Interesting story about bowl game expenses

[dpwspringer 0]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--bowls--extravagant-revenues-are-closely-examined-as-the-ncaa-mulls-a-playoff-system.html;_ylt=AvFf5gxFkv8h5iNADdOC9WkcvrYF

Bowls' extravagant revenues are closely examined as the NCAA mulls a playoff system

By Dan Wetzel | Yahoo! Sports – 14 hours ago

It is a little long to paste but in general, the bowl folks and everyone associated with it (hotels etc) are gouging the heck out of the teams participating in every way imaginable... they have profiteering down to a science and show no mercy.  You hear stories every now and then about how much it ends up costing teams to go to a bowl and that often it is a losing proposition financially, but when you see some of the details laid out in Dan Wetzel's story it will likely piss you off at the bowls.

I guess the timing/purpose is to help influence the current playoff discussions.  It sure makes me think twice about being loyal to the traditional big bowls and trying to include them in any playoff discussions.  I think the schools putting this together should do to the big bowls what the big bowls have been doing to them all these years.  And it is no wonder the big bowls do so much pr and lobbying trying to preserve their position.  They have created a tax free cash cow with very little, if any over sight.

[Autigers71 0]

some big numbers

"Look at breakfast alone," the AD continued. "A gallon of orange juice at a nice hotel can cost $70 to $95.

LSU, for example, spent $754,118 on meals and lodging alone this year.

[chimesAU 89]

That story made me sick to my stomach. There are some greeeeeeeedy people out there...

[lionheartkc 6,150]

They aren't targeting schools or bowl teams, however.  Any kind of event that takes place at a hotel or resort is grossly overpriced AND they do not allow you to bring external food or drink in.  The "joke" we used to have at my previous job when talking about putting on conferences at hotels is "how much does a meatball cost."  The answer... a frightening $3.50... that's 1 meatball.

Same thing goes for stadiums.  They overcharge for everything.

[Plaric 4]

Something is worth the price people are willing to pay.

If the schools weren't willing to pay those incredible prices they would come down.

[dpwspringer 0]

Something is worth the price people are willing to pay.

If the schools weren't willing to pay those incredible prices they would come down.

I don't know about that, the bowls have a monopoly on post season games and if they are picking out hotels for teams that have to pay a premium price, while the bowls are getting kick backs from the hotels...

[walker77 0]

They aren't targeting schools or bowl teams, however.  Any kind of event that takes place at a hotel or resort is grossly overpriced AND they do not allow you to bring external food or drink in.  The "joke" we used to have at my previous job when talking about putting on conferences at hotels is "how much does a meatball cost."  The answer... a frightening $3.50... that's 1 meatball.

Same thing goes for stadiums.  They overcharge for everything.

I handle the logistics for conferences, and this is dead on target. If you look in the dictionary under the word "greed", you'll find these folks are the definition.

There are ways to plan around this rip-off though, and for the teams to continue to pay for this speaks volumes to the amount of money they are actually bringing in... probably as much to blame as the vendors are.

[fly757au 0]

I understand that when selected for a bowl, the teams have to sign a contract with that particular

Bowl, correct?

If that is the case, I assume that many of these expenses are a contractual obligation to the teams.

[Tiger n Miami AU83 25]

If you want a truly eye-opening read that will probably aggravate you regarding how the bowl system operates and the massive hypocrisy and almost outright theft that the bowls and their execs engage in, read the article I link. It is long, but very good. The bowl system is crooked and amounts to theivery IMO. Here is an excerpt from the rather long article:

Take Junker, the system's most egregious sponge. He was the CEO of the Insight and Fiesta bowls until he was fired last spring. His games may have technically been charities; he just considered himself the neediest recipient of all.

According to lawyers hired by the bowls' boards to investigate malfeasance, he blew $33,000 on his own birthday party in Pebble Beach. He spent $19,000 on country club memberships in three states. When he wasn't running up $1,200 bills at strip joints, he was bidding $90,000 in a charity auction to play golf with Jack Nicklaus.

It all came from money that could have gone to America's colleges. More alarming, Junker's spree only ended after he was outed by the Arizona Republic for illegally reimbursing employees for donations to his political allies.

Most bowl executives have equally inflated views of their own value. Orange Bowl CEO Eric Poms pays himself $506,000 a year in salary, bonuses, and benefits, and kicks nearly $1 million in salaries to four lesser execs. Outback Bowl President Jim McVay takes in $808,000 annually. The bosses for the Cotton and Alamo bowls make $419,000 each. Just for staging one game a year.

Meanwhile, the nation's colleges put on ten times the number of events back home at just a fraction of the cost.

Bowl executives defend themselves by claiming to run charities. That might be true in terms of their IRS status, but charity implies giving to someone other than yourself. In the world of college bowl games, that hasn't happened for more than 60 years.

