Without WAC, other non-AQs will earn more BCS revenue
Conference realignment has killed a number of high profile rivalries, including Texas-Texas A&M, Missouri-Kansas and Pittsburgh-West Virginia, and it has finally claimed a conference as the WAC is on its death bed as a football conference as I wrote Monday night.
If the WAC is eliminated as a FBS league after the 2012-13 season, it will mean that the current non-AQ conferences (Conference USA, Mountain West, MAC and Sun Belt) could each earn an additional $750,000 in BCS revenue for the 2013-14 season.
In 2011-12, the five non-AQ conferences split $13.2 million with each league receiving $2.64 million. Without the WAC, that amount would increase to at least $3.3 million per team in 2013-14.
The 2011-12 BCS media guide indicates that "if no team from the non-AQ conferences participates, those conferences would receive approximately $13.2 million -- 9 percent of the net BCS revenue."
However, industry sources told CBSSports.com that the FBS commissioners and Presidential Oversight Committee members ultimately would have to determine how the WAC's revenue would be distributed: would it be split among the current non-AQ conferences or among all 10 remaining conferences.
I asked WAC interim commissioner Jeff Hurd Monday night to comment about his league's football future, but he politely declined.
On Tuesday, the league released a statement:
"The Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors is well aware of the changing landscape in Division I athletics and has been in discussion about it for the last several weeks. Further, it continues to evaluate the impact upon the WAC and is closely engaged in evaluating its membership options. It will not speculate relative to those options, but it has confidence that the WAC will maintain its more than 50-year history as a preeminent Division I conference."
With the new playoff format beginning in 2014 and estimates that the revenue could be worth twice as much, if the revenue sharing percentages remain the same in 2014 (and there's no guarantee it will), then C-USA, MAC, Sun Belt and MWC would each earn $6.6 million.
While that is a significant increase, it still pales in comparison to the minimum amount the other conferences (SEC, Pac 12, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Big East) each earned in 2011-12 ($22.3 million) and would be projected to make in 2014 (at least $44 million).
If the WAC is eliminated as a FBS league after the 2012-13 season, it will mean that the current non-AQ conferences (Conference USA, Mountain West, MAC and Sun Belt) could each earn an additional $750,000 in BCS revenue for the 2013-14 season.
In 2011-12, the five non-AQ conferences split $13.2 million with each league receiving $2.64 million. Without the WAC, that amount would increase to at least $3.3 million per team in 2013-14.
The 2011-12 BCS media guide indicates that "if no team from the non-AQ conferences participates, those conferences would receive approximately $13.2 million -- 9 percent of the net BCS revenue."
However, industry sources told CBSSports.com that the FBS commissioners and Presidential Oversight Committee members ultimately would have to determine how the WAC's revenue would be distributed: would it be split among the current non-AQ conferences or among all 10 remaining conferences.
I asked WAC interim commissioner Jeff Hurd Monday night to comment about his league's football future, but he politely declined.
On Tuesday, the league released a statement:
"The Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors is well aware of the changing landscape in Division I athletics and has been in discussion about it for the last several weeks. Further, it continues to evaluate the impact upon the WAC and is closely engaged in evaluating its membership options. It will not speculate relative to those options, but it has confidence that the WAC will maintain its more than 50-year history as a preeminent Division I conference."
With the new playoff format beginning in 2014 and estimates that the revenue could be worth twice as much, if the revenue sharing percentages remain the same in 2014 (and there's no guarantee it will), then C-USA, MAC, Sun Belt and MWC would each earn $6.6 million.
While that is a significant increase, it still pales in comparison to the minimum amount the other conferences (SEC, Pac 12, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Big East) each earned in 2011-12 ($22.3 million) and would be projected to make in 2014 (at least $44 million).
