The No. 7 UCLA men's volleyball team will be guaranteed one thing from this weekend's matches: $3,000 from Ball State University.
According to a contract obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the No. 14 Ball State men's volleyball team will pay UCLA $3,000 and will provide UCLA eight hotel rooms for three nights for playing in the two matches at Worthen Arena this weekend.
Ball State coach Joel Walton said it's typical for a volleyball team to compensate another team if it is traveling across country to play a match. He also said usually West Coast teams are compensated for non-conference matches because they don't play many matches outside of the West Coast.
"Sometimes you can negotiate to play at their place twice and have them play at your place once, but sometimes to get them to come back to the Midwest you have to give them money or promise them things like hotel rooms," Walton said.
The Cardinals also have received money for traveling to play a team.
Earlier this season, Ball State received $9,000 for competing at the Outrigger Tournament in Hawaii, according to a contract obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
"There are some places you can go where you can get compensated," Walton said.
This is the first time since 1994 the Bruins have played a regular-season match on the road against a school from the Midwest.
Last season the Cardinals lost two matches against the Bruins in Los Angeles, but there was no contract between the two schools guaranteeing matches in Muncie before the summer of 2007.
Scates and Walton also said the $3,000 wasn't why the Bruins made the agreement to play Ball State in Muncie.
"Normally you always get some money when you travel," Scates said.
Scates said usually his team receives guaranteed money when it travels to play Brigham Young University and Hawaii. He also said the most difficult part of negotiating the agreement was attempting to find another team to play in the Don Shondell Classic this weekend with Ball State and UCLA.
"Originally we were going to play Ball State and someone else," Scates said. "But, we couldn't get a quality opponent, and rather than play someone else, we decided to add a second match against Ball State,"
This weekend is the one time this season Ball State will pay an opponent for playing them at home.
Walton said spending $3,000 was to get a home match against UCLA was a good investment because of the team's national prestige.
"It's a first time for an event like this and it's going to be very historic and noteworthy," Walton said. "It's something that has created a lot of buzz around campus and the community."
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