August 31, 2004

Two Football Teams Earn $1 Million Each For One Game

FROM THE CAPITAL BELTWAY comes word of a box office bonanza from a great pre-season BCA Classic between the �home� Virginia Tech Hokies and the left coast Trojans of Southern Cal.

The two teams were eligible for $600,000 or 30% of the game's revenue. The A sell-out of 91,655 at FedEx Stadium (the NFL�s biggest venue) meant that each team would go home with a cool mill.

Great way to start a season.

Due to the proximity to the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, VA, there were an estimated 75,000 Hokies fans in attendance, versus about 15,000 USC fans. In addition, there were about a dozen displaced Baltimore Colts fans, a few homeless interlopers and a passing motorist whose left rear tire had blown out.

This might be the last of such preseason games, unless the NCAA reverses its prior ruling on the matter. The NCAA eliminated pre-season games after the 2002 season. The BCA, because it already had a long-time contract with ESPN, was allowed to put on games last year and this year.

(this 172 word excerpt was extracted from a 570 word article from the Roanoke Times of 8-29-04)