Sunday, November 28, 2010

I've Heard of Losing Money in Reno, But This is Ridiculous

You want to know just how bad major intercollegiate athletics has gotten these days? I'll tell you how bad it's gotten. The University of Nevada (at Reno) just pulled off one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of their athletic department. Yeah, that's right, I'm talking about their football team's thrilling upset victory of heretofore undefeated and 4th ranked Boise State (34-31 in overtime). Hm, what, pray tell, could possibly be wrong with that, you ask? I'll tell you what - one point nine million. Yep, that's how much money the university probably ended up losing by their winning of this football game. How so? It's a little something called revenue sharing. Boise State, had they in fact defeated Nevada, were poised to play in a BCS (Bowl Championship Series) post-season bowl game (one of the bigger ones, in other words) - a scenario that clearly would have ended up bringing in a lot of cash, not just to Boise State University but to the entire WAC (the Western Athletic Conference - a non BCS automatic qualifying conference). Nevada's cut of that particular pie would have been, yep, you got it, 1.9 million dollars....Talk about raining on somebody's parade.

5 comments:

Oso said...

My youngest bummed about that loss. She was a culinary student at BSU.

That whole revenue sharing deal is ridiculous man.

Commander Zaius said...

The entire college sports revenue thing is shady.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

That was a heartbreaker, Oso. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be that Boise State kicker these days. And add insult to injury, TCU has apparently bolted for the Big East, further watering down the Mountain West......Shady is a polite way to put it, double b. Reggie Bush, Cam Newton, Pete Carrol, that whole North Carolina agents scandal - college athletics has basically become a minor league for the pros.

Dervish Sanders said...

I guess they should have thrown the game.

BTW, in your post you say "yea, thats right", as if I may have guessed what you were talking about -- I did not. It may have been a "great accomplishment", but it flew completely under my radar. I wasn't at all thrilled, as I was completely unaware that it happened.

I don't follow sports at all... But if I HAD to choose one sport and team to follow I think it would be baseball and the Lake Wobegon Whippets.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

That sounds like a great back-drop to a future Coen Brothers movie.