The short-lived participation of the Big Ten Conference men’s basketball teams could contribute to lower National Collegiate Athletic Association revenues for the conference in the future, according to the Associated Press.
Of the three Big Ten teams that earned a spot in the 2004 NCAA Tournament, the University of Wisconsin, Michigan State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, only the fifth-seeded Illinois remains in the tournament.
The three-team turnout at the NCAA Tournament is the lowest representation of the Big Ten Conference at the tournament since 1984. Since all of the money earned by Big Ten teams is equally divided among all 11 Big Ten schools, this year’s small Big Ten turnout could mean lower portions of NCAA revenue earned by the Big Ten in 2004, according to the Associated Press.
Although the exact amount of revenue generated by the tournament remains unknown until an NCAA champion is crowned, the NCAA distribution to the Big Ten is due within the next few months.
UW Associate Athletic Director of Communications Steve Malchow said conference shares, or the amount of money earned from tournament appearances, is a complicated formula. A conference’s share is dependent on tournament performance over a continuous six-year-period, and the conference earns unit points for each team that qualifies for the NCAA Tournament while earning more unit points for each round the teams advance to.
“There are a lot of numbers that go into [the conference share],” Malchow said. “I think the [NCAA] impact will be minimal.”
University of Illinois Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information Kent Brown said the Big Ten’s finish in the NCAA Tournament could play a part in the Big Ten conference share. “It could and it couldn’t, because it’s averaged over six years,” Brown said. “But over time, the Big Ten has traditionally been the more represented conference [in the NCAA].”
Malchow said UW does not base its athletics budget solely around tournament and bowl game performance. “There are fluctuations every year — some years you don’t go to a bowl game,” Malchow said. “We’ve taken the approach that we don’t depend solely on one good season, and we react to changes all the time — many things influence our $60 million budget.”
The Big Ten will collect $13.3 million based on tournament performance from 1998-2003, totaling $141,000 earned with each tournament appearance, according to the Associated Press.
Brown said although the Big Ten’s revenue may fluctuate over this six-year period, one area of NCAA revenue is solely dependent on team performance. “Licensing money from merchandise sales is a source of revenue in the tournament also,” Brown said. “The longer a team stays in the tournament, the more merchandise is sold because more people want souvenirs — and that does pay off down the line.”
Malchow said ticket prices to UW sporting events will increase this fall, but the price increase is not related to the Badgers’ NCAA Tournament performance.
UW sporting event public ticket prices are currently the lowest in the Big Ten Conference, and will increase by $5 in next year’s sales.
“We haven’t raised ticket price for five years, and we proposed a ticket price increase this spring in the [athletic] budget,” Malchow said.
