[Quack Attack]

Originally published May 24, 2009 at 12:00 AM

Washington AD Scott Woodward pushes for Pac-10 schools to share all revenue

The idea comes up at each Pac-10 meeting, but USC and UCLA — the schools with the most money to lose — aren't big fans.

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter



As athletic directors around the Pac-10 grapple with ways to balance increasingly tight budgets in increasingly tough economic times, Washington's Scott Woodward is among those favoring a somewhat contentious idea — revenue sharing.

"I think it would be in the best interest of the league," he says.
Sports fans might be familiar with the concept from the NFL, where teams pool their revenues and disburse it evenly, long touted as the reason a franchise such as the Green Bay Packers can survive.

In college athletics, where each conference makes its own policies on such matters, there are varying methods for distributing money.
The Big Ten, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences have what is essentially full revenue sharing. For the major revenue-producing sports such as football and men's basketball, TV revenue, gate receipts and postseason income is pooled and shared evenly, minus expenses for things such as travel to bowl games.

Woodward, who came to Washington from Louisiana State, says "that's why a school like Mississippi State can compete with LSU."