The (Accounting) Cost of College Bowl Games

The Colorado Buffaloes beat UTEP in last night's EV1.net Houston Bowl. Now I know I could just look this up easily on the web, but that would spoil the fun I am going to have by typing the following sentence. What in tarnation is EV1.net? But I digress.

Have you ever been to an official university-sponsored "soiree" at one of the bowl games? I haven't. I've never been to a bowl game (the opportunities to do such things at the University of Missouri don't come along very often), This article in a recent Boulder Daily Camera article puts some numbers on the accounting expenses of said "soirees" put on by CU and the sorts of goodies one may find at these shindigs. Here is one passage that I got a kick out of:

"One soiree at the 2002 Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., featured $11,250 worth of hors d'oeuvres and 84 bottles of wine and champagne. A reception for donors at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio the following season cost $7,322.13 and was attended by as few as six donors and 71 university administrators, employees and spouses."

Maybe the donors had better opportunities or maybe these shindigs are really intended for administrators etc. I also don't know who those donors were who showed up. They may have been very generous friends of the university and they may have been the only ones invited. Regardless, the administrators, employees, and spouses probably had a great time.

And this one:

"The CU Foundation spent more than $48,000 on five parties for the team's Fiesta Bowl appearance on Jan. 1, 2002, and the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28, 2002. One party included 48 bottles of wine and 36 bottles of champagne — all at $32 a bottle. Some of the parties appeared to be attended largely by university administrators, staffers and their spouses."

Once again, who's to say from this report who those donors were. Still, I bet a good time was had by those in attendance! After all, on the homepage of the CU Foundation, it states "The CU Foundation is committed to providing a wide spectrum of donor opportunities." They ain't lying, and others can get in on the act as well!

P-A-R-T.... Why? Because I GOTTA!