This month in "Inside the Numbers," we'll break down the bowl payouts and tell you where all the money goes. We did this same analysis two years ago, after the Hokies' run at the 1999 national championship, and we found that two years later, nothing much has changed. There are two new bowls that boost the total payout slightly, but it's still the haves -- namely the BCS teams and conferences -- and the have-nots.

First, let's define our terms: the BCS conferences are, of course, the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, PAC 10, and SEC. The non-BCS conferences are everyone else: Conference USA (CUSA), the Mountain West, the WAC, the MAC, and the Sun Belt. Those are the only conferences that are tied into bowls.

Note that per-team payouts are not really the dollar amounts that go to each team. Bowl money goes to the conferences, and then the conferences distribute the money to their members as they see fit. In most of the BCS conferences, the total bowl money brought in by a conference is distributed evenly amongst all the teams in the conference. This is not the case in the Big East and the SEC, where participating teams are rewarded more handsomely.

The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and PAC 10 split revenues equally among all members. The Big East splits the revenues equally among all members after deducting "participation" allowances, which are based on conference standings. The Big East conference champion, which participates in a BCS bowl, has a $4 million "allowance." Second place has an allowance of $1.8 million, third place $1.65 million, and so on through all their bowl tie-ins.

The SEC isn't quite as generous to participating teams, although it does split revenue based on a formula where participating members receive a larger share based on the bowl payout. Non-participating members split the balance.

Another little nugget about the BCS is that in addition to the big money that it pays out to the BCS conferences, it also pays out about $5 million per year to non-BCS conferences. In 2000, the WAC, Mountain West, and Conference USA each got $800,000 from the BCS. The MAC got $600,000, and the Big West received $300,000. Eight non-BCS Division 1AA conferences received another $1.2 million ($150,000 apiece).

Note that for purposes of this analysis, we'll assume the BCS payouts to non-BCS conferences are the same for 2001 as they were for 2000. We'll also assume that the Sun Belt, which didn't get a payment last year, will receive $300,000, like the Big West did last year.

The BCS bowl (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange) payouts are defined as $11.67 million per team. This year, the Big 12 and SEC have two BCS teams each, so you would think the payouts would go like this:

Big 12 and SEC: 2 x $11.78 million = $23.56 million

Other BCS conferences = $11.78 million

Total BCS payout = 8 x $11.78 million = $94.24 million

But there's a little-known wrinkle in how the BCS distributes the money. In order to keep the two-team conferences from profiting so much in comparison to the one-team conferences, this rule is invoked (from the BCS web site):

This coming season, BCS participants will receive between $11.78-14.67 million depending on the conference affiliation of the at-large participants. Should the at-large participants come from outside the original BCS conferences -- ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC 10 or SEC -- those participants will receive $11.78 million. If one or both at-large selections come from within the original BCS group, the first conference participant shall receive $11.78 million and the second participant from that same conference shall receive $6 million. The remaining dollars (the difference between $11.78 million and $6 million) will be split among the originating BCS conferences that have just one participant.

What that means is this: Each conference gets $11.78 million to start. Since the Big 12 and SEC have two teams, they each get an additional $6 million (for $17.78 million total), and another $11.56 million ($5.78 million times two) is distributed to the other four conferences, giving them $14.67 million each:

SEC and Big 12: $17.78 million

Other BCS conferences = $14.67 million

You can see that a split of $17.78 million versus $14.67 million is much more equitable than $23.56 million versus $11.78 million.

Having said all that, let's get started.

For a complete list of bowls, their payouts, and participating teams, click here.

From a money standpoint, if you want to take a quick snapshot of the bowls and their payouts, here it is:

The growth in the number of bowls in recent years has all been at the bottom end, the $750k bowls ($750,000 is the minimum payout required by the NCAA to certify a bowl). If you look at the $1 million bowls and up, you see the familiar names: Independence Bowl, Sun Bowl, Gator Bowl, Peach Bowl, Citrus Bowl, etc.

If you look at the bottom end, you see the Johnny-come-latelies: New Orleans Bowl, Tangerine Bowl, Seattle Bowl, Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, Motor City Bowl, Silicon Valley Classic, etc.

And if you look at bottom end, you see the non-BCS conferences: WAC, MAC, Sun Belt, CUSA, and Mountain West. If you look at the upper end bowls ($1 million and up), you see the power BCS conferences: SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, etc.

Take a look at this table, which clearly shows that the power conferences get the big-money bowls.

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