Money Big Part of Bowl Equation

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Ohio State football
Money big part of bowl equation
Spot in national title game would be very lucrative
Saturday, December 1, 2007 3:03 AM
By Ken Gordon

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

While Ohio State football players will be watching two games today with the idealism of youth, other school officials might be thinking of bottom lines more than yard lines.

Buckeyes players plan to gather around their televisions tonight for the games that will decide their bowl destination: No. 2 West Virginia faces Pittsburgh at 7:45 p.m. and No. 1 Missouri plays Oklahoma at 8.

Ohio State (11-1) is third in the Bowl Championship Series standings. Losses by Missouri or West Virginia would put the Buckeyes in their third national-title game in six years.

"I love just watching the games in general, anyway," receiver Brian Hartline said. "So putting more on the games just makes it more fun. It's kind of like playing a game of pool and putting five bucks on it -- it adds more of an aspect to it."

For the university and coach Jim Tressel, though, there's a lot more than five bucks riding on the outcomes.

As one of six conferences whose champion gets an automatic bid to a BCS game, the Big Ten gets $17 million each year from the BCS. Conference champion Ohio State is assured of playing in the Rose Bowl or the national championship game, but if the Big Ten can get another team into a BCS game, it would mean an additional $4.5 million for the conference. If OSU is in the title game, Illinois likely would be chosen for the Rose Bowl.

The Big Ten splits its bowl money equally among the 11 schools, so making the title game would be worth about $400,000 more for Ohio State.

Also, Tressel's contract calls for a $200,000 bonus if the Buckeyes make the title game. He gets no further bonus for winning the game (or for making any other bowl game, including the Rose Bowl), only for making the championship.

And then there is the bonanza Ohio State would reap from a merchandising standpoint.

Rick VanBrimmer, OSU director of trademark and licensing services, said the school pulled in $9 million in royalties last season, when the Buckeyes reached the title game.

That was a collegiate record, topping the $8.2 million national champion Texas made in 2005.

"And who knows what that number would have been if we had won?" said VanBrimmer, referring to Ohio State's 41-14 loss to Florida. "Winning a championship gives you a second selling season, with the commemorative merchandise. There's no T-shirt for second place."

VanBrimmer did not have figures for this season but said sales seemed to be a bit slower than last year. He attributes that to the loss to Florida and that fans were waiting to buy into this year's team -- literally.

Two things are working in OSU's merchandising favor, though, regardless: If the Buckeyes play in the Rose Bowl, VanBrimmer anticipates strong sales because it is a traditional destination for OSU, and the Buckeyes have played there just once in 22 years.

Also, the school's new deal with Nike went into effect in August, and that calls for a higher percentage of royalties than in the past.

"So if everything else is equal, our numbers should go up," VanBrimmer said.

The players, though, aren't thinking about that. They bemoan the fact that they are in this situation, letting other teams determine their fate because they lost Nov. 10 to Illinois.

And they are split on the question of whether they will be satisfied with a Rose Bowl spot.

"It's a win-win because as a kid growing up, you dream of going to the Rose Bowl," linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "For me, it's not going to be something where if it doesn't fall into our lap, I'll be sitting there with my head down like, 'Dang, we're so close.' "

Linebacker Marcus Freeman, though, said, "I think (the Rose) would be a disappointment, because we know how good this team could be. Going to the Rose Bowl is a huge accomplishment, but we want to be in the national championship, and that's what we're hoping for."

kgordon@dispatch.com