So just how much can a championship season cost a university? According to one report, it cost Florida State $407,812.22 for the ACC championship.
Warchant.com used a public records request to learn Florida State lost that much money on the 2013 ACC Football Championship Game in Charlotte, with expenses accounting for ticket expenses for the marching band and family for student-athletes. Those losses helped contribute to a deficit of $213,812.22. According to the report, Florida State also took on a bill of $194,000 for travel expenses to get to the conference championship game.
“That’s just the cost of doing business,” Associate Athletic Director Monk Bonasorte said to Warchant.com. “You look at it when you talk to our business people. Okay, we lost some money on the bowl or ACC title game. But with revenue and licensing and booster contributions, that will go up. It won’t be an immediate impact per say.”
The expenses of a conference championship game are nothing new of course. Florida State and Georgia Tech combined to lose a total of $850,000 on the 2012 ACC Championship Game. While the conference championship game may be a drain on the expenses for schools, the cash coming in from the BCS revenue helps. Per Warchant.com, Florida State AD Stan Wilcox claims Florida State’s and Clemson’s BCS game participation will bring in an additional $50 million for the ACC, which will be split evenly among the members. If every ACC school in the 2013 season receives a full share, each university would receive approximately $3.57 million, but if Big Ten-bound Maryland does not receive a share then all 13 members would receive a share of approximately $3.85 million if distributed evenly.
