If this was a Bud Light commercial it would end, "Mr. Ticket Allotment thinker upper guy!" Because it is pure genius that you can charge up to $80 more for your tickets than some of the online ticket companies, and force the participating schools to buy 15,000 or more. Now I know I'm not breaking any new ground here. But when you see it happening to your school, it calls for more than just the facts reporting.
Luckily, the folks at Playoff PAC are doing more than that. I admit that when I first became aware of PPAC , I didn't believe they could make much of a difference. Because even attorneys working part time on a project are still only working part time against the mammoth amount of money behind the BCS. But they've at least managed to draw a good deal of attention over the past two years. Revealing the political contribution scandal with the Fiesta Bowl. Then there's something a little closer to our pocket books.
Sanderson stabs his forefinger beside the names of the 40 Football Bowl Subdivision athletic directors and six conference executives who attended the complimentary cruise...The Orange Bowl, which rakes in money by producing its football game, is identified by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt nonprofit with a mission to support South Florida through tourism. But Sanderson can't fathom how using nonprofit funds for a private four-day cruise to sip "delicious Coco Locos" in the Bahamas fulfills the bowl's mission.
So if you were wondering what that extra $80 was going for, they call it overhead.
Now one junket doesn't and shouldn't make a soapbox to stand on. It's the cumulative instances uncovered about what all or seemingly all of the bowls do with their tax exempt money that has me bothered. I'm sure some of it is actually put back in the community as part of charitable donations, etc. But knowing that pretty sizable amounts of money are being poached from my school's pocket, and eventually my pocket, just doesn't sit well with me.
It's funny that a group advocating a playoff system has tried to achieve their goal by not advocating the merits of their case. But have gone after the dirty underbelly of the bowl system that we all knew was there. At least on some level. It may lead to a playoff. Or it might just be part of a bigger push to do away with this system. But for now, I'll be happy when they quit charging schools more than market price.