News

Bowl payouts meager for schools in C-USA

By Ed De La Garza
The Daily Cougar

Louisiana State University and the University of Oklahoma each received $13.5 million for playing in the Sugar Bowl. Kansas State University and Oklahoma earned the Big 12 Conference $27 million in playing in Bowl Championship Series bowls.

Those numbers are a far cry from what Conference USA programs received from the Hawaii, Fort Worth, Liberty, GMAC and New Orleans bowls. UH, Texas Christian University, the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Memphis and the University of Louisville earned C-USA $4.3 million total, with only Liberty Bowl participant Southern Miss earning more than $1 million.

By playing in the Hawaii Bowl, Houston earned C-USA $750,000. The conference then gave the University $560,000, $542,000 of which went toward travel expenses, meals and accommodations in Honolulu.

Putting $18,000 in the Athletics Department's coffers may not seem like much -- especially considering the millions of dollars involved in BCS-affiliated bowls. But to a program that hadn't played in the postseason since 1996, the Hawaii Bowl may have given UH more than monetary compensation.

"It was broadcast not just in the United States, but in Japan as well," Athletics Director Dave Maggard said. "It brought the game to alumni and others around the country."

He said the exposure gained from playing in a nationally televised bowl game was invaluable.

The $18,000 may have been, as Maggard said, "a drop in the bucket," but it may not have been that high if the department hadn't pinched its pennies.

"We had some of the team eat their meals at the cafeteria at the University of Hawaii," Maggard said. "We gave some of them a per diem."

Per conference regulations, the Cougar Marching Band was not allowed to travel with the team. Travel expenses for the eight cheerleaders who made the trip were paid by the Student Spirit Groups, Maggard said.

When Art Briles was hired as head football coach in December 2002, it was with the hope that he would revitalize the program and help fill the stands. Revitalizing the program could just as easily have meant helping the department cut into a $10.8 million deficit at the time.

As long as the program plays in C-USA, it may never get the huge payouts that help make departments economically viable, but it could help Athletics increase its fund-raising capabilities. But one bowl game won't bring down that deficit.

"Is it going to be overnight? No," Maggard said.

But he said even if the money wasn't great, making it to the postseason was a decidedly positive thing for the school.

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