The financial gain St. Bonaventure sees from men’s basketball through both
the A-10’s "current lucrative television contract and 'units' from NCAA
Tournament appearances" is the "biggest reason why it's beneficial for a small school...to be in the A-10 despite being matched with bigger schools which operate on much bigger budgets," according to J.P. Butler of the OLEAN TIMES HERALD. St. Bonaventure AD Steve Watson last Friday said the $600M of revenue the NCAA puts back into D-I programs is "straight money impacting us." Butler noted the school "received just over $175,000" in FY '13 and is "positively affected from both a financial and exposure aspect by being in arguably the best basketball-driven conference in the nation." The A-10 in FY '13 received $10.5M "strictly from men’s basketball." Watson: "From a national standpoint, we were seventh of 31 conferences.
The only ones ahead of us are the (six) power conferences." Watson said that an NCAA Tournament unit is awarded per school and per game played and is "worth $250,000." This money "goes straight to the conference and is paid out over a six-year period." Watson said, "We don't get that money directly. That money goes to the
conference and the conference decides how they distribute it" (OLEANTIMESHERALD.com, 4/30).
