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- Nov 2, 2011
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I thought I share what the payouts will be this year from the bowl games..
This year, each of the six major conferences will receive at least $30 million for postseason play.
And it should be no surprise that the SEC has the biggest present waiting under the tree – the
conference will take home nearly $52 million from bowl games this season.
The six automatic qualifying (AQ) conferences are each guaranteed one slot in a BCS bowl.
Per the BCS Media Guide, each automatic bid is worth about $23.9 million.
The four remaining BCS bids are ordinarily doled out as at-large berths.
This year’s four recipients are Alabama and Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, and Ohio State
and Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Each of those four teams’ conferences receives an
at-large payout of around $6.3 million. That means the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC
are all guaranteed $30 million from BCS bowls alone; the AAC and Pac-12 are the two
AQ conferences that will miss out on this year’s extra BCS income.
That BCS revenue is topped up by much smaller paychecks from the non-BCS bowls.
Non-BCS bowls ordinarily pay the same amount to each participating team’s conference,
though there are exceptions. The Chick-fil-A Bowl, for instance, pays about $4 million
to the ACC but only $3 million to the SEC.
Add it all up and the SEC, as usual, finishes on top. The conference has eight non-BCS
bowl teams collecting a total $21.3 million this season, bringing the conference’s total
bowl game payout to $51.5 million. The ACC comes in second with around $16.4 million
from non-BCS bowls, netting a total $46.6 million. The Big Ten will get $15.5 million from
the lower bowls, and the AQ conferences are rounded out by the Big 12 ($12.2 million),
Pac-12 ($11.4 million) and AAC ($6.7 million).
Bowls have conference tie-ins that ensure a certain amount of stability between seasons,
but the numbers still vary year to year. Generally speaking, a better conference performance
will lead to better bowl games; better bowl games lead to bigger paychecks. Last year, for instance,
the ACC collected just $12 million while the Big 12 enjoyed over $18 million from the non-BCS bowls.
And the AQ conferences aren’t the only ones looking ahead to big payouts. The four non-AQ
conferences – Mountain West, Mid-American, Sun Belt and Conference USA – ordinarily share 9% of
net BCS revenue, or around $14 million. That payout can double, however, when a non-AQ team
qualifies for a BCS bowl by finishing the season ranked ahead of an AQ conference’s top team.
Last year, Northern Illinois doubled the pot by finishing ahead of Louisville and playing in the Orange Bowl.
The non-AQ conferences almost enjoyed another double payout this year, but Bowling Green’s
victory over Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship ended those hopes.
The non-AQ conferences also collect from the non-BCS bowls, though again to a lesser degree.
Conference USA leads the way, taking home close to $5.2 million this year. The Mountain West
will get just over $4 million, the MAC will get nearly $3 million and the Sun Belt takes up the
rear with $1.25 million from non-BCS bowl pay.
You also can’t talk about college football’s biggest financial winners without discussing Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish have one of the sweetest deals in college sports, collecting an annual payout
worth 1/66th of net BCS revenue regardless of performance. In other words, they’ll get around
$2 million this year despite an 8-4 record. And if the team makes a BCS bowl, that payout more
than triples to what an AQ conference receives for an at-large bid. Last year’s trip to the
BCS National Championship was worth around $6.2 million.
Army, Navy and BYU are independent teams like Notre Dame, and each is eligible for the at-large
conference payout ($6.3 million this year) if it makes a BCS bowl. Of course, the odds of that
happening are quite low. Army has played in just five bowl games in team history.
Navy hasn’t been in a major game since playing Texas for the de facto national championship
in the 1964 Cotton Bowl, and the last time BYU came close was when it went to the 1997 Cotton Bowl
as the No. 5 team in the country.
When those three independents fail to make a BCS bowl, they each receive just $100,000.
On the bright side, the three teams recently agreed to a deal that ensures each will play
in at least one Poinsettia Bowl over the next three years.
