Hoping for a Bowl Bid, College Teams Pay Big Bucks to Play Losers

By Mark Hoerrner

The Air Force may have it tough recruiting soldiers, but it’s had a fairly easy time recruiting its football team. Unfortunately, the team is weaker than a lot of college powerhouses, such as the University of Tennessee. But there’s an upside: Air Force will receive $850,000 to play UT this season.

The University of Buffalo is in a similar state, netting $1.2 million for playing two top schools vying for national championships. And according to the New York Times, many other teams are getting some form of payola as well.

Tennessee will pay Louisiana-Lafayette $750,000, The New York Times reports, and Troy University will receive the same amount from Nebraska.

There are advantages for teams looking for low-powered teams to beef up the win-loss count throughout the season. It’s less likely that marquee college players destined for NFL glory will get injured in a game against a weaker football program. Further, most teams will travel to the stronger school guaranteeing sellouts and high profits at the home stadium.

Like most things in life, even amateur college football is ruled by money.

"Who we're playing is not as important when it's the first game of the season," said Doug Messer, University of Texas assistant athletic director, in an interview with Knight-Ridder. "We're going to do better economically than if we took a game on the road."

In an era where only men’s basketball and football are paying their bills in college athletics, many smaller schools are opting for the beating in order to keep the programs going.

The University of North Texas decided on a budget of $6.1 million for intercollegiate athletics this year. Reporters at Knight-Ridder are noting that North Texas has lined up four games against conference powerhouses for a total payday of $1.3 million, or 20 percent of its budget that supports six men’s and nine women’s teams.

Currently, the payoff champion is Central Florida who faced half a season of bowl contenders including Auburn and Nebraska. The school raked in $1.4 million from pay-to-play agreements last year.

All of this comes on the tail of the NCAA adding a 12th game to the collegiate season. Despite massive outrage by coaches, the NCAA voted to add the 12th game as a way for teams to better support themselves. The additional game means additional ticket sales, concession sales, local restaurant and bar patronage, impact to the local grocery and convenience store chains and the list goes on.