How will Missouri State be ‘budget-neutral’ with CUSA move? Here are new revenue streams.

Missouri State has promised its move to Conference USA will be “budget neutral” as expenses are guaranteed to increase when the Bears move to a league that goes from Delaware to Miami to New Mexico.

The Bears are banking on several revenue streams that weren’t available to them in the past as they enter a new tier of college football.

Here are a few ways Missouri State will bring in more money as it aims to be “budget neutral.”

Conference USA television and streaming deal

Being a full-time member of an FBS conference comes with hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in television and streaming media rights deals that weren’t nearly as much where the Bears are leaving behind. Media rights deals have been the biggest driving force behind conference realignment at the highest levels and play a big part in why MSU made the move.

In Nov. 2022, CUSA announced a five-year media rights contract with CBS Sports Network and ESPN with a network option for a sixth year, according to a report in the Sports Business Journal. The deal doubled the league’s previous media rights deal with an estimated $800,000 to each school per year.

In comparison, for fiscal year 2023, Louisiana Tech reported $618,202 in media rights revenue while Missouri State reported $50,000.

More: How Missouri State football coach Ryan Beard is approaching Conference USA, FBS jump

Conference distributions from playing in bowl games

Belonging to an FCS conference led to no money coming from bowl games. Yet, being in an FBS conference will lead to earnings each year whether the Bears qualify or not.

Four Conference USA teams qualified for bowl games last season, including Liberty making the Fiesta Bowl which paid the league $4 million.

Louisiana Tech, which hasn’t made a bowl game since 2020, reported $975,781 in conference distributions for fiscal year 2023. It also listed just over $3 million in conference distributions, not including media rights or bowl-generated revenue, while the Valley paid MSU $915,411 for the same…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/missouri-state-budget-neutral-cusa-080123829.html

Author : Springfield News-Leader

Publish date : 2024-05-20 08:01:23

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