Final Four runs worth $500 million to Butler

[Da Coach]

Final Four runs earn Butler $500 million +

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/30879290?source=rss_teams_Butler_Bulldogs

[tornado]

to be honest -- the headline here hints that Butler earned $500 million but that's not even close to what the Butler people are actually saying...

they are saying...
"That's how much the school says it's reaped in regard to publicity due to unprecedented title-game runs in 2010 and 2011."

They are talking about imaginary, theoretical numbers of dollars they'd have had to spend
to get the same amount of "airtime".

"A study commissioned by Butler’s athletic department found that the Bulldogs’ run...
generated in excess of a half billion dollars in publicity value."

What they did was counted all the time Butler was being shown on TV networks, print media, and the internet..
... and added up what it would have cost had they BOUGHT that much TV, print, and internet time....
...and of that $500 million -- "$449,211,664.31" of it was "in on-line publicity value"
(which is something that's next to impossibnle to quantitate!!!!)
They are talking about the buzz they got on
..."Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other popular sites from March through June."

Seriously -- why count the number of mentions on Facebook and Twitter -- they would have never bothered to buy or pay for that "publicity"!

...in other words...almost all of their theoretical $500 million was the coverage and chatter that was on the internet and which resulted in little or any real value....
-- but if they are using those kinds of really unscientific arguments, then we could probably say that since BU's Sweet Sixteen run, then BradleyFans.com alone has generated $500 million in exposure for Bradley basketball!! So we can congratulate ourselves!!

[SFP]

They should have used the phrase "brand equity" in order to communicate their message more effectively. How much is those 2 Final Fours worth for Butler? I'm sure they have had an influx in applications, alumni participation at an all time high, future alumni that have a higher vested interest and graduates probably will not hear where is Butler (could be priceless).

[TheAsianSensation]

I don't think anyone is saying Butler would've paid for equivalent coverage (or at least I hope so). But I see no problem in stating they received $500 million of value. Value being the key word.

Receiving value for something, anything (a good or service or anything else) is not the same as a market price for purchasing said good or service.

By the way, BU's S16 run in '06 could probably be worth 40-50 million by the same metric. BF may be responsible for a small portion of that. If you want to claim a couple hundred thousand of that, tornado...

[SFP]

I don't think anyone is saying Butler would've paid for equivalent coverage (or at least I hope so). But I see no problem in stating they received $500 million of value. Value being the key word.

Receiving value for something, anything (a good or service or anything else) is not the same as a market price for purchasing said good or service.

By the way, BU's S16 run in '06 could probably be worth 40-50 million by the same metric. BF may be responsible for a small portion of that. If you want to claim a couple hundred thousand of that, tornado...

You are right on! BU's S16 run included a healthy dose of alumni contribution, merchandise being sold and a greater number of qualified applicants.