Minneapolis ? When it became obvious the 2006 University of Minnesota football team would again miss out on a top-tier bowl game – one played on New Year’s Day – the goal internally became simply to reach the requisite 6-6 record to qualify for any bowl.

In winning their final three games, the Gophers became bowl-eligible for the fifth consecutive season. They earned an invitation to Friday’s Insight Bowl against Texas Tech in Tempe, Ariz., and will enjoy the perks that come with playing in college football’s postseason: a trip to a warmer locale, extra practice time, enthusiastic hospitality and, of course, another game against an unfamiliar opponent.

Financially, however, the bowl will add nothing to Minnesota’s bottom line, other than the payout will cover the school’s costs, such as travel and lodging, for participating in the game. But Minnesota’s athletic budget would have earned the same amount in bowl revenue had it failed to qualify for a game.

Based on the Big Ten’s bowl revenue-sharing arrangement, the Gophers will collect the same payout – about $2.13 million – from playing in the Insight Bowl that Ohio State will receive for facing Florida in the Bowl Championship Series national championship. Even Illinois, which finished with a 2-10 record, gets an equal share of the pie.

From a public relations standpoint, Minnesota’s situation certainly beats the alternative, although another trip to a pre-Jan. 1 bowl game seems to have drawn muffled interest locally.

On the other hand, Ohio State likely will generate massive amounts of money from merchandise sales, booster donations and other revenue sources that arise from increased national attention. But in addition to sharing revenue from regular-season football and men’s basketball, the Big Ten finds value in splitting bowl revenue evenly.

“Pretty fundamental principle,” Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said in a recent interview. “We understand that our schools have a relationship with each other that extends far beyond intercollegiate athletics. We understand when one hand claps there is no noise. You need two hands to clap. It’s a joint undertaking.”

The conference will collect roughly $34.4 million in bowl revenue this season, which includes Ohio State’s $17 million BCS contribution. Michigan will receive only $4.5 million from the Rose Bowl, based on a BCS rule that puts a cap on the payout if a conference has two teams in BCS games.

The Insight Bowl payout is $1.2 million, but Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi said the school will spend all of that in travel expenses, which is the amount the conference budgeted.

The Big Ten has budgeted about $10.95 million in travel expenses for its seven bowl teams. (Schools can go over their allotment, but they are on the hook for the difference.)

That leaves all 11 schools to split roughly $23.45 million. For Minnesota, which faces budget constraints every year, bowl |revenue-sharing is vitally important.

“You need to have that consistent revenue,” Maturi said. “You can’t live like this (up and down). So much of our expenditures are not one-time expenditures. When you give staff members raises, you can’t take it back next year. It doesn’t work like that.”

Maturi said the $2 million bowl share is “huge” as it relates to the department’s $58 million budget. The bowl payout is actually about $400,000 more than anticipated because of the second BCS team. Maturi and senior associate athletic director Liz Eull, who is in charge of the department’s finances, said it remains to be seen how they will use that extra money.

“The reality is we’re going to have some expenditures this year that we didn’t budget for,” Maturi said. “Some of them are obvious. We had a basketball coach buyout (Dan Monson) that we didn’t budget for. We’re going to have to come up with that money. It’s those kinds of things that make it a challenge.”

Delany said the conference shelled out about $800,000 per school in bowl revenue in 1990. But as bowl payouts have increased considerably over the years, so have the financial demands (scholarships, coaching salaries, etc.,) on athletic departments. Delany said that’s one reason why the Big Ten shares bowl money.

“No matter how healthy you are, you’re going to have your down years,” he said. “And no matter how unhealthy you are, you’re going to have your up years. You’re going to be treated the same inside the Big Ten.”