WAC's payout shrinks
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Without a Bowl Championship Series representative for the first time in three years, the University of Hawai'i and the rest of the Western Athletic Conference are taking a considerable hit in the wallet.
Today is the final day of the fiscal year for the nine-member WAC and most of its members, including UH, which receives $1.12 million, will be getting smaller disbursement checks than the two previous years.
Two years ago UH received $1.433 million, nearly $400,000 of it resulting from Boise State's victory in the Fiesta Bowl. Last year UH earned $4.92 million, approximately $3.8 million from the Warriors' appearance in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia.
The WAC payouts reflect bowl distributions, BCS payments, NCAA men's basketball tournament shares, television and other revenues, a conference spokesman said.
Last year, because of UH's Sugar Bowl appearance, each WAC member received $400,000. This year, without conference representative in the BCS, each school received $285,000, according to the WAC office.
The distribution would have been slightly higher this year, WAC officials said, had it not been for the necessity to use some of the funds to help defray expenses in bowl games where the conference had liabilities.