-Forbes
| Bowl Game | Per Team Pay-Out |
| BCS National Championship Game | $18,000,000 |
| Fiesta Bowl | $17,000,000 |
| Sugar Bowl | $17,000,000 |
| Orange Bowl | $17,000,000 |
| Rose Bowl | $17,000,000 |
| Capital One Bowl | $4,550,000 |
| Chick-fil-A Bowl | $3,970,000 (SEC) $2,930,000 (ACC) |
| Cotton Bowl | $3,375,000 |
| Gator Bowl | $3,500,000 |
| Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl | $3,350,000 |
| Alamo Bowl | $3,175,000 |
| Outback Bowl | $2,500,000 |
| Russell Athletic Bowl | $2,275,000 |
| Holiday Bowl | $2,075,000 |
| Sun Bowl | $2,000,000 |
| Music City Bowl | $1,837,000 |
| Pinstripe Bowl | $1,800,000 |
| Belk Bowl | $1,700,000 |
| Texas Bowl | $1,700,000 |
| Liberty Bowl | $1,437,500 |
| Independence Bowl | $1,150,000 |
| Las Vegas Bowl | $1,100,000 |
| Heart of Dallas Bowl | $1,100,000 |
| Military Bowl | $1,000,000 |
| Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl | $925,000 |
| BBVA Compass Bowl | $1,000,000 (ACC) $900,000 (SEC) |
| GoDaddy.com Bowl | $750,000 |
| Little Caesars Pizza Bowl | $750,000 |
| Hawaii Bowl | $650,000 |
| Armed Forces Bowl | $600,000 |
| Beef ‘O’ Brady’s | $537,500 |
| Poinsettia | $500,000 |
| New Orleans | $500,000 |
| New Mexico | $456,250 |
| Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | $325,000 |
This year, each of the six major conferences will receive at least $30 million for postseason play.
And it should be no surprise that the SEC has the biggest present waiting under the tree – the
conference will take home nearly $52 million from bowl games this season.
The six automatic qualifying (AQ) conferences are each guaranteed one slot in a BCS bowl.
Per the BCS Media Guide, each automatic bid is worth about $23.9 million.
The four remaining BCS bids are ordinarily doled out as at-large berths.
This year’s four recipients are Alabama and Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, and Ohio State
and Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Each of those four teams’ conferences receives an
at-large payout of around $6.3 million. That means the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC
are all guaranteed $30 million from BCS bowls alone; the AAC and Pac-12 are the two
AQ conferences that will miss out on this year’s extra BCS income.
That BCS revenue is topped up by much smaller paychecks from the non-BCS bowls.
Non-BCS bowls ordinarily pay the same amount to each participating team’s conference,
though there are exceptions. The Chick-fil-A Bowl, for instance, pays about $4 million
to the ACC but only $3 million to the SEC.
Add it all up and the SEC, as usual, finishes on top. The conference has eight non-BCS
bowl teams collecting a total $21.3 million this season, bringing the conference’s total
bowl game payout to $51.5 million. The ACC comes in second with around $16.4 million
from non-BCS bowls, netting a total $46.6 million. The Big Ten will get $15.5 million from
the lower bowls, and the AQ conferences are rounded out by the Big 12 ($12.2 million),
Pac-12 ($11.4 million) and AAC ($6.7 million).
Bowls have conference tie-ins that ensure a certain amount of stability between seasons,
but the numbers still vary year to year. Generally speaking, a better conference performance
will lead to better bowl games; better bowl games lead to bigger paychecks. Last year, for instance,
the ACC collected just $12 million while the Big 12 enjoyed over $18 million from the non-BCS bowls.
And the AQ conferences aren’t the only ones looking ahead to big payouts. The four non-AQ
conferences – Mountain West, Mid-American, Sun Belt and Conference USA – ordinarily share 9% of
net BCS revenue, or around $14 million. That payout can double, however, when a non-AQ team
qualifies for a BCS bowl by finishing the season ranked ahead of an AQ conference’s top team.
Last year, Northern Illinois doubled the pot by finishing ahead of Louisville and playing in the Orange Bowl.
The non-AQ conferences almost enjoyed another double payout this year, but Bowling Green’s
victory over Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship ended those hopes.
The non-AQ conferences also collect from the non-BCS bowls, though again to a lesser degree.
Conference USA leads the way, taking home close to $5.2 million this year. The Mountain West
will get just over $4 million, the MAC will get nearly $3 million and the Sun Belt takes up the
rear with $1.25 million from non-BCS bowl pay.
You also can’t talk about college football’s biggest financial winners without discussing Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish have one of the sweetest deals in college sports, collecting an annual payout
worth 1/66th of net BCS revenue regardless of performance. In other words, they’ll get around
$2 million this year despite an 8-4 record. And if the team makes a BCS bowl, that payout more
than triples to what an AQ conference receives for an at-large bid. Last year’s trip to the
BCS National Championship was worth around $6.2 million.
Army, Navy and BYU are independent teams like Notre Dame, and each is eligible for the at-large
conference payout ($6.3 million this year) if it makes a BCS bowl. Of course, the odds of that
happening are quite low. Army has played in just five bowl games in team history.
Navy hasn’t been in a major game since playing Texas for the de facto national championship
in the 1964 Cotton Bowl, and the last time BYU came close was when it went to the 1997 Cotton Bowl
as the No. 5 team in the country.
When those three independents fail to make a BCS bowl, they each receive just $100,000.
On the bright side, the three teams recently agreed to a deal that ensures each will play
in at least one Poinsettia Bowl over the next three years.
-Forbes
