Posted on: Sunday, December 12, 2004

WAC hopes for happy returns in bowl season

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Thanks, in part, to the University of Hawai'i reaching bowl eligibility for an appearance in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, the Western Athletic Conference hopes to break even on its football postseason this year for the first time in seven years.

"This year we have an opportunity to break even or, perhaps, even make some money," commissioner Karl Benson said.

In past years the conference has spent as much as $1 million to subsidize bowl appearances for its members. Not since 1997, the final year of its agreement with the Holiday Bowl, do conference officials say they believe the WAC has broken even or made money on its bowl appearances.

The WAC's current policy awards participating bowl teams $350,000 plus travel expenses from the bowl payout. Remaining money goes into the WAC pool which also, in cases where there is a deficit, covers shortfalls.

The WAC has a $1.2 million "bowl liability" line item in its budget to cover sponsorship obligations and shortfalls this year, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

This year the 10-team WAC will have four teams in bowls for a second consecutive season, matching the second-highest total in conference history. In 1992, the year UH went to the Holiday Bowl, the WAC placed five schools in bowls.

This year it has UH versus Alabama Birmingham in the Hawai'i Bowl; Fresno State against Virginia in the MPC Computers Bowl, Texas-El Paso playing Colorado in the EV1.net Houston Bowl and Boise State versus Louisville in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

The Liberty Bowl lists a suggested minimum $1.35 million per team while Houston lists $1.1 million and the Hawai'i and MPC Bowls $750,000 each. The NCAA no longer requires a minimum payment and actual payouts are determined by attendance, sponsorships and ticket obligations.

Bowl Championship Series games — the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls — pay participating conferences $14 million-$17 million per representative.

Without UH in the Hawai'i Bowl, the WAC could have been on the line for as much as $500,000 in sponsorship and travel costs — a figure that would have been divided among the 10 member schools.

But with an appearance by the Warriors, the WAC not only saves travel costs, the ticket sales UH assures could enhance the bottom line.

Coupled with the Liberty and Houston bowls, the Hawai'i Bowl is being counted on to balance out expected losses at MPC and at the Silicon Valley Bowl, where the WAC has a stake.

The San Jose, Calif.-based Silicon Valley game, which matches Troy and Northern Illinois in the absence of a WAC team, could be in its final year. The game drew 20,126 last year and 10,142 in 2002 and faces the loss of its NCAA license.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.