Move from WAC would be costly
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
DALLAS — By appearing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament today, the University of Hawai'i is making itself some current and future money, but will collect on most of it only if the Rainbows continue to stay in the Western Athletic Conference.
Amid rumors and speculation about a possible invitation to join the Mountain West Conference in the future, one of the factors UH would have to look at in making a decision is the amount of money — in the millions — it would leave behind.
UH receives a $50,000 conference bonus for appearing in the first round of the tournament. But the real money comes from the NCAA, which rewards conferences with members participating in the tournament with a unit share for each appearance — i.e. one for a first-round game, two for getting to the second round, three for reaching the Sweet 16, etc., — up to a maximum of five for a Final Four participant.
The units are kept for a six-year rolling period. For the WAC, they currently number 36, meaning a payout of approximately $362,415 per school this year.
The present worth of a unit is $100,671, but the value of each remaining one next year will reach $131,000 with the new CBS television contract and then increase by 8 percent thereafter.
The NCAA does not allow teams changing conferences to take the units with them.
Which means that if UH were to leave the WAC for the 2003-2004 year, the first year the Rainbows would be eligible to leave if they notified the conference by Sept. 1, UH would be abandoning three years worth of the units they earned by last year's appearance and four years of whatever units they earn this season. They would also forfeit their share of those earned by other schools such as Tulsa, which has already moved into the second round this year.
When eight schools — Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah and Wyoming — that bolted the WAC in 1999 to form the MWC departed, they left behind more than $10 million in future NCAA disbursements.
