Univ. of New Mexico AD Paul Krebs said that the school's appearance in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl is "no financial bonanza" for its athletic department, according to Rick Wright of the ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL. He said that a "small profit or merely breaking even ... would be just fine." Krebs: "There’s no real financial windfall for participating in the game. And I would argue that that’s true of most bowl games." He added that playing at home rather than traveling to a bowl game elsewhere "makes little positive impact financially." Many of the expenses "are the same, and some travel money that UNM would receive from the Mountain West Conference goes away since the team is staying put." Krebs said that bowl revenue "comes from stadium rental (about $85,000, paid by ESPN, which owns the New Mexico Bowl); concessions; parking; sales of licensed UNM apparel and other items; an expense allowance of $375,000 from the Mountain West Conference." Because UNM is playing, Krebs is "expecting a larger crowd than the New Mexico Bowl’s nine-year average of about 28,000." Balanced against those revenue streams is the "cost of the 10,000 tickets for which UNM is responsible," as well as "game management at the stadium." Bowl participation expenses and "incentive payments for the coaching staff" also count against revenue. One major expense UNM "doesn’t have as a result of playing at home is chartering a plane." But Krebs said that the school "gets a bit less" from the MWC for that reason (ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL, 12/12).
ISLAND BLUES: In San Diego, Kirk Kenney reported it will cost about $1M for San Diego State to participate in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, which "has a payout of $650,000 for participating teams." To "make the math work and not leave member schools bleeding in red ink," the MWC "pools bowl payouts and distributes accordingly, subsidizing the more expensive destinations." SDSU Senior Associate AD/Business Administration Chuck Lang said, "People thought we were going to lose our shorts on this. In reality, the point of why we (the conference schools) do it the way we do it is so that nobody loses their shorts." Thus, SDSU will receive a total of about $1M for its "game against Cincinnati on Christmas Eve at Aloha Stadium." Lang said that "profit or loss -- which he estimated could be within $100,000 either way -- will hinge on how good a price the Aztecs get on their flight to Honolulu" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 12/13). In Cincinnati, Steve Watkins reported the Hawaii Bowl "isn't such a great deal" financially for the Univ. of Cincinnati. UC Associate AD/Strategic Communications Ryan Koslen said, "We're doing our best to break even." Watkins noted because the trip is "so far, UC is holding down the size of its travel party to save money" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 12/10).
