Ticker Envy - For Some, Publicity Is Bottom Line
By Josh Center, The NCAA News, May 22, 2006

A couple of years ago, Division II Presbyterian College had the football game of its life, and the Blue Hose didn't even win. In fact, they weren't even close. After losing to perennial Division I-AA power Furman University, 52-7, ESPN reported the score incorrectly on its BottomLine, telling fans across the country that Presbyterian had scored a monumental upset, 14-7. While Presbyterian Athletics Director Bee Carlton had to deflect the nonstop congratulatory calls that came his way, he says there's no question the mishap on the sports ticker provided the institution with significantly more publicity than it was used to receiving. "The impact (of being on the BottomLine) is difficult to quantify, but there's concrete evidence that there's an impact, at least in the perception of those people who follow sports carefully," Carlton said.

"People just don't know about us. If our score and name were in the paper more often, we believe more folks would know about us and would be more apt to consider us as an alternative as a school for both students and student-athletes," Carlton said. But schools have to decide if the presence they garner from inclusion on the sports ticker is how they would prefer to build their institution's reputation.

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