FGCU also threw a low-key party in Philadelphia for the team, the boosters and the trustees, which Kavanagh said was worth doing. The athletic department will throw another party on Thursday night in Arlington, Texas, site of the team's game versus Florida on Friday night.

"We're not going to get anywhere if we try to nickel-and-dime our way around," he said. "It's nice for the people who have been there for us all along and it's also good for the players, who normally would just be in their rooms."

NCAA tournament teams don't normally come out ahead in their travel expenses despite Turner and CBS paying an average of $771 million a year for the television rights.

Baylor's associate athletic director of communications, David Kaye, said the school lost money on travel costs alone when accounting for the school's trip to the Elite Eight last year.

A source close to the George Mason athletic department told ESPN.com that the school lost hundreds of thousands of dollars that were not reimbursed during its 2006 run to the Final Four. One of the culprits: The school still had to pay for hotel rooms even though it played its Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games in Washington D.C., just 20 miles from the school. However, it was a good trade off as George Mason professor concluded that the team's performance in the tournament that year was worth more than $677 million in free publicity to the school.

Each game a school plays, up until the final, is worth roughly $1.47 million to the conference, which is paid out over the next six years. Some of the smaller conferences reward the school making the tournament with a disproportionate share, but Kavanagh said the FGCU Eagles will split their earnings -- so far $4.41 million -- equally with the teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The conference has provided a $15,000 subsidy to Florida Gulf Coast for each game it plays to help bridge the financial gap.

The school also made up some of the costs by having some people, who were not on the team, sleeping three to four in a room. The NCAA gives a per diem stipend of $185 per eligible travel member and the costs for the hotel in Philadelphia came out to $200 a room per night.

"People didn't spend all their meal money," Kavanagh said. "Some of us, like myself and Coach Enfield, didn't take the stipend at all."