Indiana's decision to not host a first-round game in the NIT was heavily debated and criticized before the program and its fanbase suddenly had bigger issues to discuss. Namely, the firing of Tom Crean and the school's current head coaching search.
Last week I filed a public records request with Indiana University to look into possible financial implications of the school turning down the opportunity to host its first-round NIT matchup. I received a response from the university this morning.
The university earned $10,018,279 in revenue from men's basketball ticket sales in 2016, according to the NCAA Membership Financial Reporting System. Indiana hosted 21 games, including two exhibition matchups, during the 2016 calendar year. Nine were during the 2015-16 season and 12 were during the front half of the 2016-17 season.
Indiana made a little less than $500,000 per men's basketball contest -- roughly $477,000 -- in 2016, if you divide the school's $10 million-plus in annual revenue by the 21 games it hosted. If the Hoosiers had played their first-round game in the NIT at home, it's fair to assume Assembly Hall wouldn't have been at full capacity -- Indiana drew a record-low crowd of 5,113 the last time it hosted the NIT in 2005.
To make the math as simple as possible, we'll project that Indiana would have drawn somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 fans, or roughly one-third of the arena's capacity. The maximum capacity of Assembly Hall is 17,222 and Indiana averaged 17,106 fans per home game during the 2015-16 season, according to the Big Ten. Using those numbers, here's the math behind an estimate for how much money Indiana could expect to make from ticket sales alone by extrapolating Indiana's 20-game sample size in 2016 for one NIT home game.
$477,000 x (5,000/17,106) = $139,424/NIT home game
$477,000 x (6,000/17,106) = $167,309/NIT home game
The more accurate figure might be lower, however, due to ticket prices for the NIT. The minimum ticket prices enforced by the NIT are $12 for reserved seats, $10 for general admission and $4 for students, according to the contract Indiana University signed with the NIT. Georgia Tech sold lower level tickets for the game against Indiana for $15, so we'll use the same price in this exercise. The resulting revenue is significantly lower but still approaching $100,000.
5,000 x $15 = $75,000
6,000 x $15 = $90,000
According to the contract IU signed with the NIT, "The institution may receive an honorarium, determined at NIT's discretion, in an amount up to fifteen percent of net game receipts derived from the Tournament contest." Using the previously calculated range of $75,000 to $167,000, which varies depending on attendance and ticket prices, Indiana's 15 percent honorarium could have been worth anywhere from $11,250 to $25,050.
Indiana made $932,568 in 2016 from men's basketball game programs, novelties, food and concessions, and parking. Adjusted per game and for a crowd of 5,000, the per-game revenue is $12,980.
Every team in the NIT receives at least one unit share of the tournament's fixed distribution of $334,080. Schools receive one share per round, through the first three rounds, and five shares if they advance to the semifinals. Each share is worth $5,220.
In terms of potential expenses for hosting the NIT, Indiana incurred $1,327,180 in men's basketball game expenses in 2016, or $63,199 per game, on average.
Using crude estimation and rounding to make the math easier to digest, here are the sources of revenue and expenses that Indiana would experience, per home game, if it had hosted the NIT.
Unit share: $5,220
Concessions: $12,980
Honorarium: $11,250 to $25,050 (depending on attendance/ticket prices)
Expenses: $63,199
TOTAL: $33,749 to $19,949
In summation, there's a good chance that Indiana would have lost money if it had hosted its first-round game in the NIT, assuming that the calculations above are relatively accurate. It's also worth mentioning that No. 2 seed Georgia lost in the first round and No. 1 seed Syracuse lost in the second round, which means that Indiana could have potentially hosted home three games if the Hoosiers went on a run in the NIT.
Last week I filed a public records request with Indiana University to look into possible financial implications of the school turning down the opportunity to host its first-round NIT matchup. I received a response from the university this morning.
The university earned $10,018,279 in revenue from men's basketball ticket sales in 2016, according to the NCAA Membership Financial Reporting System. Indiana hosted 21 games, including two exhibition matchups, during the 2016 calendar year. Nine were during the 2015-16 season and 12 were during the front half of the 2016-17 season.
Indiana made a little less than $500,000 per men's basketball contest -- roughly $477,000 -- in 2016, if you divide the school's $10 million-plus in annual revenue by the 21 games it hosted. If the Hoosiers had played their first-round game in the NIT at home, it's fair to assume Assembly Hall wouldn't have been at full capacity -- Indiana drew a record-low crowd of 5,113 the last time it hosted the NIT in 2005.
To make the math as simple as possible, we'll project that Indiana would have drawn somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 fans, or roughly one-third of the arena's capacity. The maximum capacity of Assembly Hall is 17,222 and Indiana averaged 17,106 fans per home game during the 2015-16 season, according to the Big Ten. Using those numbers, here's the math behind an estimate for how much money Indiana could expect to make from ticket sales alone by extrapolating Indiana's 20-game sample size in 2016 for one NIT home game.
$477,000 x (5,000/17,106) = $139,424/NIT home game
$477,000 x (6,000/17,106) = $167,309/NIT home game
The more accurate figure might be lower, however, due to ticket prices for the NIT. The minimum ticket prices enforced by the NIT are $12 for reserved seats, $10 for general admission and $4 for students, according to the contract Indiana University signed with the NIT. Georgia Tech sold lower level tickets for the game against Indiana for $15, so we'll use the same price in this exercise. The resulting revenue is significantly lower but still approaching $100,000.
5,000 x $15 = $75,000
6,000 x $15 = $90,000
According to the contract IU signed with the NIT, "The institution may receive an honorarium, determined at NIT's discretion, in an amount up to fifteen percent of net game receipts derived from the Tournament contest." Using the previously calculated range of $75,000 to $167,000, which varies depending on attendance and ticket prices, Indiana's 15 percent honorarium could have been worth anywhere from $11,250 to $25,050.
Indiana made $932,568 in 2016 from men's basketball game programs, novelties, food and concessions, and parking. Adjusted per game and for a crowd of 5,000, the per-game revenue is $12,980.
Every team in the NIT receives at least one unit share of the tournament's fixed distribution of $334,080. Schools receive one share per round, through the first three rounds, and five shares if they advance to the semifinals. Each share is worth $5,220.
In terms of potential expenses for hosting the NIT, Indiana incurred $1,327,180 in men's basketball game expenses in 2016, or $63,199 per game, on average.
Using crude estimation and rounding to make the math easier to digest, here are the sources of revenue and expenses that Indiana would experience, per home game, if it had hosted the NIT.
Unit share: $5,220
Concessions: $12,980
Honorarium: $11,250 to $25,050 (depending on attendance/ticket prices)
Expenses: $63,199
TOTAL: $33,749 to $19,949
In summation, there's a good chance that Indiana would have lost money if it had hosted its first-round game in the NIT, assuming that the calculations above are relatively accurate. It's also worth mentioning that No. 2 seed Georgia lost in the first round and No. 1 seed Syracuse lost in the second round, which means that Indiana could have potentially hosted home three games if the Hoosiers went on a run in the NIT.