Studies show that as far back as 1947, bowls were giving less than 1 percent of their receipts to the needy. Today their benevolence ranges from just 1 to 3 percent.

By comparison, "Most highly efficient charities will spend 75 percent or more," says Megan Davison of CharityWatch, a Chicago group that helps donors find the most effective charities. "A program that spends 60 percent will get a C grade from us."

So what grade does one receive for donating just 3 percent? "We would give them an F grade and call them pathetic and urge the general public not to support them," says Daniel Borochoff, president of CharityWatch.

But while bowls violate every principle of philanthropy, state and city politicians are happy to look away. The games' nonprofit status allows them to skirt taxes, but they deliver built-in tourist traffic.

To ensure no one asks too many questions, the bowls fete these same politicians with receptions, comped tickets, and sideline passes. The Fiesta Bowl even paid for luxury legislator junkets to cities such as Chicago and Boston.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2011-12-15/news/bcs-college-football-bowl-scam/

[Autigers71 0]

The Sugar Bowl received $235,098 in "hotel/motel commission," according to its most recent federal tax filings, the money coming from a voluntary program run by the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association.

This is the main problem I have with any of it. This is almost extortion with a pretty bow on it. 

[Tiger n Miami AU83 25]

The Sugar Bowl received $235,098 in "hotel/motel commission," according to its most recent federal tax filings, the money coming from a voluntary program run by the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association.

This is the main problem I have with any of it. This is almost extortion with a pretty bow on it. 

It really is. The bowls require schools to purchase a minimum number of hotel rooms at inflated prices for no good reason just to "extort" extra money from them. Just one of many ways the bowls rake in extra cash to pay their execs about $1 million a year for a job when entails free travel, cruises, golf, strip clubs and what ever other ways they can come up with to pass the time. And all those free trips, golf, strippers, and booze do not come out of their outrageous salaries either. Just the slush fund they pile up from money extorted from the schools that play in their game each year. It is a crooked enterprise about as bad or worse than any legal one I have ever heard of.

[dpwspringer 0]

The Sugar Bowl received $235,098 in "hotel/motel commission," according to its most recent federal tax filings, the money coming from a voluntary program run by the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association.

This is the main problem I have with any of it. This is almost extortion with a pretty bow on it. 

It really is. The bowls require schools to purchase a minimum number of hotel rooms at inflated prices for no good reason just to "extort" extra money from them. Just one of many ways the bowls rake in extra cash to pay their execs about $1 million a year for a job when entails free travel, cruises, golf, strip clubs and what ever other ways they can come up with to pass the time. And all those free trips, golf, strippers, and booze do not come out of their outrageous salaries either. Just the slush fund they pile up from money extorted from the schools that play in their game each year. It is a crooked enterprise about as bad or worse than any legal one I have ever heard of.

Being the head of a annual bowl game is a full time job?  Seems like a lot of it would be automatic, as in just do it the same as the previous year.

[Tiger n Miami AU83 25]

e

The Sugar Bowl received $235,098 in "hotel/motel commission," according to its most recent federal tax filings, the money coming from a voluntary program run by the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association.

This is the main problem I have with any of it. This is almost extortion with a pretty bow on it. 

It really is. The bowls require schools to purchase a minimum number of hotel rooms at inflated prices for no good reason just to "extort" extra money from them. Just one of many ways the bowls rake in extra cash to pay their execs about $1 million a year for a job when entails free travel, cruises, golf, strip clubs and what ever other ways they can come up with to pass the time. And all those free trips, golf, strippers, and booze do not come out of their outrageous salaries either. Just the slush fund they pile up from money extorted from the schools that play in their game each year. It is a crooked enterprise about as bad or worse than any legal one I have ever heard of.

Being the head of a annual bowl game is a full time job?  Seems like a lot of it would be automatic, as in just do it the same as the previous year.

Depends on how you define full time. The article I linked lays it out pretty well. The bowl execs seem to spend their time on cruises, golf courses, and strip clubs living it up with the bowl money and entertaining college AD's, in a type of good ole boy network to keep the money flowing. All while taking in $500k to $1M in salary on top of all their entertainment expenses.

[Autigers71 0]

I don't really care if the guy makes 600k - 800k per year. You can't pay a guy 75k and expect him to go

play golf with CEO's of multimillion/billion dollar companies to get advertising contracts and things of that sort.

But if Universities are having to stroke checks to the Sugar Bowl for a million dollars for tickets and hotels then

there is a serious conflict of interest, and i am sure under the table dealings going on. And is any of this being done with tax payer money from the schools?

[Tiger n Miami AU83 25]

I don't really care if the guy makes 600k - 800k per year. You can't pay a guy 75k and expect him to go

play golf with CEO's of multimillion/billion dollar companies to get advertising contracts and things of that sort.

