UNCG finds value in its NCAA Tournament appearance

The 13th-seeded Spartans (27-7) take on No. 4 seed Gonzaga (30-4) in a West region game at Boise's 12,644-seat Taco Bell Arena on Thursday.

And regardless of the final score, UNCG has already won off the court.

The tournament is the NCAA’s marquee event and its biggest money-maker.

Sharing the wealth can be, well, complicated. What’s UNCG’s slice? It remains to be seen over the next six years.

Here’s the deal:

“Every institution that participates in the tournament earns (monetary) units,” said Kim Record, UNCG’s athletics director. “The units go to your conference. Every conference handles it differently. Some share units equally among all members. Some give the whole unit to the school that earned it. Some share, but give that school an extra share.”

This year, the units are worth $245,000 multiplied by six years. The Southern Conference keeps 100 percent of the first unit, league commissioner John Iamarino said, and the league’s 10 schools share the next five annual installments.

If UNCG beats Gonzaga and earns another unit, SoCon members would share in the revenue the first year, too.

“We created an enhancement pool for the surplus units,” Iamarino said, “and there’s a formula in place. But your basic premise is right.”

The bottom line is winning is good.

“It’s a rolling, six-year number,” Record said. “You look at the ACC. They got nine teams in, so they start with nine units for this year. But they are also still getting revenue from the last five years.

“The best example for us is Davidson’s run to the Elite Eight with Steph Curry. The Southern Conference benefited and UNCG benefited from that for the next five years. It’s an interesting way of doing it.”

So UNCG will see some financial benefit for its championship season, but not enough to make the athletics program rich.

But the bottom line goes beyond the bottom line.

“So often, it’s hard to put a price tag on the exposure,” Record said. “There’s lots of formulas out there, and we look at that. But how do you value the number of times your logo is on national television? How much value has VCU or Butler or Gonzaga gotten over the years? Was there an uptick in admissions or apparel (sales) or licensing? There are so many components.”

Record has heard from friends and acquaintances ever since the Spartans qualified for the NCAA Tournament by beating East Tennessee State in the conference tournament.

“The world is so global and connected with the Internet. I’ve heard, ‘I’ve got UNCG in the Elite Eight of my bracket. Go Spartans.’ People who don’t necessarily know your brand or know who you are — you’re out in front of them now.

“It’s become a societal phenomenon. Everyone’s into March Madness. People are filling out brackets and picking teams not because of their records, but because of their names, or their school colors, or their mascots. And you love the reality that there are Cinderella teams, and you don’t know who they’re going to be.”

There’s value in being Cinderella.