Washington State Might Get Help With Bowl Debt

Washington State’s attempt to recover a portion of its $800,000 debt for unsold Rose Bowl tickets has cleared the first of three hurdles, approval from Pacific 10 Conference athletic directors.

With an undisclosed majority vote at a San Diego meeting, the athletic directors approved Washington State’s request for nearly $500,000 in financial assistance -- the largest plea for that sort of compensation in conference history.

The payments, which would cost the nine other conference schools an estimated $55,000 each, still require majority approval by the Pac-10 Council (a collection of athletic department staff members) and approval by at least eight of the conference’s university presidents. The council and presidents will vote at meetings May 31-June 1 in Seattle.

“The presidents can do anything they want to,” conference Commissioner Thomas Hansen said. “I’m sure they will discuss this before the meeting. They may even settle on a lower [dollars] number.”

The athletic directors’ generosity is believed to be founded in the $18-million windfall conference schools received because two of its football teams, Washington State and USC, participated in bowl championship series games. Washington State’s BCS berth as Pac-10 champion was automatic and worth $13.5 million. USC netted the conference $4.5 million with its Orange Bowl selection.

Routed by Oklahoma, 34-10, in the Jan. 1 bowl, Washington State was hamstrung in its ticket sales by several issues. The Cougars didn’t clinch a Rose Bowl berth until Dec. 7, delaying sales that were reserved first for 5,000 elite donors, and then to those anticipating the leftovers. The BCS-arranged opponent didn’t offer the Rose Bowl’s typical Pac-10-Big Ten showdown. And longtime coach Mike Price resigned to accept the Alabama coaching job.

By game day, the Cougars were left holding more than 6,000 unsold tickets costing $125 apiece.

Jim Muldoon, the conference’s associate commissioner, called the crisis “unprecedented” for a Rose Bowl game, far beyond the previous small shortfall in the game by Washington in 1993. Muldoon said member schools have previously requested financial relief for unsold tickets or unexpected travel costs in other bowl games but nothing near Washington State’s deficit.