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Subscribe to RSSIf Butler's financial windfall for reaching the Final Four is anything close to the boost George Mason received, the Bulldogs will be sitting pretty for the next few years.
How pretty? Enough to pay for Miramax.
According to a story from the Epoch Times, when George Mason made its Final Four run in 2006, the university's had a boom in applications, ticket sales and media coverage. And it wasn't a small bump, either. The school completed a two-year study in 2008 that found:
[R]equests for information about GMU jumped by 350 percent. Applications from out-of-state students swelled by 40 percent and all freshman year applications increased by 22 percent. Computer-generated applications rose by 52 percent and alumni interest in the school jumped by 25 percent.
Page views on the sports division's website soared by 503 percent and unique viewers by 702 percent. Almost everything that had to do with GMU's sports division rose drastically. More season tickets for games were sold and home games were packed with fans wanting to see the game.
Most importantly, GMU earned roughly $678 million in totality, factoring in free local, regional, and national print and electronic media coverage, due to its game exposure.
More well-known schools don't receive the same kind of bump, but it's no secret that winning does pay off. When Kansas beat Memphis for the 2008, the school's merchandise sales topped $47.3 million, of which the school and the athletic department retained about $2 million.
That's the power of winning, and winning in the NCAA tournament. Why else do you think everyone wants in?
Mike Miller's also on Twitter, usually talkin' hoops. Click here for more.