Documents show bowls can be UofL money losers
The University of Louisville starts the 2014 college football season with high hopes for a fifth consecutive bowl appearance.
In a sport where reaching a bowl is the mark of a successful season, U of L is among the highest achievers in recent years.
The Cardinals' football program has reached 13 bowls in the past 16 seasons, which is more than Notre Dame and even with Alabama.
Reaching bowls, though, comes at a cost, expense documents obtained by The Courier-Journal through a public records request show.
U of L spent nearly $2 million on its trip to the 2013 Russell Athletic Bowl, U of L's bowl expense report says. The school ate $149,184, mostly from unsold tickets, after the American Athletic Conference allotted U of L $1.8 million to offset the cost of participating in the bowl.
Such losses are common in bowl experiences.
"We've lost money on a lot of bowl games, but it's very important for us to get to bowls," said Tom Jurich, U of L's vice president and director of athletics.
"You're never going to turn a bowl down. We're never going to say no to anybody because we're so fortunate to be invited."
To illustrate his point, Jurich referenced U of L's Motor City Bowl appearance in Detroit in 1998, which started the football program's current run after Louisville had missed a bowl game in the previous four years.
The Cardinals, then coached by John L. Smith, started that season with two consecutive losses, including a 68-34 home defeat to archrival Kentucky in the opener.
It was Louisville's ninth straight loss over two seasons.
But Louisville rallied and, after another loss, this one to Utah, finished the season with a 7-4 record.
The Cardinals that season scored more than 60 points in three games with current head coach Bobby Petrino as the offensive coordinator, and the invitation to a bowl capped a four-game winning streak to end the season.
Temperatures fell far below freezing in Detroit the day U of L lost to Marshall 48-29 in the Motor City Bowl. None of that mattered to Jurich, who had been U of L's athletic director for a little more than a year.
"One of the best experiences I've had at the University of Louisville, without a doubt, was going to the Motor City Bowl that first year in Detroit," Jurich said. "It was so unexpected to get there. It was a terrific atmosphere."
That's why losing money to play in the Russell Athletic Bowl in 2013 doesn't bother him.
Among the costs for U of L:
• The bowl contract with the school allotted 12,500 tickets to U of L, with 12,000 costing $77 each and 500 more costing $82. U of L absorbed $142,997 from the 1,856 unsold tickets.
• The contract between U of L and the bowl mandated a halftime performance by U of L's band and spirit squads, plus four other appearances. As is customary with many bowls, the school paid for tickets to the game for its own band and spirit squad and did not receive payment for their performances.
• The 210 people directly associated with the team spent a mandatory seven nights for $81 per night in a hotel selected by the bowl. The band and spirit squads, a 230-person traveling party, spent five nights for $90 per night. The university's 60-person "official party," made up of faculty, administrators and athletics staffers, spent three nights at $75 per room per night.
• Transportation hit U of L with a $441,965 bill. Meals and lodging cost another $382,254.
• Entertainment, promotion, awards, equipment and supplies, administrative and other costs accounted for $981,968.
• Former U of L coach Charlie Strong was in line to receive roughly $308,000 in bonus pay for coaching the Cardinals to a postseason bowl.
Nothing in the Russell Athletic Bowl's contract with U of L is uncommon. The elements of the agreement between the parties resemble those of other bowls and universities.
U of L goes into every bowl situation with that understanding. Cost and payout, Jurich said, isn't at the forefront of his mind when a bowl comes calling in December, as U of L hopes one does after this season.
"The No. 1 thing we want to do is try to maximize the experience for our people," Jurich said. "If we don't get the rewards monetarily, we get them through our fan base and our alumni, building the camaraderie that goes with a bowl and having a great time among all of our fans."
Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter @jeffgreer_cj.