FOOTBALL: $142,000 could pay for a lot of things

An undefeated regular season earned the 2008 Ball State University football team a trip to the GMAC Bowl and a bill of more than $140,000.

It cost Ball State $142,398.07 to play in this year's GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., said Randy Howard, associate vice president, finance and assistant treasurer. The cost of the game has added fire to a debate of whether or not big-time athletics have a place at American universities.

While university officials say the benefits of the game outweigh the cost, the price tag has caused others to question the value of intercollegiate athletics at Ball State.

EXPENSES AND REVENUE

The Ball State Foundation paid for most of Ball State's expenses - more than $105,000 - for the bowl game. The Ball State Foundation is the university's nonprofit group that processes gifts and pledges; manages university-related funds for scholarships, programs and projects; manages assets and investments; and is responsible for the Planned Giving and Endowment Stewardship program.

Earned bonuses for coaches, trainers and others - which amounted to more than $36,000 - were paid for by the athletics budget.

When the football team played in the International Bowl in Toronto last year, it cost the university approximately $395,000, Howard said. The biggest reason for the decreased costs this year was because of the GMAC Bowl payout, he said.

The GMAC Bowl gave Ball State $350,000 to play in its game. The International Bowl gave tickets to Ball State to sell last year, and the university got the money it made in ticket sales.

The extra funds from the bowl payout helped prevent Ball State from losing even more money this year than last year. Without the payout, Ball State would have lost more than $492,000 this year.

Ball State had more than $530,000 in expenses from the bowl game.

Ball State's biggest expense was the $160,000 it paid for a chartered plane for the football team, coaches, athletics staff and university officials. In Mobile, Ball State spent more than $135,000 for meals, hotels and other travel expenses.

It also cost more than $56,000 for the university to take its band and cheerleaders to the game.

Excluding the bowl payout, Ball State had approximately $75,000 in revenue.

Ball State's biggest source of revenue for the GMAC Bowl other than the bowl payout was ticket sales - which brought in more than $52,000 for the university.

Ball State's bowl expenses fell in the middle for Mid-American Conference schools.

Central Michigan University spent less than Ball State - with a net loss of $67,227 for the Motor City Bowl in Detroit. Northern Illinois University spent more than Ball State - with a net loss of $158,792 for the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.

The University at Buffalo and Western Michigan University did not provide financial records from their bowl games.

BENEFITS OF FOOTBALL

While Ball State spent more than $100,000 to play in the GMAC Bowl, university officials said the cost was well worth the investment.

"I think the benefits from the visibility well exceed the investment of the dollar figure that you see there," said Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for marketing and communications.

The bowl game was the eighth nationally televised game of the season for the Cardinals, which greatly increased the university's visibility, Proudfoot said. The added visibility made more prospective students aware of Ball State and renewed alumni involvement, he said.

On campus, the bowl game not only improved the experience for football players, but it also improved the college experience for the student body as a whole and increased institutional pride, Proudfoot said.

However, not everyone thinks the Ball State football team and athletics program is a great thing for the university.

Professor of economics Marilyn R. Flowers presented a report to University Senate in the fall that outlined concerns about the amount of money the university spends on athletics, specifically from student fees.

The 2008-09 budget for the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics shows that Ball State has more than $14 million budgeted for its athletics programs. Approximately 80 percent of the budget is paid for from student fees - almost $9 million - and institutional support - almost $2.5 million.

"When it costs so much for kids to go to school, and you charge them $800 a year and most of them don't go to any games, that I think is really unfortunate," Flowers said.

Flowers also contributes to a blog on the Indianapolis Star's Web site called "The Bottom Line." Flowers' first post in January questioned the purpose of college athletics given their high costs.

"I think university athletics has kind of become the tail that wags the dog because it's so much money," she said.

APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION

After Boston College beat the University of Miami on a Hail Mary pass at the end of a 1984 game, applications to Boston College increased 30 percent in the next two years, according to the Associated Press.

The event led people to think that successful athletics programs cause more students to apply to universities - a phenomenon that is known as the "Flutie Effect," which is named after Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie.

At Ball State, the benefits of the "Flutie Effect" are not so apparent.

"I think I can say with confidence that interest in attending Ball State and the quality of students that we are getting that are interested in Ball State and the number of students that are interested in Ball State has grown every year over the past several years," Proudfoot said. "Does our participation in bowl games play a role in that? Yes. Can I quantify exactly how much? No, and I'm not sure that any university could."