Final Tally: Dukes Lose $126K On Playoff Game

HARRISONBURG - The James Madison football team's lightly attended first-round FCS playoff game against Liberty on Nov. 29 cost the school $126,570, according to the university.

JMU deputy athletic director Geoff Polglase said Tuesday the cost of the game was anticipated and was part of the school's budget.

"It was all very much in line for what we projected," Polglase said.

Madison submitted a guaranteed bid of $200,677.50 to the NCAA to host the first-round game. Under terms of the NCAA bidding process, it kept 15 percent of the net receipts - $11,513.40 - meaning JMU sent $189,164.10 to the NCAA and spent $166,692.20 on expenses for holding the game at Bridgeforth Stadium.

JMU brought in $229,286 in revenue from the game.

That left Madison with a $126,570.30 loss.

"We have all sorts of models and projections that we use, and we were right there with what we felt like we'd have for a crowd for the game, in terms of attendance for that weekend," Polglase said.

The financial information - part of a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request - was released this week after receiving final NCAA approval.

JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne said in December that the school would use "private athletics sources" from the JMU Duke Club to cover the shortfall. No student fees or tax dollars would be used to pay for the playoff bid, he said.

Madison projected a crowd of 23,520 in its bid to the NCAA, just shy of capacity at the 25,000-seat stadium, but that was largely a bookkeeping figure to make the school's sizeable bid add up. Only 11,793 showed up on a cold evening two days after Thanksgiving with students on break - the smallest at Bridgeforth since the stadium's expansion in 2011.

The NCAA form required JMU to show how it would be theoretically capable of reaching the amount of money it bid, even if school officials knew it would be a long shot to do so.

Still, bidding aggressively for the home game was worth it, Polglase said. JMU had to account for a variety of factors in submitting its larger-than-expected bid, officials said, including stiff competition from Liberty, a private school with deep pockets.

"We look at it as an expense to make sure we're providing the best experience," Polglase said. "Not only for our athletes but for our fans, and that's why you budget for it is to make sure that when given the opportunity, you have that home game."

A storm earlier in the week that required workers to clear snow from the stadium was the only unanticipated cost, Polglase said.

Those who did attend the game saw Liberty beat JMU, 26-21.

Madison reluctantly released its bid in December in response to a FOIA request by the Daily News-Record and The Breeze, JMU's student newspaper. This week's financial information was part of the same FOIA request.

JMU officials were unhappy with having to reveal the bid, saying it would hurt Madison in any future efforts to land home playoff games because the university has been forced to show its hand. Now, JMU has to take that into account in any future bids.

"Having that number out there in the future, we'll certainly anticipate that," Polglase said.

How long James Madison will continue to play football in FCS (Division I-AA) is an open question. If JMU eventually moves up to FBS (I-A), it will no longer have to bid for home games, at least under major-college football's current system - the four-team playoff is staged at neutral sites.

Madison officials remain interested in joining Conference USA or the Mid-American Conference - their always-slight interest in the Sun Belt has waned - but a source said there is little movement on the expansion front nationally. C-USA, the MAC and the Sun Belt are all low-level FBS leagues.

For an FCS school to move up to FBS, under NCAA rules, it must have an invitation from an existing league. At last word, JMU had received no such invitation.

The Dukes currently play in the Colonial Athletic Association, a strong FCS football league but one that has been eviscerated in basketball by the defections of its three best programs: Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason and Old Dominion.