Since it's almost bowl season, it's time for a reminder on how the ACC divvies up its bowl money.
The conference allocates a specified amount for teams in a BCS bowl ($1.7 million for the Orange Bowl) for expenses, while teams heading to non-BCS games receive $1.1 million in expenses.
The conference pools together the bowl payouts from its teams and deducts the expenses described above. The remaining money is then divvied up evenly into 12 slices for the league's schools.
So even though, say, the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando has a greater listed payout than the Military Bowl in D.C., Maryland would receive the same $1.1 million in expenses in either game. In short: Ignore the bowl payout. For ACC purposes, it is completely meaningless.
Needless to say, from a competitive standpoint, Maryland would rather land in Orlando. From a player experience standpoint, spending a week in Florida or Texas (for the Sun Bowl) would probably beat staying home.
But from strictly a financial standpoint, Maryland stands to do much better if it remains inside the Beltway for the holidays thanks to the ACC's revenue-sharing plan.
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