College football guarantee-game contracts: They cover much more than the money - USA TODAY

Steve Berkowitz, Lila Bromberg and Andy Kostka USA TODAY Sports

Published 6:30 AM EDT Aug 29, 2019

Mostly, college football guarantee-game contracts are about the money. However, plenty of other details matter. Like certain unique particulars from the agreements for these games:

New Mexico State at Washington State, Aug. 31, and New Hampshire at Florida International, Sept. 14: Both deals include provisions for men’s basketball games. The New Mexico State-Washington State contract says there will be a separate agreement for a home-and-home series. The New Hampshire-FIU contract’s $250,000 guarantee for UNH covers both the football game and a single men’s basketball game to be played this season in Miami.

North Carolina at Wake Forest, Sept. 13: Conference games don’t require contracts, but this meeting of Atlantic Coast Conference schools located less than an hour apart isn’t a conference game. The ACC’s rotation of conference games meant UNC and Wake weren’t going to meet from 2016 through 2021, so they solved that with a deal for games in 2019 and 2021 that involve no guarantee payments.

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Western Michigan at Michigan State, Sept. 7: When school officials signed the contract for this game in the spring of 2011, Western Michigan was due to be paid $500,000 “with a mutually agreed upon market adjustment to be negotiated by September 1, 2018.” That has proved to be an extremely lucrative phrase.

In May 2017, the parties amended the agreement and increased the payout to $1 million.

Purdue’s games against Nevada, Vanderbilt and Texas Christian: Advance scheduling of non-conference football games is common. Scheduling a series of games is common. For instance, Purdue and Nevada agreed in 2012 to stage games in 2016 and 2019.

Purdue’s series with Vanderbilt and TCU have a much wider spread. Under a 2015 agreement, Purdue and Vandy are meeting this season and in 2029. And under a 2017 deal, Purdue and TCU were to meet this season and in 2029 – but the return game already has been put off to 2030.

Abilene Christian at North Texas, Aug. 31, and Texas Southern at Louisiana-Lafayette, Sept. 14: North Texas has agreed to give Abilene Christian $350,000 and provide Abilene Christian’s postgame meal, although no specifics about the meal are stated. Louisiana-Lafayette is paying Texas Southern $275,000 and arranging a postgame meal for up to 110 people, at a total value not to exceed $1,500.

Wyoming at Texas State, Sept. 7: The agreement for a two-game series that began in Laramie in 2017 was drafted by Wyoming, but it applies to both games and states: A total of 12 visiting team cheerleaders and one mascot will be allowed on the field, but, “Cheerleaders will remain in front of the visiting fan seating section. Visiting team cheerleaders are not allowed to run end zones. Mascots are required to stay on visiting team sideline and shall not interact with the home team mascot.”

Maine at Liberty, Oct. 19; Southern Illinois at Massachusetts, Sept. 7; and Massachusetts at Rutgers, Aug. 30: Maine is getting a $300,000 guarantee for the game against Liberty, but it is being paid by Massachusetts.

Under originally planned schedules, according to UMass AD Ryan Bamford, Liberty was set to play Southern Illinois and pay SIU no guarantee, while UMass was set to play Maine and pay a $300,000 guarantee. When scheduling issues developed for Liberty and UMass, the four schools agreed to trade opponents and dates. As part of the arrangement, UMass not only agreed to absorb the guarantee to Maine, it also agreed to pay $25,000 to SIU to help cover its travel costs.

In a related piece of schedule shuffling that became an issue because of the date changes involved with those two games, Bamford said, UMass ended up adding the game against Rutgers. That negotiation gave UMass a $1.3 million guarantee and resulted in a home-and-home men’s basketball series between the schools.

Kansas State at Mississippi State, Sept. 14: Under a two-game, home-and-home agreement negotiated in 2014 – just before the SEC Network’s launch – Mississippi State agreed to “make every effort within its abilities and … request directly to the Southeastern Conference” that the game be nationally televised. If the game were to end up on a network that did not have a subscriber base in Kansas that was equal to at least 50% of the TV households in the state, Mississippi State agreed to make the game available in the state on a Kansas State institutional network or pay Kansas State $100,000. The game is set to be shown on ESPN or ESPN2.

Central Arkansas at Hawaii, Sept. 21: In addition to a $175,000 guarantee, Hawaii is providing round-trip airfare for 100 people, 50 hotel rooms for three nights, and two buses and an equipment truck for local transportation.

Bands in Demand: Contracts for several games involving schools from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference include financial considerations specific to their famous bands.

► Florida A&M at Central Florida, Aug. 29: Florida A&M’s guarantee will be reduced by $20,000 to $350,000 if FAMU’s band doesn’t attend and play at halftime, weather permitting. UCF has agreed to provide parking near the stadium for up to six buses and an equipment truck for the band.   

► Prairie View at Houston, Sept. 7: Subject to Prairie View’s discretion, $10,000 of the $400,000 guarantee will go to the band.

► Alabama State at Florida State, Nov. 16: Alabama State will get an additional $25,000 for a total of $425,000, if the full band participates.

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2019/08/29/college-football-guarantee-game-contracts-quirks/2145432001/

2019-08-29 10:30:00Z
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