Texas Tech Loses Over $200,000 On Bowl Appearance

[MeanGreen61]

CUSA board post.

TEXAS TECH ATHELTICS LOST MORE THAN $200,000 ON BOWL APPEARANCE

By Alex Ybarra, Daily Toredor

"A shortfall in travel allowance given by the Big 12 Conference caused the Texas Tech football team to reach into its financial pockets after the team's trip to the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl Jan. 1 in Jacksonville Florida."

"Bobby Gleason, Tech's athletic director, said while the numbers still may fluctuate, the athletic department spend $202,240 out of its regular operating budget of $44 million, which goes to show that the public can be misled when it sees the bowl payout numbers."

"Most fans read something that says that the Gator Bowl payout is $2.5 million," Tech Atheltic Director Gleason said. "Most fans think that goes to us because we're playing in the Gator Bowl, but they don't understand that all that money is paid to the conference."

"Gleason said, in turn, the Big 12 Conference disperses a formula based travel allowance among the teams attending bowl games."

"With (750) people traveling, it gets very expensive very quickly," Gleason said. "So we basically hope to break even on that travel allowance each year. We hope that we spend a little bit less than what it is, but it does take most of the money to travel."

"Gleason said because the Gator Bowl is a tier one bowl--a level below a BCS bowl--the formula provided Tech with a bowl appearance fee of $925,000 and a reimbursement policy that give $199 per mile traveled."

"According to the bowl's financial report, the trip to Jacksonville equaled $239,198 in reimbursement money, so Tech received just under $1.1 million."

"To put it in perspective, Gleason said the appearance fee for a BCS Bowl is $1.5 million along with the reimbursement policy."

"According to the report, Tech subtracted nearly $74,000 after ticket sales did not equal the total price of complimentary tickets used by the university."

"Gleason said Tech used about half of the 12,000 tickets that were availble to sell."

"The financial report indicated that Tech spent approximately 68 percent of its allowance on transportation, meals and lodging, while roughly 27 percent went toward awards and extra compensation for staff."

[ShopMeanGreen]

"With (750) people traveling, it gets very expensive very quickly," Gleason said. "So we basically hope to break even on that travel allowance each year. We hope that we spend a little bit less than what it is, but it does take most of the money to travel."

Boo Hoo. Isn't breaking even on travel what is suppose to happen??? What does Tech get from the Big XII every year? What about all of the other teams in the BigXII that go to bowl games?

"According to the bowl's financial report, the trip to Jacksonville equaled $239,198 in reimbursement money, so Tech received just under $1.1 million."

They may have had to pay out $200K for travel but they did not lose money going to the bowl.

"Bobby Gleason, Tech's athletic director,

Gleason is an assistant AD and the bean counter (CFO) not the AD. Gerald Meyers is the AD. Tech isn't going broke anytime soon. They would gladly go back this year if asked.

[russell360]

200k is less than 1/2of 1% of Tech's budget.

For three plus hours of national exposure that's a bargin.