Crybabies

[Dallas Brave]

I do think the Virgina Athletic Dept looks bad by supplying these type of numbers to the newpaper reporter. I also have a hard time understanding how they lost so much money.

Revenue (assumptions):
$110,000 - ticket sales (16,325 over 3 games assuming 1/3 adults and 2/3 student)
$85,000 - refreshments (on average, each ticket buyer spends $5)
$25,000 - parking: (attending adults pay $5 to park)
$220,000 - total revenue

Cost to Play (assumptions)
$180,000 - pay to play (CBI fee)
$0 - arena rental (JPJ arena owned by school)
$180,000 - Total Cost to Play

Operating Costs
So at this point, Virginia is $40,000 in the black. So, in order to achieve a net loss of $150,000, they spent $190,000 on operating costs such as advertising and marketing and event operations for 3 events.

Am I missing something? Seems like the Cavaliers were just that ... very cavalier with their operating costs. The school is suitably named.

[Bravesfan]

As well as this has turned out for BU, I still hope we never play in it again. I want to be in the NCAA and I would still rather play in the NIT and have a shot at the Garden if the NCAA is not a possiblity. If neither one of those is possible than the CBI is clearly better than nothing but lets hope we dont play in it again soon.

Just curious. Why do you believe the NIT is so much better than the CBI? I understand that the quality of teams in the NIT is a bit better than the CBI, and that money does not determine where someone will play, but when you come right down to it, both tourneys are filled with a bunch of "also-rans". Therefore, I don't really see a huge difference between the two other than the money aspect of it.

[Bravesfan]

I know this may have been discussed before, but how again is the money distributed between the CBI and the teams participating in it? For example, if Bradley took in an even $60,000 for a game, does that all go to the CBI contigent, or does the CBI and Bradley split that amount? And what happens if a team falls short of or takes in more than the $60,000 figure?

[Lakeview Brave]

Aside from the money the NIT gets broader coverage from the media and is more of a known entity to potential recruits. In addtion playing at MSG would be amazing and I would love the chance to see BU play thier.

[Lakeview Brave]

I do think the Virgina Athletic Dept looks bad by supplying these type of numbers to the newpaper reporter. I also have a hard time understanding how they lost so much money.

Revenue (assumptions):
$110,000 - ticket sales (16,325 over 3 games assuming 1/3 adults and 2/3 student)
$85,000 - refreshments (on average, each ticket buyer spends $5)
$25,000 - parking: (attending adults pay $5 to park)
$220,000 - total revenue

Cost to Play (assumptions)
$180,000 - pay to play (CBI fee)
$0 - arena rental (JPJ arena owned by school)
$180,000 - Total Cost to Play

Operating Costs
So at this point, Virginia is $40,000 in the black. So, in order to achieve a net loss of $150,000, they spent $190,000 on operating costs such as advertising and marketing and event operations for 3 events.

Am I missing something? Seems like the Cavaliers were just that ... very cavalier with their operating costs. The school is suitably named.

If most of the people attending the game than were students than the parking number might be a little high. Using the same logic the refeshments might be high also since they dont serve beer.

[Bravesfan]

Aside from the money the NIT gets broader coverage from the media and is more of a known entity to potential recruits. In addtion playing at MSG would be amazing and I would love the chance to see BU play thier.

Good points, but the CBI will hopefully gain a reputation in the coming years and truly compete with the NIT in coverage. Also, I would much rather have a shot at winning a championship on my home court than at a half empty MSG.

[Dallas Brave]

If most of the people attending the game than were students than the parking number might be a little high. Using the same logic the refeshments might be high also since they dont serve beer.

I assumed that of the 16,000+ plus that bought a ticket, two-thrids of them were students. I think that assumption is conservative since the first game was played during spring break.

[Bravesfan]

I assumed that of the 16,000+ plus that bought a ticket, two-thrids of them were students. I think that assumption is conservative since the first game was played during spring break.

Probably true. However, to follow up on my previous question, how does the $60,000 get distributed? Does the first $60,000 all go to the CBI people and then the CBI and the host school split anything over the first $60,000? I know it's been talked about before, but I forgot how the revenue would be distributed.

