Deadspin:
By Design, The Sweet 16 Is Once Again Cinderella-Free
excerpt:
...There are a number of reasonable explanations as to why mid-majors have failed to live past the first weekend: varying talent levels, seeding, a soft bubble, luck. But really, the fact that Middle Tennessee State was the only 12-seed or lower to win its first-round matchup—and the fact that all mid-majors are seeded so low—is a product of the NCAA’s design. The tournament is the association’s biggest money-maker of the year, making up nearly 90 percent of the association’s annual haul; it is also worth quite a bit for the conferences, universities, and athletic departments sending their teams dancing. So it’s quite important that the NCAA design a system that benefits its fellow money-makers.
The NCAA payout model is based off how many units a conference earns. Conferences are awarded one unit for each game a member school competes in and are then encouraged to split the total amongst all their members, though that is not mandated. According to the News & Observer, merely participating in a single round of this year’s tournament will earn conferences a payout of $264,859 per school, a number that increases and is reapplied for the following six years. The Mercury Newshas a solid breakdown of the Pac-12's current financial success that lays out the NCAA’s payment model pretty well:
Thus far, the Pac-12 has 12 units: Four teams in the tournament and eight victories.
Those units will be carried forward for six years. USC’s three games played, for example, translate to 18 units over the rolling payout period.
And the units move forward at an ever-increasing dollar amount.
The 2.9 percent annual escalator means that units earned this year will be paid out next spring at $272,620 each, then $280,756 in Year 2, then $288,897 in Year 3, etc.
Here’s the value of 2017 units going forward:
2018: $272,620
2019: $280,756
2020: $288,897
2021: $297,275
2022: $305,895
2023: $314,765
If Arizona, Oregon, and UCLA all lose in the Sweet 16, the Pac-12 would walk away with $21.1 million after the units accumulated their total worth. Now, the $1.75 million that each school will collect is a nice bonus, but when you’re dealing with athletic departments like Oregon’s, which raked in $105 million in revenue two years ago, a deep tourney run isn’t make-or-break for the majority of schools in the top-level conferences.
Mid-major conferences, on the other hand, send just one or two schools per year; those teams usually get bounced in the first or second round, with the exception of memorable teams like 2014 Florida Gulf Coast or 2011 VCU or 2010 Butler. This ultimately handicaps their access to the big pot—even if a team makes an improbable run, that money from one team is still going to spread amongst all the conference members. As the Washington Post reported three years ago, this money can make up nearly 70 percent of a smaller conference’s annual budget. The area individual schools look to capitalize on is from the sudden flood of merchandise requests—the Eagles’ book store sales increased.....
By Design, The Sweet 16 Is Once Again Cinderella-Free
excerpt:
...There are a number of reasonable explanations as to why mid-majors have failed to live past the first weekend: varying talent levels, seeding, a soft bubble, luck. But really, the fact that Middle Tennessee State was the only 12-seed or lower to win its first-round matchup—and the fact that all mid-majors are seeded so low—is a product of the NCAA’s design. The tournament is the association’s biggest money-maker of the year, making up nearly 90 percent of the association’s annual haul; it is also worth quite a bit for the conferences, universities, and athletic departments sending their teams dancing. So it’s quite important that the NCAA design a system that benefits its fellow money-makers.
The NCAA payout model is based off how many units a conference earns. Conferences are awarded one unit for each game a member school competes in and are then encouraged to split the total amongst all their members, though that is not mandated. According to the News & Observer, merely participating in a single round of this year’s tournament will earn conferences a payout of $264,859 per school, a number that increases and is reapplied for the following six years. The Mercury Newshas a solid breakdown of the Pac-12's current financial success that lays out the NCAA’s payment model pretty well:
Thus far, the Pac-12 has 12 units: Four teams in the tournament and eight victories.
Those units will be carried forward for six years. USC’s three games played, for example, translate to 18 units over the rolling payout period.
And the units move forward at an ever-increasing dollar amount.
The 2.9 percent annual escalator means that units earned this year will be paid out next spring at $272,620 each, then $280,756 in Year 2, then $288,897 in Year 3, etc.
Here’s the value of 2017 units going forward:
2018: $272,620
2019: $280,756
2020: $288,897
2021: $297,275
2022: $305,895
2023: $314,765
If Arizona, Oregon, and UCLA all lose in the Sweet 16, the Pac-12 would walk away with $21.1 million after the units accumulated their total worth. Now, the $1.75 million that each school will collect is a nice bonus, but when you’re dealing with athletic departments like Oregon’s, which raked in $105 million in revenue two years ago, a deep tourney run isn’t make-or-break for the majority of schools in the top-level conferences.
Mid-major conferences, on the other hand, send just one or two schools per year; those teams usually get bounced in the first or second round, with the exception of memorable teams like 2014 Florida Gulf Coast or 2011 VCU or 2010 Butler. This ultimately handicaps their access to the big pot—even if a team makes an improbable run, that money from one team is still going to spread amongst all the conference members. As the Washington Post reported three years ago, this money can make up nearly 70 percent of a smaller conference’s annual budget. The area individual schools look to capitalize on is from the sudden flood of merchandise requests—the Eagles’ book store sales increased.....
