MISSOULA — Public records requests are back, and with that, there’s been some light shed on how much money the University of Montana and Montana State University bid to host FCS playoff games.
But with those results came more questions.
Beginning with the Grizzlies, who bid $126,281 to host a first-round playoff game this season. Getting paired with Southeast Missouri State, the Ohio Valley Conference champions, Montana’s bid was selected to host the Redhawks.
Both unseeded teams, FCS playoff committee chair Jermaine Truax said via phone call with 406mtsports.com that those programs are usually considered similar in performance. In that case, the selection committee tends to lean toward the financial output from each school to decide who will host.
But that raises the question: What happened with the University of North Dakota, which bid $127,500 to host its first-round game, according to the Grand Forks Herald, but ended up having to travel to Weber State, which only bid $41,683.50?
Both teams were unseeded, which by the aforementioned logic, means the host site would come down to financials. But not so fast.
Truax said that it was a rare situation. From the committee’s perspective, unseeded teams aren’t typically that far apart in performance. Truax said the Wildcats were in on seed discussions while the Fighting Hawks were in on bubble team conversations.
Because of this large discrepancy, the committee chose to allow Weber State to host in an effort to reward better team performance.
But there lies a double standard. It makes it appear as though the committee can choose whichever criteria it wants to — financials or team performance — for any given matchup. It makes it hard for FCS fans, and even other FCS teams, to understand what they should expect come the playoffs and why they ended up in the situation they did.
406mtsports.com also found out that Montana State University bid $48,131.50 to host its second-round game this coming weekend.
Why, though, do seeded teams need to “bid” to host a game they rightfully deserve to host?
According to NCAA guidelines, teams are not allowed to bid $0 if they want to host a game. Truax said that there is a minimum monetary number all host sites must guarantee if they want to host. That money, he said, goes toward “generating revenue, offsetting expenses and ensuring a quality student-athlete experience.”
So, according to the NCAA handbook, as long as that minimum requirement is met, the seeded team will host.
However, there was confusion when in the same phone call, Truax used Weber State and Montana State’s upcoming round two game as an example. He said had Montana State bid the minimum (which it roughly did) and Weber State bid much higher, there would have been a discussion about who would host.
Though an unseeded team has never hosted a seeded team in the current FCS playoff format, that sentiment would be a direct contradiction to the NCAA handbook.
However, he did say the committee always tries to reward team performance past the first round — getting seeded teams to host.
Then finally, records show the Bobcats bid $94,950 to host a first round game in 2021. In the end, they ended up earning the No. 8 seed and securing a first round bye.
What happens to that money and what does the bidding process even look like?
School bids aren’t collected unless they are chosen to be a host site. The bid is strictly what a school would guarantee the NCAA if they were selected to host. Unless it becomes official, it’s just a number on paper and the school does not lose the money.
Bids are made at the same time for every school before the bid deadline. Schools bid for every round that they are willing and able to host.
For example, according to Montana athletic director Kent Haslam, the Griz bid on hosting every round through the championship. That could come to benefit them if they advance past NDSU this weekend.
On the other side of their bracket is Samford and Southeast Louisiana. If SELA gets another upset, the Griz would likely host a quarterfinal game with a strong bid that they made before the deadline in the scenario that they arrived in this exact situation.
Some schools won’t bid for certain rounds for a variety of reasons, be it facility conflicts, hotel availability or something else, But that is rare.