[ph]

1) TV contract, NIT has a way, way, way better TV deal with the ESPN family and is available to more casual viewers, you know for certain, well ahead of time where the games will be on your TV "dial"...

2) NIT finals, playing at the Garden is a "cooler", more historicallly significant destination. than the 3 game finals concept. (although the teams got louder cheering playing at home)

3) better teams, better overall media coverage goes to the NIT

4) the NIT means something to fans that know Bradley's proud basketball history.

That said, the CBI has turned out better than expected, and I am very glad what the CBI has done for Bradley, this year.

[Dallas Brave]

Good points, but the CBI will hopefully gain a reputation in the coming years and truly compete with the NIT in coverage. Also, I would much rather have a shot at winning a championship on my home court than at a half empty MSG.

It should become more economical for teams in the future to play. Next year, the Gazelle Group can probably negotiate a better media contract and defray some of the participating costs.

[Scouter]

Also, I would much rather have a shot at winning a championship on my home court than at a half empty MSG.

I agree with you there, but from a recruiting standpoint I think it would be more beneficial to play in NYC and on ESPN where basically everyone in the country could watch than in Peoria or Tulsa on Fox College Sports where most people here can't even watch the game from their home.

[Dallas Brave]

Probably true. However, to follow up on my previous question, how does the $60,000 get distributed? Does the first $60,000 all go to the CBI people and then the CBI and the host school split anything over the first $60,000? I know it's been talked about before, but I forgot how the revenue would be distributed.

I was assuming that the Gazelle Group kept the $60,000 per home game fee. They put this together to make a profit for themselves.

I am also assuming the the NCAA is a non-profit organization and is required to distribute meda revenue back to the member schools ... i.e, the root of the evil emanating from the BCS conferences ... greed.

[Da Coach]

This money argument is bogus. Virginia, even without making the NCAA or NIT will probably make more money from their share of the distribution of the payout from the NCAA games by North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, and Miami, than the entire MVC will make from the NCAA this year. By the MVC getting only 1 team and 1 first round game, the share that will go to Bradley will be miniscule.
And if money was such a worry for the Cavaliers, they could have just requested to be a road team throughout the tournament, or just declined to participate at all. They knew full well what the costs were. But if they were a road team, then maybe they wouldn't have been as likely to win a game. So to pick up a couple wins, they were OK with the cost of the tournament. Now they are whining about losing money. And they definitely are whining. Here is another, different article all about the same woeful story of losing money in the CBI.
How do you think that multiple newspapers wrote similar stories? Just a coincidence? Obviously, the Virginia people wanted to get the story out about how they lost money. That is whining!

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/uvabasketball/wb/156219

Plus, Virginia has an athletic department budget and expenditures of over $64 million per year. And being a state school, they have very little worries about where that money comes from, and how they acquire it. Anytime thay need a new facility, they know the money will be made available, and they have tens of thousands of graduates to hit up for donations.
That dwarfs the $10 million budget for Bradley, who has to plan for years and raise funds before they can even begin to think about new facilities.
Virginia- http://www.bbstate.com/school.php?s=UVA
Bradley- http://www.bbstate.com/school.php?s=BRAD

I don't know why the Virginia people wanted to get this story out about losing money. Maybe it was to soften the effect of the loss to Bradley. But, they obviously save a ton of money by Bradley beating them and sparing them from having to play 2 or 3 more money-losing games! They should be thanking Bradley.

[Dallas Brave]

Always happy to provide a chuckle.

It's my opinion that people get the most upset with those who possess similar personality flaws. i.e, the intolerant can't stand others who are intolerant ... or predictable people get upset at the predictability of others.

I know I'm guilty as charged.

[Dallas Brave]

I don't know why the Virginia people wanted to get this story out about losing money. Maybe it was to soften the effect of the loss to Bradley. But, they obviously save a ton of money by Bradley beating them and sparing them from having to play 2 or 3 more money-losing games! They should be thanking Bradley.

That's what I can't figure out ... why would the school publicize these numbers to begin with? It makes the school's Athletic Dept look incompetent.