SEMO University's $70,000 guarantee helped land football playoff game

Southeast Missouri State University pledged to pay the NCAA at least $70,000 in order to host a first-round Football Championship Subdivision playoff game last month, the school�s athletics director said Friday.

Brady Barke, the director, said the guarantee was a key part of the bid submitted by Southeast.

The university itself will net perhaps $3,000 from the game after expenses and the NCAA receives its share.

Barke said the bottom line is Southeast did not lose money in hosting the playoff game.

The NCAA requires a minimum guarantee of $30,000, but a higher guarantee helps in securing a bid to host a game, he said.

The bid projected gross revenue of more than $108,000 for the game including $62,750 from ticket sales and $46,000 from other revenue, according to a copy of the bid obtained by the Southeast Missourian.

The �other revenue� category included $30,000 from the Ohio Valley Conference in which Southeast plays, and $6,000 from the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). The university budgeted $10,000 in �institutional support,� but it appears that money won�t be needed, Barke said.

Southeast�s first-ever home playoff game generated more than $74,000 in revenue from ticket sales, well above what school officials had estimated, Barke said.

The NCAA receives the guaranteed amount plus 85 percent of any excess net revenue, Barke said. The university will receive $575 or 15 percent of the excess revenue, whichever is greater.

The NCAA pays the travel costs and a �per diem� for playoff teams, Barke said.

Barke said Southeast had to meet certain requirements besides providing a financial guarantee.

The university had to have an assessment made of the stadium lighting to demonstrate the lighting met NCAA requirements, Barke said.

Information about the video board, locker rooms and press box also had to be documented, he said.

�There was a lot of just groundwork,� Barke said of the bid process.

The NCAA did not have a minimum-seating requirement, he said. The university reported in its bid the stadium could seat 9,634 people.

Southeast began looking into submitting a bid after the Southeast Redhawks upset OVC powerhouse and nationally ranked Jacksonville State at Houck Field on Oct. 20. Jacksonville State was ranked fourth in the nation at the time.

Bids were due by Nov. 12, Barke said.

School officials felt Southeast had a good chance to host a playoff game, Barke said.

Southeast wanted to host a first-round game �to give us the best opportunity to showcase our program,� he said.

Since Southeast, ranked 20th at the time of the playoff game, was not one of the top eight teams in the playoffs, it had to submit a competitive bid in order to host a game, Barke said.

The Redhawks won the first-round game against Stony Brook University on Nov. 24 before losing at Weber State in Utah in the second round.

The move paid off, providing the school with national exposure.

�Nothing else brings that level of exposure to the university,� Barke said.

As Barke sees it, the home playoff game was a success for both the university and the community.

It provided an economic boost for the community, he said, filling up hotel rooms.

Stony Brook�s team and a television production crew were among those who booked hotel rooms in the city, Barke said.

Alyssa Phares, CVB�s senior director of sales and strategies, said in an email Friday the playoff game had both economic and promotional value.

On average, the expenditure for a visitor attending a sporting event is $95 a day, she said. Visitors spend money on everything from fuel to lodging and meals, Phares said.

�It is for this reason that when we do have sports events in Cape Girardeau, we like to roll out the red carpet and show them true hospitality,� she said.

Barke said going forward, Southeast hopes to capitalize on the playoff experience in submitting any future bid.

�We�ll be ready next year,� Barke said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641