The Business of Sports January 6, 2011, 4:50PM EST

BCS: To the Victor Goes the Money

The final BCS game between Auburn and Oregon will be a big payday for each school—and, oh yeah, the football should be pretty good too

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1. College Football Fatigue

The NFL's minor league, otherwise known as the NCAA/BCS, is about to promote its next crop of would-be rookies. Before we say goodbye to the kids, and even as we're experiencing a bad case of football fatigue from the 394 bowl games played over the past three weeks, we're looking forward to one last college football hurrah in Arizona, otherwise known as the Tostito's BCS National Championship Game.

Top-ranked Auburn and likewise undefeated No. 2 Oregon square off at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale on Monday, and Tigers and Ducks fans are making this the highest-selling BCS game in StubHub's 10-year tenure, claims the Web-based ticket reselling giant. StubHub currently lists about 500 tickets to Monday's game, and fans so far are paying an average price of $997, from $450 for the building's upper reaches to $4,118 for prime seats. The game, according to a StubHub release, is in higher demand than last year's matchup between Texas and victor Alabama, which fans paid an average of $882 to see. So far this year, Alabama buyers outnumber Oregon buyers by close to two to one, despite having to travel much farther to attend the game—and despite Oregon (T-26) outranking Auburn (T-36) in ESPN's poll of Favorite College Football Teams by 10 ranking points.

With the help of the SEC, Auburn's operating revenue far outstrips Oregon's, at $87 million for the 2008-09 school year (the most recent data available) compared with Oregon's $59 million. Oregon comes out on top on the apparel end—the school's deal with Nike (NKE) in Beaverton, Ore., is worth about $3.4 million a year, compared with Auburn's roughly $2.1 million a year deal with Under Armour (UA). It doesn't hurt the Ducks that Nike's Phil Knight is their biggest booster, and it certainly fills their closets, as the team reportedly has almost 2,500 different uniform combinations.

Each school participating in the national championship contest should also see a marked increase in licensing royalties on hats, shirts, and all other products bearing their logos and mascots. After Texas won the national championship in 2006, UT officials reported licensing royalties for products bearing the Longhorn logo doubling, to $8.2 million. Comparatively, Oregon reported about $1.8 million in licensing royalties last year.

It remains to be seen whether the Tostito's BCS National Championship Game will mirror the decline in viewership in each of the four just-completed BCS bowls, a double-digit falloff at least partially caused by ESPN's monopoly on the BCS and the games moving off broadcast TV.

And you think your football fatigue is bad? Consider the Oregon Duck's mascot. The Duck's schtick is to perform a pushup each time the team scores. So far this year, thanks to Oregon's high-wattage offense, the Duck had to perform 2,757 pushups, or an average of 230 pushups per game throughout the regular season. That should make him one buff Duck.

2. BCS into NFL: Early Look at the 2011 Draft

Among the 200-odd players suiting up for Monday's Tostito's BCS National Championship Game are a couple of highly touted likely Top 10 picks in the 2011 NFL Draft. Should they make the decision to declare for the draft and go pro, as is widely anticipated, Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley and beleaguered quarterback Cam Newton are almost consensus Top 10 picks among draft specialists in the media and such exclusive scouting sites as Scout. On Oregon's sideline, explosive running back LaMichael James is expected to be picked deep in the second round.