SALT LAKE CITY-While it’s apparent that sports fans miss March Madness, there are legitimate real-world consequences for BYU and Utah State’s athletic departments after the COVID-19 outbreak caused cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
Per a report from kslsports.com, each NCAA Tournament qualifier, at-large bid, and win for a team equals a “unit” for a conference.
Each unit was to equate $282,100 during the 2020 tournament and the leagues in question (the West Coast Conference for BYU and the Mountain West Conference for Utah State) would receive this amount over a 6-year period.
Because BYU and Utah State are each in conferences that feature schools which would have been high seeds (Gonzaga for BYU and San Diego State for Utah State), the projected financial windfalls could have been tremendously significant.
Per a tournament projection from sportsline.com, BYU made the Sweet 16 with Utah State bowing out in the first round.
However, the projected losses for BYU from this Web site are even more telling than that as it projected Gonzaga into the national championship game.
Also, fellow WCC member Saint Mary’s was projected to make the round of 32.
These eight prospective “units” would have ultimately equaled $3.1 million earned by the Bulldogs, Cougars and Gaels hypothetically.
Multiplied over the course of six years, the figure increases to a projected $18.6 million.
Because these projections saw the WCC getting three squads into the NCAA Tournament, the annual payout over the course of the next six seasons totals $846,300.
With the San Bruno, Calif.-based WCC giving more of those revenues to teams actually making the tournament, the riches lost out on by Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and BYU are significant.
As for Utah State, sportsline.com saw San Diego State advancing to the Elite Eight. This means that the Mountain West Conference lost out on $8.4 million.
The University of Utah also missed out on additional riches. Because the Pac-12 Conference would have had 10 units, the Utes lost out on what would have been an annual increase of $235,000 over the course of the next six years.
