Despite the expense of international travel and a large bill for unsold tickets, USF's athletic department expects to break even on its upcoming trip to Toronto for the International Bowl on Jan. 2, associate athletic director Bill McGillis said Wednesday.

USF gets a $1-million check from the Big East for participating in the bowl, and the league also writes a check to help defray the travel costs based on mileage -- USF gets $286,000 for that. Two of the largest expenses are air travel -- estimated at around $300,000 for two planes full of players, coaches, band, spirit squads and staff members -- and unsold tickets.

USF is responsible for 10,000 tickets at $40 each, but expects to use only about 1,000, which means they'll pay about $360,000 for unsold tickets. (That expense has been higher in the past -- USF paid $380,000 for unsold tickets in Charlotte in 2005, and budgeted $333,000 for the same in El Paso two years ago.) USF will work with the International Bowl to distribute some of its unsold tickets to Toronto-area charities.

The Bulls are now off for Christmas, with players returning Sunday and practicing Monday morning before the team flies to Toronto on Monday afternoon in preparation for the game against Northern Illinois.