Living in the SEC’s shadows

Boise State was the darling of the 2006 college football season, capping a 13-0 record with a 43-42 overtime shocking of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Broncos generated roughly $12.1 million in football revenue, according to the U.S. Department of Education, which is a substantial figure for programs in leagues such as the Western Athletic Conference. Yet that total would have tied for last in the Southeastern Conference with Mississippi State, which also generated about $12.1 million during the ’06 season despite a 3-9 record.

Not that anybody was doubting life in the SEC being financially superior to less-heralded conferences.

“It’s tough for teams in leagues like the Mid-American Conference that want to compete at this level,” said Greg McGarity, Florida’s executive senior associate director overseeing internal affairs. “There are things across the board that they just can’t do. You look at travel and the compensation of coaches, and that’s where the discrepancies are in college athletics.

“You’re seeing some schools that just don’t have the financial resources to keep up.”

While Florida, Tennessee and Alabama have total athletic revenues that dwarf those at Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, most Division I universities envy the resources of those in the SEC’s financial cellar. Mississippi State’s total athletic revenue of $25.8 million during the 2006-07 fiscal year was the lowest in the SEC but topped Boise State ($21.8 million) and more than doubled that of some Sun Belt Conference members such as Louisiana-Lafayette ($10 million).

Middle Tennessee State had the highest total revenue within the Sun Belt with a school-record $17.3 million, but Blue Raiders athletic director Chris Massaro recognizes Florida’s $107.8 million and Tennessee’s $95.4 million totals spearheaded by consistent football success will continue to get much larger much faster.

“I think long range that will hurt college football,” Massaro said. “It’s good to have stories that come up every now and then like Boise State and to see teams rise like Rutgers in the past few years. I think it’s good to have more competitive teams across the board.”

The addition of a fifth Bowl Championship Series game in 2006 resulted in Boise State and Hawaii earning $17 million bowl payouts that have been split among the WAC, Sun Belt, MAC, Mountain West and Conference USA.

Massaro said the Sun Belt received $230,000 for Boise State’s appearance, which helped cover some of MTSU’s travel expenses to the 2006 Motor City Bowl. The Sun Belt, which sent two teams to bowls in ’06 and one this past season, will put a similar amount from Hawaii’s recent Sugar Bowl trip into a nest egg for the next time the league has two bowl teams.

That is money the Sun Belt didn’t have before, but it pales to the $10.17 million each SEC member received on average last June when the league distributed $122 million in revenue. More than $85 million of that came from football television contracts ($48.3 million), bowls ($23.7) and the league championship game ($13.2), while the league’s basketball television contracts added another $12.3 million.

“Institutions within some other leagues have to find other ways to try and generate dollars through their fan support,” SEC executive associate commissioner Mark Womack said. “One thing our league enjoys is certainly the support of its fan base to generate dollars out of ticket sales and contributions, and we’ve helped generate revenue through bowls and TV that maybe some other leagues haven’t been able to do.”

Said Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs: “Our championship game and our television packages have given us a competitive step up from other conferences, and it’s proven to be the case in how we compete on the field with other conferences.”

The SEC’s revenue distribution last year was second only to that of the Big Ten ($127 million) among conferences that release such information. The ACC does not disclose its distribution, but it reportedly is around $130 million.

Though the revenue gap between Florida and Florida Atlantic only will widen in future years, Womack does not believe it will result in the NCAA passing legislation as to what schools can or can’t spend. As much as Massaro would love a more level playing field, he doesn’t envision the NCAA stepping in, either.

“At the end of the day, will it pass the legal test and the antitrust?” Massaro said. “There is already a lot of argument that it wouldn’t. You will still have the SEC and the power of the SEC as it compares to some other programs that don’t have as big of a profile. They are still going to get the best football players in recruiting and have so many advantages, but we can’t worry about that as much as getting our product better.

“The old business model is don’t tax the other guy to benefit me. If I try and compare us to Tennessee, well, they’ve been winning 80 percent of their games for the last 100 years, so they’ve earned what they’ve gotten. My job is to strive to put Middle Tennessee, over time, in that same success category.”

Massaro said everybody is in an arms race regardless of conference affiliation. The Blue Raiders aren’t building facilities to compete with Kentucky, he added, but his department does keep an eye on what’s being built at Troy and Louisiana-Monroe.

Middle Tennessee recently added video boards to its football and basketball facilities and has a $6.6 million baseball venue scheduled for completion in May.

Massaro was hired at MTSU in April 2005 after working for 20 years in South Carolina’s athletic department, so he has been on the inside and outside of the SEC financial beast. In less than three full years in Murfreesboro, he has discovered not being overly wealthy doesn’t translate into not being overly happy.

“In some ways, being in the SEC is much more difficult because you’re playing against the Floridas and LSUs all the time,” he said. “While the bigger schools are simply trying to maintain, we get to try to create and carve out a niche and grow. Here we’ve got our own peer group, and we’re fortunate to be at the top of the Sun Belt.

“The SEC, well, more power to them.”