Sending its football team to Boise for the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl cost Ohio University more than $9,700. But that number does not include sending other university entities to the game.
In addition to putting a team on the football field, the university also decided to put a band in the stands.
The university pulled $123,212 from the General Fee to finance some of the Marching 110 members’ Potato Bowl experience. The band has more than 220 people, but President Roderick McDavis approved sending only about a third of the group.
The Marching 110’s $76,362 airfare — including a charter flight and commercial flights for 10 members because of weight restrictions on the charter — was far and away the most costly aspect of the trip.
Ohio Athletics officials said they were thankful for the band’s presence in Boise but not just because it helped Bronco Stadium sound more like home. The athletic department would have had to finance a larger plane if the band had not made the trip.
“The university had the choice of taking one plane to fly everybody out or choosing two planes,” said Dan Hauser, senior associate athletic director for External Operations. “The procurement office, through the bid process, found that two planes would be cheaper than flying a 350-person plane out there. So that’s why we went with a two-plane setup. It’s the first time we’ve ever gone to a bowl game in two planes.”
“On the charter flights, you have limitations on the number of seats, but you also have to be careful about limitations in weight,” said Chad Mitchell, OU’s interim budget director. “It’s especially troublesome when you’re dealing with the football team, who weighs a lot and carries a lot of cargo, and the band, which can carry a lot of cargo.”
The football team and band were two completely separate entities when it came to footing the bill despite sharing a charter.
“We kind of separated them and then allocated the cost based on the number of people,” Mitchell said. “Football had 73 percent of the people, so they had 73 percent of the costs.”
Once in Boise, the band reserved 26 rooms for five nights at $115 per night and spent $18,400 on food. Charter bussing in Ohio and Idaho cost the university a combined $11,000.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
