

Yes they do, for example the payout for the New Orleans Bowl is roughly $500,000 per team, now after you figure in conference revenue sharing each team goes home with less than that. You are correct that each team has to buy X amount of tickets and if they don't sell them they will lose money, see UCONN in the sugar bowl a few years ago

Here's the link that shows you the payout for each bowl
http://www.ncaafootball.com/Bowls.aspx

ETA: the safety concerns with playing in the Bahamas would be no different than any other bowl game played in a big city such as: New Orleans, New York, Miami, Detroit, etc...

That payout number is the amount of money a school will receive if it sells out its ticket allotment. There is NO direct payment to the school from the bowl.

[castsdan]

That payout number is the amount of money a school will receive if it sells out its ticket allotment. There is NO direct payment to the school from the bowl.

You do not have to sell out your ticket allotment in order to receive money for going to a bowl. When I worked at Arkansas, we did not sell out the 17,500 tickets we were allotted from the Sugar Bowl. We actually came up somewhere around the $340,000 mark short. After you figure in all the expenses and the fact we received 3.9 million, once the conference divided up all the money, for playing in the sugar bowl; we only turned about a $5,000 profit.

Most conferences share the money equally amongst all the teams. So teams like Vanderbilt get roughly the same amount of money as Alabama, even though Alabama is the one playing in the game that generates the most money. Now the Big 12 is different, they do not have equal revenue sharing, so a team like Texas gets a bulk of the money before revenue sharing starts.

[CajunRage]

You do not have to sell out your ticket allotment in order to receive money for going to a bowl. When I worked at Arkansas, we did not sell out the 17,500 tickets we were allotted from the Sugar Bowl. We actually came up somewhere around the $340,000 mark short. After you figure in all the expenses and the fact we received 3.9 million, once the conference divided up all the money, for playing in the sugar bowl; we only turned about a $5,000 profit.

Most conferences share the money equally amongst all the teams. So teams like Vanderbilt get roughly the same amount of money as Alabama, even though Alabama is the one playing in the game that generates the most money. Now the Big 12 is different, they do not have equal revenue sharing, so a team like Texas gets a bulk of the money before revenue sharing starts.

I believe that is comparing apples to oranges. Regardless of the teams in a BCS bowl, a large number of tickets are sold outside of the two participating schools and the bowl game itself is tremendously profitable. (Hypothetically) When FIU and La Tech are invited to the "Seattle" Bowl. The bowl will not work at a loss in order to make sure the teams don't lose money. They actually sell the tickets to the school to generate revenue for them to break even or better and put the burden on the school to sell those tickets.

At least this is how I've always understood how it worked.

[Boomer]

My understanding is that UL was given an amount of money$50-$100K for expenses--then they were given a ticket allotment to sell and they could keep all or some of that---meanwhile tickets were also sold through other outlets---So the buying of tickets from UL was very important and I think that after the initial allotment we were actually given more but with less of a take home amount----I like how the SID comes on here maybe we can get Matt Casbon to explain it!!!

[castsdan]

The payout remains the same, it's the other factors that determine how much of that money, if any, you actually see. Travel expenses, ticket sales (again see UCONN and Arkansas), revenue sharing, etc.. All play a part in the total dollar amount each team takes home. For some teams a bowl generates money, for others it does not.

Schools like Notre Dame will always make money off bowl games because they don't have a conference they have to share with; whereas Alabama made the same off the BCS title game as Kentucky did because the sec shares revenue equally

[Cajun90]

I've looked at this issue in depth through the years. BCS bowls have guaranteed payouts because of the TV contracts. Non BCS bowls obviously don't have the lucrative TV contracts and I am 100% positive that the noted payouts for all minor bowls include substantial money based on ticket sales. Depending on the school and how they are required to share revenue with the conference is a totally different subject.

The reference to UConn is in regard to the Fiesta Bowl. The Big East was paid 17 million for UConn making the bowl game but per the revenue sharing plan only received a small portion of that.

The below excerpt is from the school paper. Please note how much they "lost" because of unsold tickets. Keep in mind this is a BCS bowl. So you know good and well if the BCS bowls count ticket sales towards the revenue payout that the small bowls do as well.

The university incurred total expenses of $4,280,998 at the Fiesta Bowl while only receiving a payout of $2,523,200 from the Big East. By far the largest expense the university incurred came from absorbed ticket sales. The university sold only 2,771 out of an allotment of 17,500 tickets, resulting in the university absorbing 14,729 tickets worth $2,924,385.