Breaking Down The Brackets From A Financial Standpoint

Darren Rovell
cnbc.com
15 Mar 2010

The brackets were just released last night and you’ve seen about every tale of the tape you can possibly absorb.

But we have one you haven’t seen.

Here are some of the more interesting numbers behind the tournament.

$0: Money Duke's junior forward Kyle Singler gets from sales of No. 12 jerseys

$17.52: Approximate cost, in gas, to drive in a car that gets 25 miles a gallon from Syracuse to its first round game in Buffalo, according to Mapquest.com.

$240.50: Average price on Stubhub for a ticket to the first and second round games, including all eight locations.

350: Number of tickets each school is allotted for its first round game.

$1,000: Minimum donation to Wisconsin athletics for non-students to request first round and second round tickets through the school.

$1,000: Fine in Michigan if you are caught betting in an office pool, although the office for the Michigan Attorney General can’t seem to recall anyone being fined recently.

$1,219: That’s the cheapest one-stop Albany to Spokane flight (on Delta). That’s what Siena fans, who live near the campus, are staring at if they want to get out to see the team’s first game against Purdue.

$2,985: Price the NCAA is charging through its partner PrimeSport for four nights in the Sheraton Indianapolis and one ticket to the Final Four games.

$15,000: Amount Maryland is paying its assistant coaches Keith Booth, Robert Ehsan and Chuck Driesell for the NCAA Tournament bid.

$25,000: Amount that Houston head coach Tom Penders gets for winning the Conference USA Tournament. His team needs to win two in the tournament for him to get him another $15,000, as the contract calls for him to make that "every weekend" that the Cougars last in the tourney.

$100,000: Price for a 30-second ad on CBS in a first round game.

$222,206: Amount each tournament game is worth to the conference of the winner. This is paid out for each of the next six years. That means that if the Big East loses all its first round games, it’s still guaranteed $10,665,888, to be paid over the next six years.

$5,114,280: Amount that University of Kentucky freshman John Wall will make in his first year if he's the first pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

$7,217,698: Difference between the amount the University of Kansas spent on basketball last year and the expenses of its first round opponent, Lehigh.

$26,670,000: What adidas is paying No. 1 overall seed Kansas for the rights to be its shoe and apparel provider. It’s an eight-year deal that expires in the 2012-13 season.

$2,130,000,000: Amount that CBS will owe the NCAA if the NCAA decides to pick up the final three years of the broadcaster's option after this year's tournament, according to the New York Times.