What would you pay $900,000 for?
Floor seats at the NBA Finals? A trip to the Super Bowl? Tickets to the 2010 World Cup?
How about a Texas-Florida Atlantic football matchup?
Yeah, me neither.
Despite what you or I might be willing to spend that kind of money on, the illogical beast that is college football thinks differently (or not at all, depending on how cynical you are). According to a Des Moines Register open records request, Texas is paying Florida Atlantic $900,000 to make the trip to Austin for Saturday’s game — the highest amount any team will pay for a non-conference game this season.
To put it in perspective, an LSU-North Texas matchup will cost the Tigers $750,000, and Texas A&M will shell out $550,000 for the honor of facing Arkansas State — the same Arkansas State Texas faced in last season’s opener, which was broadcast on Pay- Per-View because the major networks weren’t interested.
If you let the numbers tell the story, Florida Atlantic (8-5 last season), North Texas (2-10) and Arkansas State (5-7) — all of the Sun Belt conference and a combined three bowl trips since 2004 — are worth more than a half million each.
Who said you have to be talented to strike it rich?
After the mind-jarring awe fades away and you’re done counting the things you could do with $900,000, the question has to be asked: Is this good for college football?
After all, the vast majority of these lesser schools aren’t making it to the title game even if they go undefeated (Hawaii and Boise State have proven that). So why not take a week to get creamed, cash in a ridiculous paycheck and focus on winning your conference? That amount of money for a small team would, in theory, help its program significantl in the near future.
But then again, there is the issue of the fans, who will actually have to sit through games, such as Nebraska-Western Michigan this weekend, and find a way not to fall asleep. (That contest is costing the Huskers $800,000.)
This is the current college football landscape. The demand for non-conference pushovers is so high that teams like Florida Atlantic are able to charge insane amounts to teams looking to pad their records heading into conference play, thus keeping alive any national title hopes they might have.
The result is the first few weeks of every season become a display of blowouts sprinkled with a few upsets and some hefty paychecks for the brave (or money-hungry) schools that allow themselves to face teams that are clearly on different levels. Meanwhile, fans are left to filter through all the cupcake games in search of the few games during the whole week that might end up being a contest. (This week it looks like Alabama- Clemson is a safe bet.)
But make sure you set some time aside for the $900,000 game. Trade in the bag of chips for caviar to set the mood and watch it on the most expensive television you can find.
Just try not to fall asleep after kickoff.
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