The various bowls, played this year in the U.S. and one in Canada, will offer life-long memories to fans, teams and the many other participants, such as band members and cheerleaders, but they also provided more than $187 million to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) schools in 2005, with an estimated $2.1 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Alamo Bowl website. Fans numbering 1.45 million attended games last year and future ticket sales, TV and advertising revenues, school publicity, recruiting and fund raising, are all affected. Derrick Fox, MasterCard Alamo Bowl President and CEO, commented on the 25,000 out of area travelers there every year, "It really fills the gap in that tourism window, let alone the residual effect you get from national television exposure and the media writing about San Antonio in their respective markets. That's worth a lot as far as future tourism and business goes." This year's Alamo Bowl is an early sell-out and the city expects 31 ,000 visitors to give a $15 million boost to its economy. The city's 14 bowl and 2 championship games have contributed $215 million, with $18 million in media exposure from 95 million TV viewers. Last year's Michigan-Nebraska game was the highest rated, most watched college football game in ESPN history. Even less popular bowl games, such as the Meineke Car Care Bowl, where Navy will face Boston College on December 30, will yield teams a million-dollar windfall and priceless publicity. To put that into perspective, in 2002 Navy’s football program lost more than $3 million, according to the Baltimore Sun. Winning seasons and the bowl game appearance could push Navy’s profits past last year’s $6.2 million and increase revenues over the $16.6 million reported in 2005. In December 2005, the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Sub-Committee (CPSC), which holds jurisdiction over NCAA sports, noted that college football is big business, as it discussed rankings and bowls. Chairman of the Football Bowl Association, Derrick Fox commented, "For one thing, since virtually all the post-season Bowl games are put on by charitable groups and since up to one-quarter of the profits from the game are dedicated to the community, local charities receive tens of millions of dollars every year." He added that the television and print exposure for the cities has had a $1.1 billion annual economic impact. This year, 32 post-season bowl games will be played, up from 28 last year. The post-season Bowl Game schedule begins December 19 with Northern Illinois facing Texas Christian University (TCU) in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, Calif. and concludes with Florida playing Ohio State in the Tostitos BCS (Bowl Championship Series) Championship Game on January 8, 2007, in the new University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.. Fifty-three percent of Division 1-A teams will be competing and more than 100 of those division's schools will share some of the projected $210 million in revenue that the bowls generate, according to the Outback Bowl web site. The Tampa Bay, Florida, Bowl quotes a minimum payout of $3 million per team playing in the bowl. Many of the games will be televised, most on ESPN. Among the games making network schedules are:
Fans can also tune into the biggest bowl games of the season on XM Satellite Radio. A total of 16 bowl games will be broadcast on XM, including exclusive satellite radio broadcasts of the Tostitos BCS Championship Game, the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the FedEx Orange Bowl, and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Other games broadcast on XM Sports Nation/Channel 143, unless otherwise noted, are:
Football Bowl games seem to be a win-win situation, for teams and their schools and conferences, for advertisers, the host cities, charities and lastly, the fans. AccountingWEB.com Dec-19-2006 Categories: Accounting (General), Lite_News Times read: 5345
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