The Wiz of Odds Exposes Exorbitant Spending by Schools in Bowl Games

Our buddy Jay Christensen, who runs the college football site The Wiz of Odds, has spent the past several weeks working on an investigative report that exposes the college football bowl system. Jay obtained expense reports for 56 of the 70 teams that participated in bowl games last season and reveals that the bowl tradition turns out to be a gigantic waste of money for many schools. We’re talking about millions of dollars spent by public universities which are funded by tax payers, and students in the form of tuition. If that’s not enough reason to get you angry, more details Jay uncovers will.

Christensen reveals that on average, schools spend $1.31 million to make bowl trips. He also says around 25% of all bowl-related expenses are due to “absorbed tickets,” which is the amount of tickets forced onto schools in order to participate in the game. One school spent $4.28 million to participate in a bowl game, the highest amount of the 56 schools for which Christensen had the expense report.

Christensen explains the process he went through to obtain an impressive 56 expense reports of the 70 teams that played in bowl games this past season. He obtained the reports through public records inquiries, so private schools had no obligation to provide him with the information. He explains the process of going through the reports and how they can be fudged. For instance, one trick by schools was leaving the amount of money coaches made in bonuses for reaching a bowl out of the expense report.

Jay will start unveiling school-by-school breakdowns this week, but for now, make sure you check out the entire overview for his report. It will likely blow you away. And make sure to stop by The Wiz of Odds throughout the week for more.

As one commenter in the Sports Journalists forum noted, the mainstream media just got housed by a blogger on this one. Nicely done, Jay.