Week 1 Of 2024 College Football Season Includes Guarantee Games Nearing $2 Million

As is typically the case, the first full week of the 2024 college football season will include several non-conference matchups that appear to be mismatches. While there are surprises, more often than not there is a noticeable difference in the on-field product between teams from a power conference and those that are not. Several such games will have payouts of at least $1 million with a few nearing $2 million.

With financial details obtained from published reports, open records requests and athletics communications departments, here is a look at many of those payouts. (Some schools, such as private institutions, are not required to disclose such terms.)

Friday, August 30

$1.5 Million: Western Michigan at Wisconsin

The Broncos and Badgers last met in the Cotton Bowl following the 2016 season, a 24-16 Wisconsin victory in what was P.J. Fleck’s last game on the WMU sideline before taking over at Minnesota. Wisconsin has won four of five meetings in a series that began in 1963. The Broncos’ lone win was in 1988.

The Broncos will receive a heftier payout ($1.8 million) the following week for their game at Ohio State. It is a game that was scheduled after WMU broke an agreement with Cincinnati, a buyout that cost $500,000.

$1.4 Million: FAU at Michigan State

The schools met three times in a four-season period (2008-11) in what was a two-for-one deal, though each game was played in Michigan with the Spartans winning all three. Two of the games were in East Lansing with the 2010 encounter played 90 miles to the east at Detroit’s Ford Field with FAU serving as host. That game was scheduled for Boca Raton in what would have been the Owls’ debut at their on-campus stadium. Construction delays due to costs pushed stadium completion back a year. (The Owls continued to play their home games at 20,000-seat Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, though that was not the choice of venue for hosting Michigan State as the facility would not have yielded anything close to the gate they received from Ford Field where the announced attendance was 36,124.)

Saturday, August 31

$1.9 Million: Western Kentucky at Alabama

Kalen DeBoer’s debut in Tuscaloosa is against a Western Kentucky team that was originally scheduled to visit Bryant-Denny last season. The agreement, which was announced May 2018, was amended August 2019 to reflect the matchup being pushed back one year so that WKU could schedule Ohio State in 2023. That game, a 63-10 Buckeyes’ win, had a guarantee of $1.8 million. Alabama, which replaced WKU with Middle Tennessee at a cost of $1.6 million, has won all three meetings with Hilltoppers. The most recent was a 38-10 verdict in 2016.

$1.85 Million: Fresno State at Michigan

The amount Michigan is paying Fresno State tops the $1.8 million Arkansas State will receive for its September 14 trip to Ann Arbor. These amounts are on par with what UM paid East Carolina ($1.8 million) for the 2023 opener. In fact, Michigan paid its three non-conference foes $4.8 million last season as UNLV and Bowling Green each received $1.5 million for their visits to the Big House.

In 2022, Colorado State ($1.8 million), Hawaii ($1.9 million) and UConn ($1.8 million) left Michigan with nice payouts, and losses by a combined 166-17. That’s $13.95 million Michigan will have paid eight non-conference foes in a three-season stretch.

$1.8 Million: Colorado State at Texas

It was May 2019 when CSU announced it would travel to Austin for this game. It will be the second meeting between the schools with the first coming in 1975, also at UT. The Longhorns prevailed, 46-0, in front of 46,400 that saw Earl Campbell rush for 103 yards and a TD. As noted above, the Rams also received $1.8 million for their 2022 opener at Michigan.

$1.6 Million: UTEP at Nebraska

This will be the first meeting between the schools and Scotty Walden’s debut on the Miners’ sideline. This will the fourth time UTEP will play a team from the Big Ten. They lost at Iowa (69-7) in 1986, at Wisconsin (37-26) in 2012 and at Northwestern (38-7) last year.

$1.5 Million: Old Dominion at South Carolina

It has been 10 years since the Monarchs played their first and only game against an SEC opponent. A trip to Vandy in 2014, ODU’s first season as a full-fledged FBS program, resulted in a 42-28 defeat.

$1.1 Million: Kent State at Pitt

In keeping with how Kent State has loaded up the non-conference schedule with hefty payouts in recent years, the Golden Flashes also have a trip to Tennessee on September 14 ($1.35 million) and are at Penn State ($1.6 million) on September 21. That’s a total of $4.05 million. The season-opening date with Pitt will be the eighth meeting between the schools with the first seven having been played between 1970 and 2003. Each game was played in the Steel City with Pitt winning all seven.

$950,000: Southern Miss at Kentucky

This payout does not make the cut, though it is interesting how it came about: a four-team schedule swap that also included Ohio State and Akron. Southern Miss was scheduled to open in Columbus and receive a guarantee of $1.9 million. After the game was cancelled last November on a mutual basis, the Golden Eagles scheduled their visit to Kentucky and Akron replaced Southern Miss on the Buckeyes’ schedule. Ohio State will pay Akron $600,000 for the roughly two-hour trip to Columbus.