OU Athletics says tournament "host" fee was worth the cost
By Nick Claussen
March 20, 2008
The Ohio University men’s basketball team picked up a big win in a new tournament Tuesday evening, but also paid a big price to be in the tournament.
On Tuesday, the Bobcats defeated Brown University 80-74 in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational tournament.
This is the first year for the tournament, which is run by the Gazelle Group and involves 16 teams from around the country. The Gazelle Group sponsors college basketball tournaments and other events throughout the year. The tournament chose teams that did not make it into the prestigious NCAA Tournament and competed with the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) for some teams.
Jason Corriher, director of media relations for Ohio Athletics, said that of the schools selected for the tournament, the colleges or universities that agreed to put up $60,000 for the game were chosen to host. OU agreed to pay the money for the home game, he said.
The athletics department has had budget problems in recent years, including a controversial decision to eliminate four sports last year because of budget and Title IX gender-equity issues. The department also submitted a budget proposal this year that didn’t include $700,000 in expenses. Because of the recent budget issues, some area residents and OU students and faculty have been concerned about university budget priorities as they relate to the athletics department.
Corriher said that the $60,000 for this tournament will come from ticket sales from Tuesday night’s lightly attended game and from a “guarantee” game the Bobcats will play next season.
A guarantee game is one played against a bigger school where OU will receive a large amount of money for playing the game, he said.
Attendance for Tuesday’s game was listed in the box score at 1,169. Tickets cost $10 each, so if every person at the game purchased a ticket, the university theoretically would have as much as $11,690 to pay toward the $60,000 fee. Students were admitted into the game for free, however, so the actual gate receipts were considerably lower.
Despite the cost, though, the game had several benefits for the university, athletics officials said.
“It is exposure for your program,” Corriher said. Tournament exposure serves as marketing for the university and helps the basketball program, he said.
The game was televised on the FOX College Sports network and streaming audio/video on the Gazelle Web site. The FOX station was available on satellite Direct TV channel 669 for this week’s games.
Corriher also cited the benefits of having another home game for the fans and players.
“It’s another home game for our seniors,” he noted. The game is a reward of sorts for them, and allows them to continue their careers for a few more games, he said.
Colleges and universities also pay extra expenses to participate in football bowl games and other postseason events. In 2007, for example, when the Bobcats played in the GMAC Bowl, the university went into the game expecting to lose money on the travel expenses and other costs associated with the game, but OU officials argued that the value of the game through exposure for the university outweighs the costs.
Rick Giles, president of the Gazelle Group, said Wednesday that Gazelle expects to get $60,000 out of each tournament game from the home court, with the host school making up the difference between ticket sales and $60,000 if the sales fall under that amount. The system will be the same for all rounds of the tournament, he said. The Gazelle Group uses some of money to pay travel expenses for visiting teams, he said.
The Gazelle Group chose teams not based on their RPI rating or on how many wins they had, but by the quality of their wins.
Cincinnati had a record of just 13-18, but got chosen because it had some good wins before a tough ending to its season, he said. Ohio’s quality wins over Maryland and three NCAA tournament teams helped it get in, he said.
The tournament will end with a best-of-three championship series on the campuses of the two finalists.
“We wanted to do something that was a little bit unique and a little different,” Giles said, adding that this format will add excitement and passion to the games. Giles said he’s happy with the intensity and enthusiasm for the tournament so far.
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