The next time someone suggests that college football is only a game, you might lay the following on them.
According to today's New York Times, the missed field goals by Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman, in the Broncos' regular season finale against Nevada, cost the Western Athletic Conference $8 million in lost bowl revenue. In that game, Brotzman missed a 26-yard field goal in regulation and then a 29-yard attempt in overtime. Nevada went on to win the game, because of the misses, 34-31, thus sending Boise State to the Maaco Bowl and not the Rose Bowl where the much larger payout, to the conference and the school, would have occurred.
In addition, the loss kept Boise State head coach Chris Petersen from receiving a $125,000 performance bonus.
While it's far too harsh to blame the loss totally on the kicker, the reality is that Brotzman didn't deliver, when needed, thus costing his team an appearance in the most famous bowl game of all. That appearance, in today's big business world of college athletics, meant millions in revenue which now will not be realized.
Student athlete? Yes...and revenue generator, or loser, as well.
What's funny about this story is that Nevada, by beating Boise, lost out on that revenue as well that the conference would get from the Rose Bowl...I remember someone on Twitter saying something to the effect of "Congrats on winning Nevada, you just cost your program millions of dollars!"
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