Rose Bowl Worth Millions to ASU, Ohio State Coffers

In the English department, a rose is a rose is a rose. In the athletic department, a Rose is a virtual gold mine.

From merchandising to alumni donations to new students, the total benefit of playing in the Rose Bowl is likely to add up to millions of dollars, according to officials at two schools who recently played in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.

This year, Arizona State and Ohio State are the schools in position to rake in revenues far exceeding the $8.25 million-per-team bowl payout, which must be divided with other conference schools.

“In a nutshell, winning solves a lot of problems,” said Shon Morris, director of athletic development at Northwestern, whose football team ended a 40-year drought last season with a Rose Bowl berth.

Northwestern’s athletic fund raising more than doubled over the course of a year, Morris said, as alumni came out of the woodwork to revel in the team’s first Big Ten crown in a generation. In addition, a $20 million campaign to renovate athletic facilities reached three-fourths of its goal in just one year.

The story was similar at Oregon, which made its first Rose Bowl appearance in 37 years when it squared off against Penn State in the 1995 game.

The Oregon bookstore took in more than $1.5 million in sales of Rose Bowl-related merchandise that year. The Duck Athletic Fund, meanwhile, doubled its income to $2.4 million.

The university’s Telefund program, which raises donations by phone, reaped $300,000 more than the previous year and direct-mail funding doubled its return. And the school’s $150 million capital campaign, which had been scheduled for five years, met its goal in just two.

“Because we hit it so quickly, we added another $50 million to the target,” said Dan Rodriguez, executive director of the Oregon alumni association.

There also are rewards to be gained merely from big-time exposure. Oregon reported a 34 percent increase in the number of prospective students seeking information about the school. Northwestern saw applications jump 30 percent.

All of this is encouraging news at Arizona State, where school president Lattie Coor recently launched a capital fund-raising drive of his own with a goal of $300 million.

“It couldn’t come at a better time,” Coor said recently.

Little of the money generated by playing in the Rose Bowl will come directly from the bowl payout itself. The money actually goes to the Pacific-10 and Big Ten conferences, which set aside bowl-game expenses and divides the rest among member schools. In the Pac-10, the money’s divided 11 ways, with one share going to the league office.

“We get as much as Oregon State,” said Mark Brand, ASU’s director of athletic media relations. “That share we get is already built into our budget.”

It’s in other areas where a school has the opportunity to cash in -- bowl-related merchandise, ticket premiums and alumni donations.

Although it’s too early to get a full picture of the financial impact, early indications are that Rose Bowl fever will be lucrative for the Sun Devils, playing in their first Rose Bowl since 1986, and the Buckeyes, whose last appearance was 12 years ago.

When Arizona State defeated California to clinch the Pac-10 title, sales of Sun Devils merchandise exceeded the $35,000 total from all of last season.

“And we’re getting more new merchandise every day,” said Tom Collins, ASU’s assistant athletic director of operations. “It’s getting to the point where we can’t keep it on the shelves.”

The same weekend, ASU fans lined up to pay $250 apiece for a 6-inch slice of a goal post from Arizona State’s stunning 19-0 upset of Nebraska. All 65 pieces were snapped up in 90 minutes, netting the athletic department $16,250. A similar sale is being planned for whatever goal post remnants can be found from the win over Cal.

And despite grumbling over a $50 surcharge for athletic department coffers, there’s little doubt the school will easily sell its allotment of 36,000 Rose Bowl seats. Net intake: $180,000.

Some of the revenues generated by the Rose Bowl appearance will trickle down to the university’s classrooms and laboratories.

ASU’s 1986 Rose Bowl season also came in the middle of a capital fund-raising campaign. The school sought to raise $75 million over five years, but wound up collecting $114 million.

Lonnie Oshman, director of the ASU Foundation, said while he’s not sure a Rose Bowl team is the determining factor in getting money from benefactors, “it does make it more enjoyable going into the home.”

“It’s a much easier sell for you when you go in the door,” Oshman said. “People are excited about what’s been accomplished. They want to participate.”

Oregon’s Rodriguez said a winning team increases alumni pride.

“They want to see that the other side of the institution is as successful as athletics,” he said.