Indiana football lost money playing in Gator Bowl against Tennessee

The Indiana Hoosiers lost more than just a football game by traveling to Jacksonville, Florida to play the Tennessee Volunteers. Hoosier Sports Report recently crunched the numbers on IU’s bowl payout and expenses and found that the Indiana football team came out roughly $44,000 in the hole.

According to the report, the Hoosiers received a $2.125 million payout from the Big Ten for playing in the Gator Bowl. Athletic departent expenses, including travel, meals, hotels and bowl apparel for players, staff and band members came to $2,169,416, leaving IU $44,416 in the red, adding insult to the injury of a 23-22 loss.

A financial loss of playing in a bowl game is obviously easier to swallow for teams that come away with a program-boosting win. The Hoosiers were close to doing just that, up 22-9 in the fourth quarter before Tennessee rallied for two quick touchdowns and take a 23-22 lead which the Vols held onto for the remaining 3:51.

Jon Blau of Hoosier Sports Report doesn’t see the experience as a total loss for Indiana football:

Essentially, it cost IU about $44,000 for its football program to play in a nationally televised bowl game against a SEC program. That’s a valuable opportunity.

A detailed breakdown of IU’s expenses for the Gator Bowl trip can be found in the full article here.