Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNR’s March Madness success pays off for Mountain West schools

Nevada Basketball

AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

Nevada guard Hallice Cooke (13) and forward Elijah Foster (12) celebrate at the end end of the second half of a second-round game against Cincinnati, in the NCAA college basketball tournament in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 18, 2018. Nevada defeated Cincinnati 75-73.

"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack."

Before every home basketball game in the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, the words of Rudyard Kipling's "The Law of the Wolves" from 1894 are recited over the arena's public address system as part of pregame introductions.

In January and February, opposing Mountain West teams pay little attention to the pregame ritual.

This March, however, athletic directors and coaches across the league are more than happy to start pulling for the strength of UNR to continue its run through the NCAA Tournament for one simple reason: Every school in the league is seeing its revenue stream over the next six years grow with each UNR victory.

The NCAA's annual revenue distribution model to its member universities comes from the multibillion-dollar deal Turner Sports and the NCAA have for broadcast rights to March Madness. In 2010, the two parties agreed to a 14-year, $11 billion deal that has since been extended by eight years and an additional $8.8 billion through the 2032 NCAA Tournament.

Here's how it works: Each of the NCAA's 32 Division I conferences get a check each April based on how many games their teams actually play in during the Big Dance. It's an appearance fee, of sorts, that the NCAA calls "units" — one unit for every game played in with the exception of the national title game and with the exception of teams who win in the "First Four" games (they do not get a second unit to play in the first round of action).

The "unit" price this year is $273,000 and, essentially, every game a team appears in equals one "unit" for the league it represents paid out over six years. The unit's price increases each year, usually around 2-3 percent.

The Mountain West's current six-year window has 21 units (and counting depending on UNR's Sweet 16 game on Thursday) and breaks down like this:

2017-18: 4 (UNR 3 and counting, San Diego State 1)

2016-17: 1 (UNR 1)

2015-16: 1 (Fresno State 1)

2014-15: 4 (SDSU 2, Boise State 1, Wyoming 1)

2013-14: 4 (SDSU 3, New Mexico 1)

2012-13: 7 (Colorado State 2, SDSU 2, UNLV 1, UNM 1, Boise State 1)

Those 21 units equal an April payout to the league of about $5.7 million spread evenly to all members of the league (SDSU and UNR will get small bonus payments for this year's participation, geared at covering additional travel costs, but not for those in past seasons).

So, come Thursday when UNR, the No. 7 seed in the South bracket, plays No. 11 Loyola-Chicago, Mountain West ADs across the West, whether they admit it publicly or not, will certainly be cheering for the team that rolled to the past two league titles because their success in the Big Dance strengthens the entire MWC pack.

HOW ABOUT THEM ZAGS: When the NCAA Tournament field was announced last week and the 28-5 Saint Mary's Gaels were left on the outside looking in at the Big Dance picture, it again highlighted one of the primary reasons that the Gonzaga Bulldogs, perennial national contenders from the West Coast Conference, are in serious talks with the Mountain West to join the league as early as next season.

The Zags, also in this week's Sweet 16, have expressed frustration with being the only wage earner, if you will, in a conference that hasn't shown much commitment top to bottom to invest in basketball and get programs to the NCAA Tournament. Some might argue the bottom of the MWC doesn't do so, either, but it's not really close when you break it down over the current six-year sliding scale of unit share distribution.

In the current six-year scale, the MWC has had eight teams compile 21 unit shares, including the high-water mark of 2013 when five of the league's then nine-member makeup made the Big Dance.

The West Coast Conference has 25 unit shares in that time, but 19 have come from Gonzaga. Only two other WCC teams earned a total of six units in that time (Saint Mary's four and two from BYU).

The bottom line is there are more programs in the MWC that have proven capable of adding to the coffers, and fewer teams at the bottom of the league with computer rankings dragging down the rest of the league, at least relative to what is happening in the WCC.

Gonzaga would not be allowed to bring their unit shares earned over to the MWC (units belong to the leagues, not the teams), but would be hopeful that the overall distribution would grow in the new league.

Conferences are allowed to distribute unit shares however they deem fit. The MWC gives an NCAA Tournament participating team a larger share to cover travel and distributes the rest equally to all 11 members. It is unclear if Gonzaga would be requesting a higher share to join the league.

A decision on Gonzaga's potential move to the MWC could be coming as soon as within the next few weeks. It would be for all sports except football, which Gonzaga does not have.

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