But if Universities are having to stroke checks to the Sugar Bowl for a million dollars for tickets and hotels then

there is a serious conflict of interest, and i am sure under the table dealings going on. And is any of this being done with tax payer money from the schools?

To answer the question of are tax payer's dollar's lining the pockets of a few fat cats that do nothing other than entertain themselves and collect huge pay checks, consider the following:

But for the first time in decades, that "tradition" is decidedly under attack. Consider Taylor Morgan. He's a board member of Playoff PAC, the same group that reported the Orange Bowl to the IRS. His group also filed federal complaints against the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl, whose head, Junker, lost his job in part because of their research.

"These bowls receive millions of dollars in federal and state subsidies," Morgan says. "They don't donate money to their communities. They don't do anything of substance in a charitable sense other than line the pockets of their friends and executives."[/color]

[Plaric 4]

I don't really care if the guy makes 600k - 800k per year. You can't pay a guy 75k and expect him to go

play golf with CEO's of multimillion/billion dollar companies to get advertising contracts and things of that sort.

But if Universities are having to stroke checks to the Sugar Bowl for a million dollars for tickets and hotels then

there is a serious conflict of interest, and i am sure under the table dealings going on. And is any of this being done with tax payer money from the schools?

To answer the question of are tax payer's dollar's lining the pockets of a few fat cats that do nothing other than entertain themselves and collect huge pay checks, consider the following:

But for the first time in decades, that "tradition" is decidedly under attack. Consider Taylor Morgan. He's a board member of Playoff PAC, the same group that reported the Orange Bowl to the IRS. His group also filed federal complaints against the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl, whose head, Junker, lost his job in part because of their research.

"These bowls receive millions of dollars in federal and state subsidies," Morgan says. "They don't donate money to their communities. They don't do anything of substance in a charitable sense other than line the pockets of their friends and executives."[/color]

Double Edged sword.....without a lot of these bowl games....local businesses wont do as well because of the travel to the city from out of towners to see the game...many of those people spend over a week at the location spending money.....

[Tiger n Miami AU83 25]

I agree about the double-edged sword to an extent. However, it is ENTIRELY not necessary to gouge the universities that attend bowl games to line the pockets of a few individuals and make them almost instant millionaires for performing a service that is both simply and easy. The bowls pretty much run themselves, the sponsers line-up based on television viewership. The $500k - $1M salaries to a whole host of mostly useless individuals is out of line. The Orange bowl pays 5 different people over a half million a year (each) and it seems their primary responsibility is to grease the wheels - pay the local politicians lobbying expenses, spend several hundred thousands for entertainment, etc. Fact is the bowls are classified as not for profit. They pay-out about 50-60% of their profits, pay a few individuals millions in salary and entertainment, then give about 1% to charity.

The waste is tremendous. A few individuals profit emmensly from the bowl system, politicians get their kickbacks, and universities get gouged. Almost all universities lose money on bowl trips every year, almost all of them. And that is after they are gouged so a few individuals that contribute little can collect millions for themselves. That is the reason they are lobbying so hard right now. University presidents pass the buck to ADs. The bowl executives buy the ADs with lavish gifts and trips. The whole system is wasteful and crooked.

And the local economies benefit all the same whether the bowl execs and cronies make their millions or not. I would like to be an assistant to the Orange Bowl exec and make $500k a year and do little and get free cruises, entertainment, strippers, etc.

[El Tiburon 1]

I agree about the double-edged sword to an extent. However, it is ENTIRELY not necessary to gouge the universities that attend bowl games to line the pockets of a few individuals and make them almost instant millionaires for performing a service that is both simply and easy. The bowls pretty much run themselves, the sponsers line-up based on television viewership. The $500k - $1M salaries to a whole host of mostly useless individuals is out of line. The Orange bowl pays 5 different people over a half million a year (each) and it seems their primary responsibility is to grease the wheels - pay the local politicians lobbying expenses, spend several hundred thousands for entertainment, etc. Fact is the bowls are classified as not for profit. They pay-out about 50-60% of their profits, pay a few individuals millions in salary and entertainment, then give about 1% to charity.

The waste is tremendous. A few individuals profit emmensly from the bowl system, politicians get their kickbacks, and universities get gouged. Almost all universities lose money on bowl trips every year, almost all of them. And that is after they are gouged so a few individuals that contribute little can collect millions for themselves. That is the reason they are lobbying so hard right now. University presidents pass the buck to ADs. The bowl executives buy the ADs with lavish gifts and trips. The whole system is wasteful and crooked.

And the local economies benefit all the same whether the bowl execs and cronies make their millions or not. I would like to be an assistant to the Orange Bowl exec and make $500k a year and do little and get free cruises, entertainment, strippers, etc.

This^