7:56 p.m. ET
Pete Thamel ESPN
PHILADELPHIA — One of the most endearing facets of Saint Peter’s NCAA tournament run is the proportional size of the school’s athletic budget compared to the schools it has killed.
Saint Peter’s has beaten Kentucky No. 2, Murray State No. 7 and Purdue No. 3, which is remarkable considering Saint Peter’s spent $130 million less on athletics than Kentucky last year. Saint Peter’s athletic director Rachelle Paul said the school’s basketball operating budget, which does not include coach salaries, is less than $250,000 and is by far the lowest number in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
When No. 15 Saint Peter plays No. 8 North Carolina for a shot at the Final Four on Sunday, a vexing question will loom for the MAAC and Saint Peter’s. How do they split the loot from Saint Peter’s magical escape?
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The math of NCAA tournament funds is shaky, but it’s safe to appreciate that Saint Peter’s three wins in the tournament will mean a fluke of at least $6 million in extra cash from the three extra NCAA entities. This money will be distributed to the MAAC over the next six years, and the league has autonomy in distributing the money.
“I’d love to see it distributed among the members of MAAC, I’d love to see Saint Peter get a little bit more,” Paul said. “Honestly, we’re the ones doing it.”
Paul added that Saint Peter’s performance and the financial boost that came with it were “unprecedented.” MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor, who is a graduate of Saint Peter’s degree, acknowledges this but said a windfall is unlikely to come his way from Saint Peter.
Ensor said the final decision on how to fairly compensate Saint Peter is something he needs to “discuss with my board,” which is made up of MAAC presidents. Ensor said a distribution system is already in place, giving teams that win the tournament a “modest” chunk of money. The remainder of the excess money will be dedicated to improving basketball in the league.
“I don’t expect there will be a jackpot,” he said of Saint Peter’s. “[The presidents] could go in a different direction. It’s really not my call. They tend to want to reinvest.”
Different leagues handle the distribution of uniform money in different ways. It’s not uncommon for a league to base the distribution on teams that win more games.
For a league like MAAC, which lacks the revenue of major football conferences, a run like this is transformative. The MAAC has not received more than one unit in the NCAA tournament since 2009.
The MAAC, like all automatic bidding conferences in the NCAA tournament, is guaranteed one session each year. This year, according to the NCAA, those units are worth $338,210.96. These units are paid out over six years and fluctuate with broadcast rights, according to the NCAA. That means each unit is worth at least $338,210.96 or $2,029,265 over six years. For the MAAC, this means this run is worth more than $8.1 million, of which $2 million was already guaranteed. How could more of this money dedicated to St. Peter’s help the notoriously tight program?
“Oh my god,” Paul said. “It could change our entire program. It could help with recruitment, it could help with scholarships, it could help modernize facilities. There are a million things we could use that money for.”
St. Peter’s coach Shaheen Holloway makes nearly $266,000 a year, according to the latest available tax records. (The possibility of him going to Seton Hall, his alma affair, looms in part because they can pay him almost ten times more than St. Peter’s.)
According to Paul, the Saint Peter’s basketball team has four members who are completely unpaid. And even Saint Peter’s as a university has a smaller endowment ($37 million) than the total of Kentucky coach John Calipari’s current contract ($86 million). Paul said the modest basketball operating budget doesn’t even include things like official pay, as donations are required for things that many have allocated money for.
“I would say we still have a long way to go to get to a point where we’re comfortable not putting numbers on every road trip and every hotel,” she said. “I’m probably making it sound worse than it is. But we are very conscientious about what we spend the money on.
When St. Peter’s run ends, there will be many eyes on campus as he will be financially rewarded for his efforts.