Moneybags Booster Didn't Cost UConn $2.9 Million, Nearly 15,000 Unsold Fiesta Bowl Tickets Did

It's a damn good thing for the University of Connecticut that it reconstructed a financial pipeline from took-his-cash-teet-and-went-home booster Robert Burton. Per the Hartford Courant, the school filed papers with the NCAA claiming a $1.76 million loss from its January trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

Sure, BCS participants tend to cull about $17 million, but the socialist Big East pools such funds. So, yeah, 4-8 Cincinnati got some bowl coin, which is nice.

On the ledger UConn spent roughly $4.28 million for the trip. It received $2.52 million for getting absolutely drilled by the Oklahoma Sooners. As always, the school band bears the brunt of blame.

According to the report, UConn's big loss came in ticket sales. It sold only 2,771 of the allotted 17,500 tickets, resulting in a $2,924,385 million loss, which all but offset the conference payout it received. UConn said Wednesday it actually sold about 4,600 tickets, the same number it reported sold in December.

"When we go to the Fiesta Bowl bid, we received zero tickets free," said UConn associate athletic director Mike Enright. "Yet we had some internal responsibilities before we could even start a public sale. We had to buy 400 tickets for the band, we had to buy tickets to fulfill corporate sponsorship packages, which generate $7.5 million to the athletic department, we had to fulfill obligations for tickets for coaching staff per contracts and student-athletes' families. So the number of tickets we sold was 4,600."

You can't put a price on pride, though.

UConn Lost Nearly $1.8 Million In Trip To Fiesta Bowl [Courant] (H/T to Courant for the photo as well)