Closing Words on College Cash-ketball 2010

There was pleny of excitement as college basketball pools around the country went bad this spring. There was also talk of all the deserving teams that did not make the field of 64+1. Now there is considerable chatter about expanding the field to 96 teams. With the emergence of the Butler University there were comparisons to the movie Hoosiers and the role of the small school in the big tournament.

This is where I would like to say two things.


1. Good for Butler


and to the schools that didn't make the field of 64+1...


2. You reap what you sow. Deal with it!


Here's why. Butler is a school of less than 5000 students. Their licensing revenue more than doubled to $85k last year. Due to this year's performance that number will grow significantly. Duke spends more on one player's expenses than Butler does on all of theirs. I am not bashing the big guys, but I am giving credit to a small school that seems to have gotten the most bang for their basketball bucks. The catch is that the big schools are less ikely to play small schools that are on the rise. Too much to lose if they don't win and not enough to gain if they do win. The best recent example is Gonzaga University. They have improved their program to a level that recognizes them as a big time small basketball school. The catch is that good teams will meet them in tournaments or possbily at neutral sites, but rarely do they go to Gonzaga (where the 'Zags would potentially make more profit.)


On the 2nd point, teams from big conferences get more TV money, more exposure, and greater NCAA money even when they don't make the tournament. For example, St. John's finishes last in the Big East. Because 8 teams from the Big East made the NCAA tournament, every team in that league gets a cut of that money. This doesn't even count that all 5 teams that didn't make the NCAA tourney, played in the NIT. More moeny to share. When you have the conference advantage to get exposure and money, it helps with recruiting. If you cannot win after taking those advantages along with the visibility that allows you to cut favorable deals when you do play smaller schools, YOU DON'T DESERVE TO GO TO THE NCAAs!


The Most Profitable NCAA Tournament Teams - CNBC


...and if all that didn't convince you that this is really about money, this link is my last try to quantify how much it IS about the $$$. Thanks to Darren Rovell for much of the linkage that puts the money behind the sport into perspective.