OU releases $$ report on football team’s Boise trip

During the first half of the Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team's win over Miami last Saturday, the football team was recognized for winning the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the school's first bowl win. They carried the trophy, a large bowl filled with actual potatoes.

On Tuesday, OU showed how much those potatoes cost, releasing their official revenue and expense report for their trip to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on Dec. 21.

According to the report, the university broke even on the trip, with revenues and expenses both totaling $486,682.

According to the Football Bowl Association, the payout for the bowl game was $650,000, which typically is evenly distributed between the participating teams, meaning Ohio should have received $325,000.

But OU received $475,000 of revenue from participating in the bowl game. The $150,000 discrepancy can be explained because the contract between the Mid-American Conference and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl pays the MAC more due to their higher travel expenses, according to Tom Symonds, OU's assistant athletic director for media relations.

Other revenue included $1,960 from ticket sales, according to the budget report. But those two revenue sources were not enough to break even. The school needed to dip into the university's general fees to avoid a financial loss. The report showed that just under $10,000 of revenue came from the general fees.

While the school did not lose any money from the trip, there was one person who benefited the most from Ohio's 24-23 victory over Utah State. Based on contract incentives, Head coach Frank Solich earned an extra $43,000 from the win. Solich's contract, which was obtained through public records request, states that he is to receive $10,000 for a 10-win season and 10 percent of his yearly salary, which was raised to $330,000 in 2010, for winning a bowl game.

With the addition of other win-based incentives, Solich earned an additional $58,000 for leading the team to perhaps Ohio's most successful season ever.

Here are some highlights from budget report:

The most expensive portion of attending the game was the travel to Boise, Idaho, located in the Rocky Mountain West. The chartered flight cost just over $215,000, a little under half of the total expenses.

More than $33,000 of the athletic expenses was spent in the other parts of the university, including housing, dining, printing and transportation services. The football team can eat a lot: the university spent more than $55,000 on feeding coaches and players.

It was the second straight season that Ohio football broke even on their trip, but this season saw significantly larger bowl distribution revenue. Last year, when the Bobcats traveled to the  R L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the team only reported $300,000 revenue from bowl distribution.