The stunning upset by No. 16 ranked University of Maryland Baltimore County—better known to the world on Saturday as UMBC—of No.1 ranked UVA in the NCAA tournament on Friday night could have reverberations that extend far beyond the tournament and the millions of fans whose brackets are now toast. Through merely one basketball game, UMBC is poised obtain massive financial benefits in terms of increased student applications, enhanced giving by alumni and improved apparel and merchandise sales.
Historically, the institutional benefit to a college when one of its sports teams wins an upset in a high profile game has been labeled “The Flutie Effect.