Do schools like Auburn lose money on bowl games?

Figuring out whether or not an athletic program lost money on a bowl game is...well, complicated.

Auburn football currently sits at 3-1, with a blowout to Penn State the only score in the 'loss' column. But, after a narrow overtime victory over Missouri on Saturday, Auburn fans are split about whether it's better for Auburn to try and play for a bowl game or for Auburn to lose enough games that head coach Bryan Harsin is relieved of his duties during the season. 

Of particular interest has been a conversation within the Auburn fan base about if making a bowl game is a worthwhile pursuit this year. 

One of the arguments for making a bowl game has been the additional value of the bowl game for practice and chemistry reasons. Fans who want Auburn to make a bowl game argue that the additional practice time, anecdotally referred to as "15 extra practices" by coaches, offers invaluable experience for younger players looking to step into a larger role in the following season. 

(It's not actually a defined number of practices, mind you - teams are given up to four hours per day or twenty hours per week between the end of the regular season and the bowl game for practice or other organized team activities. Teams that are not participating in a bowl game are limited to mandatory weight training & conditioning and the review of game film until January 1st, with a maximum of eight hours per week for those activities and only two hours per week on film review.)   

In a USA Today story from 2016, many coaches familiar to Auburn fans - then-Vanderbilt HC Derek Mason, Alabama HC Nick Saban - were among those extolling the virtues of those extra practices. 

"These 13 or 15 practices can't be bought," said Mason. "They have to be earned. And with that, it gives you an extra spring ball."

The bowl practices "are pretty much like camp practices" to Alabama, with Saban's staff telling each player what specifically to focus on during the three (or more) weeks. 

But there's another faction in the Auburn fanbase that looks at the rising cost to Auburn for coach buyouts - $38.1 million since 2000 (covering four coaching changes) and another $15M expected to be spent on Bryan Harsin (plus a few million for his staff)  - and claims it's a wasteful proposition to spend money on a non-prestigious bowl game, especially one of the type that Auburn has historically underperformed in, and it would ultimately benefit Auburn to not qualify for a bowl game. 

From a strictly financial sense, this premise is absurd. 

Compensation and expenses for bowl games, like all athletic expenses, are notoriously tricky to track exactly, but a look at rough numbers tells us that the financial benefits outweigh the cons, for both Auburn specifically and Power 5 football as a whole. 

On Auburn's FY21 Financial Reporting System forms, submitted to the NCAA annually and aggregated by Matt Brown of Extra Points, Auburn reports postseason football revenue of $9,390,672. This is distribution from the SEC for bowl participation - all conference schools receive a share of postseason revenue generated by bowl selection. This money is postseason only, outside of revenues distributed by the conference for media rights ($66,195,538), other conference revenues ($2,150,788), and NCAA distributions ($1,366,674 - this amount can include NCAA championship game travel reimbursements of up to $2.43M per conference, but Auburn football did not appear in a CFP bowl in 2021). 

Additionally, bowls have the ability (but not the requirement) to reimburse for applicable expenses. Between ticket sales, expense reimbursements, and a victory bonus, football programs can earn revenue from their participation in a bowl. Auburn received $805,250 in 2021 for "Football Bowl Revenue" - the division between ticket sales and reimbursements is unspecified on Auburn's report, but we know there is not a victory bonus included.   

Adding these together, we find that Auburn received over $10M in football postseason revenue in 2021. 

Luckily, the FRS Forms break out football bowl expenses separate from regular season expenses. In 2021, Auburn had two different cost entries for bowl expenses - Line 41 was a "catch-all" that was stated to include team travel, lodging, meal expenses, uniforms, etc., and totaled $469,751. Line 41A was Coaching Compensation/Bonuses specifically related to the bowl game, with a total of $468,000. All together, Auburn spent just under $940,000 on 2021's Birmingham Bowl trip. 

Understand that this isn't perfect - there are marketing expenses included in selling those bowl game tickets, for instance - but it's good enough. Auburn received over $10M for their participation in the postseason and spent just under $1M. 

There is a catch here, though - the conference share of monies is distributed mostly equally to all conference members, no matter if you participate in the postseason or not. The SEC does "gross up" your institution's share based on your bowl game's receipts and gives bonuses to playoff participants, but the differences are relatively minor.  

While technically Auburn would have lost money on the bowl game as a standalone event - it spent roughly $940,000 and earned just over $800,000, its participation in "Bowl Season" earned the conference a larger share and was easily a net positive for the program. 

Plus you get plenty of extra practice time, and possibly an opportunity for a new coach to evaluate his new players in real competition against another team. 

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