SoCal
9/29/2011, 07:09 AM
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110929/SPORTS0603/109290369/Ball-State-latest-beneficiary-college-football-money-games-?odyssey=nav|head
Early odds have the No. 2-ranked University of Oklahoma football team favored by 38 points in Saturday's home game against Ball State. Cardinals officials, however, are looking at a larger number: $900,000.
The Cardinals could return from their 1,650-mile round trip to Norman, Okla., bruised emotionally and physically, but they'll also bring a hefty check back to Muncie. Ball State, like many programs, uses the large paydays it gets for going on the road to play a team in a Bowl Championship Series conference -- and almost certainly losing -- to help fund its athletic department.
"The Oklahoma guarantee is $900,000," Ball State athletic director Tom Collins said. "That's real money to us. By the time we take a charter out there and stay in a hotel, you're probably netting out $825,000. That's big money."
Ball State is "programmed" to play payday games, Collins said. It has gone on the road to play a current BCS team every season since 1991 and received at least $400,000 for a game six times in the past seven years.
The on-field outcomes, however, haven't been so good. Ball State is 0-5 and has been outscored 259-73, which includes a 41-40 loss to Nebraska in 2007. (This year's victory over Indiana was considered a home game, although it was played at Lucas Oil Stadium.)
This season, BCS schools are 21-2 against teams from BSU's Mid-American Conference and 113-16 overall (an .876 winning percentage) against the rest of the country.
"On one side of it, there's a chance for you to upset somebody who, on paper, you probably shouldn't beat," Ball State coach Pete Lembo said. "The other side of it is the big picture and reality that for not being a BCS school, you need to play games like that from a revenue standpoint to help fund your program."
The Cardinals have made $3.225 million from those five losses at BCS programs since 2005; that's $645,000 per loss.
The money doesn't go to just the football program. It goes throughout an athletic department that has run a deficit of $2.75 million during that stretch.
"It goes into our general budget," Collins said. "It's not tough to get the games. You just want to limit the number of times you want to do that in a season. You can find anybody: LSU, Texas, it doesn't matter."
Indiana State strategy
Indiana State is in a similar financial situation. That's why Sycamores coach Trent Miles won't go on the road and play a BCS school for less than "around $400,000." ISU earned $450,000 when it opened the season at Penn State, losing 41-7.
"When you're playing a team like Penn State, there's a certain amount of money you want to get," Miles said. "Very few schools in the nation make money in football. For us, it's vital for not just the football program, but the whole athletic department if you can get the right money.
"It doesn't do me any good to schedule a school that's only going to pay like $150,000 when we can play a Big Ten school and possibly get $500,000."
Bidding wars also can drive up the price. Purdue was scheduled to play Kent State this season, but the Golden Flashes broke the $425,000 contract so they could play at Alabama for $1.2 million.
"Doing that leaves people who have lived by the contract in a tough spot because you have to fill the game," Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke said. "That's hard to do because most of us, in the case of football, try to be out about five years with the schedule. I ended up having to run all over the country trying to get a replacement."
Burke filled the hole in the Boilermakers' schedule by paying Middle Tennessee $850,000, with only half of that amount coming from Purdue. The rest came from Kent State, which had to pay the $425,000 it was scheduled to receive to break the contract.
"That's the highest guarantee we've ever had," Burke said. "I don't blame Middle Tennessee."
Seizing the challenge
Ball State's Scheumann Stadium seats 22,500 for football games. That's less than one-third of Oklahoma's Memorial Stadium (82,112).
Playing in front of a loud, hostile crowd is just one of many problems the Cardinals will face this weekend. The Sooners have a roster full of players who are bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled than most of the Cardinals.
"It's almost like you have a chip on your shoulder in those games," BSU linebacker Travis Freeman said. "It's a chance to rank yourself against the best. That's the kind of challenge it is, to see where you stand among the great programs in the country. That's the mind-set you take in going into those games."
Early odds have the No. 2-ranked University of Oklahoma football team favored by 38 points in Saturday's home game against Ball State. Cardinals officials, however, are looking at a larger number: $900,000.
The Cardinals could return from their 1,650-mile round trip to Norman, Okla., bruised emotionally and physically, but they'll also bring a hefty check back to Muncie. Ball State, like many programs, uses the large paydays it gets for going on the road to play a team in a Bowl Championship Series conference -- and almost certainly losing -- to help fund its athletic department.
"The Oklahoma guarantee is $900,000," Ball State athletic director Tom Collins said. "That's real money to us. By the time we take a charter out there and stay in a hotel, you're probably netting out $825,000. That's big money."
Ball State is "programmed" to play payday games, Collins said. It has gone on the road to play a current BCS team every season since 1991 and received at least $400,000 for a game six times in the past seven years.
The on-field outcomes, however, haven't been so good. Ball State is 0-5 and has been outscored 259-73, which includes a 41-40 loss to Nebraska in 2007. (This year's victory over Indiana was considered a home game, although it was played at Lucas Oil Stadium.)
This season, BCS schools are 21-2 against teams from BSU's Mid-American Conference and 113-16 overall (an .876 winning percentage) against the rest of the country.
"On one side of it, there's a chance for you to upset somebody who, on paper, you probably shouldn't beat," Ball State coach Pete Lembo said. "The other side of it is the big picture and reality that for not being a BCS school, you need to play games like that from a revenue standpoint to help fund your program."
The Cardinals have made $3.225 million from those five losses at BCS programs since 2005; that's $645,000 per loss.
The money doesn't go to just the football program. It goes throughout an athletic department that has run a deficit of $2.75 million during that stretch.
"It goes into our general budget," Collins said. "It's not tough to get the games. You just want to limit the number of times you want to do that in a season. You can find anybody: LSU, Texas, it doesn't matter."
Indiana State strategy
Indiana State is in a similar financial situation. That's why Sycamores coach Trent Miles won't go on the road and play a BCS school for less than "around $400,000." ISU earned $450,000 when it opened the season at Penn State, losing 41-7.
"When you're playing a team like Penn State, there's a certain amount of money you want to get," Miles said. "Very few schools in the nation make money in football. For us, it's vital for not just the football program, but the whole athletic department if you can get the right money.
"It doesn't do me any good to schedule a school that's only going to pay like $150,000 when we can play a Big Ten school and possibly get $500,000."
Bidding wars also can drive up the price. Purdue was scheduled to play Kent State this season, but the Golden Flashes broke the $425,000 contract so they could play at Alabama for $1.2 million.
"Doing that leaves people who have lived by the contract in a tough spot because you have to fill the game," Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke said. "That's hard to do because most of us, in the case of football, try to be out about five years with the schedule. I ended up having to run all over the country trying to get a replacement."
Burke filled the hole in the Boilermakers' schedule by paying Middle Tennessee $850,000, with only half of that amount coming from Purdue. The rest came from Kent State, which had to pay the $425,000 it was scheduled to receive to break the contract.
"That's the highest guarantee we've ever had," Burke said. "I don't blame Middle Tennessee."
Seizing the challenge
Ball State's Scheumann Stadium seats 22,500 for football games. That's less than one-third of Oklahoma's Memorial Stadium (82,112).
Playing in front of a loud, hostile crowd is just one of many problems the Cardinals will face this weekend. The Sooners have a roster full of players who are bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled than most of the Cardinals.
"It's almost like you have a chip on your shoulder in those games," BSU linebacker Travis Freeman said. "It's a chance to rank yourself against the best. That's the kind of challenge it is, to see where you stand among the great programs in the country. That's the mind-set you take in going into those games."