
3)Įven though these types of games are not very fun for the Group of Five team, they do get some exposure on national TV, their athletic department gets a substantial boost and they get to compete against some of the very best talent in the country, even if it’s just for one game.
$1.15 million – UCLA payout to Bowling Green (Sept. $1.5 million – Tennessee payout to Ball State (Sept. $1.8 million – Washington payout to Kent State (Sept. $1.8 million – Michigan payout to Colorado State (Sept. Here, you can find additional payout data for the opening week of college football guarantee games, per Tom Layberger of Forbes: Michigan, Tennessee, UCLA and Washington are just a few of the big-name teams who will do the same. The Alabama football team is not the only program participating in a guarantee game in Week 1. “We’ve got an athletic department that we’ve got to fund, and this is something that we have got to do,” he said according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s a necessary evil,” Anderson said of so-called payout games. In other words, this payout game will cover about five percent of their entire athletic budget, which will help fund all athletics at Utah State, not just football. The nearly $2 million payout from Alabama will be a huge boost to Utah State.įor the fiscal year ending in 2019, their athletic department revenue was $38.7 million and their expenses were $39.1 million, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. There’s no shame in playing these games, even if it’s a game in which you’re expected to get beat and beaten badly (many sportsbooks have Alabama defeating Utah State by around 40 points). In exchange for coming into town and getting whooped, the bigger school will pay a handsome fee to the smaller school to help ease the pain, inconvenience and (likely) embarrassment from getting trounced by a team with far superior athletes and facilities.
The games are essentially designed for established and wealthy Power Five schools to have an easy, tune-up game with no travel. These sort of games, sometimes called “guarantee games,” can be vitally important for smaller schools that have minuscule athletic budgets.
Only Colorado State ($2 million from Florida) and Tulane ($1.93 million from Auburn) have received bigger payouts than Utah State.
That figure is one of the largest payouts in the history of college football. 1 ranked team in the country in Week 1 of the 2022 college football season. Utah State will reportedly receive $1.91 million to travel to Tuscaloosa and face the No. However, even a team that was ranked in the Top 25 last season and won their bowl game is not beneath scheduling a payout game. They look to replicate that success in 2022 with the help of Head Coach Blake Anderson and returning quarterback Logan Bonner. Utah State had a spectacular 2021 season and finished the season ranked No. The Alabama football team hosts Utah State, a Group of Five team from the Mountain West Conference, during Week 1 of college football. How much will Utah State earn from playing the Tide? By Jacob Ellerbee 10 months ago Alabama football hosts a Group of Five team in Tuscaloosa for a Week 1 matchup.