Revenue Sharing for the Pac-10

Scott Woodward, the outspoken current athletic director for the Washington Huskies, came out this weekend in support of revenue sharing within the Pac-10. Outgoing Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen has called the subject "prickly" to say the least.

The formula that Woodward is in support of, described by the Seattle Times, is mildly complicated. Teams playing each other share 55% of the games TV revenue, while the other 45% is pooled by the Pac-10 and divvied up to the 10 teams.

The other tricky part of the equation is playing non-conference games, where the money splits will depend on the league in which the Pac-10 team is playing against.

However, some leagues like the Big-10, SEC, and the ACC have revenue sharing for their biggest sports. Woodward comes to UW from LSU so it's easy to see where he gets his ideas from.

The Pac-10 only has "hybrid" revenue sharing at this point, with only post-season revenue being shared. The regular season is pocketed solely by the teams in question.

Even so, the Huskies still make a decent amount of money, despite going 0-12 they were fourth in terms of revenue in the Pac-10.

At the root of it, down towards the bottom of this Times article, is Woodward's real grievance. Gate receipts at Pac-10 games have opposing teams only getting a max of $200,000 at away games.

In rivalry games, however, the profits are split evenly between the teams. In that case there is a huge disparity between earning between when Apple Cup games are played in Seattle and when they are played in Pullman. 

The Cougars make two to three times as much money when they play in Seattle as the Huskies do when they play in Pullman. 

Woodward has stated that this makes the Huskies the only school sharing a significant amount of its revenue, and that the norm should be that they all share it.

This is classic Woodward anti-Coug rhetoric, and whether the plan is a good one or not, its always fascinating how Woodward can twist it into some major slight on the Huskies by the Cougs.

In any case the Huskies would have to give back money if revenue sharing went into place. Scott Woodward has stated on this subject that he only wants to do what is good for the league in the long term. 

It takes eight members of the Pac-10 to vote the policy in, and with USC and UCLA probably having the most to lose, seeing as they top the revenue list, it would take someone convincing a lot of people to get it passed. 

If some of the big name conferences do it, and that is the reason for their success, then why not put it into practice. It's the whole I idea of money talks though, and the huge money makers in the conference aren't going to give it up to be altruistic, no matter how much we'd like to share the wealth.