Even Losers Are Winners--in Dollars--in NCAA Tournament

The first-round losers in this year’s NCAA basketball tournament will collect more money than UCLA got for winning the title in 1975, under a revised financing plan resulting from a huge TV contract.

And the four teams that assemble in Lexington, Ky., March 30 for the Final Four each will bank more than five times the $133,381 that went to John Wooden’s 1975 Bruins.

In terms of public interest and revenue, few American sporting events have grown faster in the last decade than the NCAA Basketball Tournament. This year’s field, expanded from 53 teams to 64, begins play March 14 under a three-year, $96 million television contract that created an enviable but thorny problem.

The new CBS pact almost doubles the tournament’s television proceeds. If receipts have almost doubled and the 1984 semifinalists netted $648,-630 apiece, does that mean a ticket to the Final Four now pays a million bucks?

What would that do to pressure-ridden coaches and administrators? What would critics say about the commercialism of college sports? What incentives might be offered to any 17-year-old who can jump over the backboard?

NCAA staff members and the nine-man Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament committee met several times over the course of a year to study ways of distributing what some feared could become an embarrassment of riches. The formula they came up with reflects an intention to spread the wealth.

The formula will not be be released until next month, but details were provided to The Associated Press.

The three-level disbursement formula used for 15 years gives way to a five-level plan. In addition, the official traveling party for all tournament schools, for which the NCAA pays all expenses, is increased from 22 people to 30 and per diem expenses for everyone in the traveling party goes up $20, to $100.

“The money is being divided among more people,” Lou Spry, NCAA controller, said. “The first-round loser will get less money in 1985 than he did in 1984. If he gets to the second round, he gets more. If he gets to the third round, he gets less. If he makes it to the fourth or fifth round, he gets more.”

“The committee’s primary concern was that there should be some value for those teams that advance in the tournament,” said Tom Jernstedt, tournament director since 1973. “Of course, we also expanded the field by 11 teams and expenses from that alone are considerable.”

Forty percent of the tournament’s projected net receipts of $29,272,000 will go to NCAA national office, accounting for about 75 percent of the association’s total revenue for 1984-85, Spry said.

Thirty-two first-round losers in this year’s tournament are guaranteed $141,600 each after expenses. Making it to either the first or second round was worth $22,230 in 1975, $81,594 in 1980 and $162,158 last year. The 16 teams that lose in the second round this year net $283,200.

The eight teams that drop out in the regional semifinals each receive $424,800. The four losing in the regional finals will take home $566,400. Teams losing in either the regional semifinals or finals got $66,691 in 1975, $203,986 in 1980 and $486,472 a year ago.

This year’s Final Four teams will get a record $708,000 each. The Final Four amount was $133,381 in 1975, $326,378 in 1980 and $648,630 in 1984.

Spry said gross receipts from the tournament this year are projected at $33,391,000, compared with $26,884,182 in 1984 and $3,972,859 when Wooden won the last of his 10 national titles in 1975.

Game attendance, another barometer of interest, has kept pace with revenue. Average attendance for tournament games was 10,214 in 1975 and 12,356 in 1980, and is projected at 13,423 this year.

When word first leaked about the huge CBS contract, many coaches were outspoken in their belief that greater corruption would result. But, said Jernstedt, the basketball committee heard other theories, too. Jernstedt also points out that virtually every tournament team shares with members of its conference.

“People read that the Final Four teams got $640,000 last year but they don’t realize that the bulk of that went to the conferences and each team got only two or three shares of that money,” said Jernstedt, an assistant executive director of the NCAA.

“We heard from a number of athletic directors who didn’t feel what the coaches were saying was right,” Jernstedt added. “They point out that the athletic department is expected to take the band, the cheerleaders and the university administrators, and by the time you pay for all that, there’s not a lot left.

“Plus, we’re generally going to larger cities where costs are higher. A lot of people gave us different information than what we got from the coaches in terms of the big windfall of money. It goes pretty quickly when you’re responsible for taking care of a lot of interest groups and people connected with the institution.”