It looks like not only did the Notre Dame football team take a crushing loss at home this past weekend, but they also shelled out a huge sum of money to do so.
When it comes to college football upsets this week, none were bigger than the shocking defeat Northern Illinois handed to Notre Dame. It wasn’t bad enough that the then-fifth-ranked Fighting Irish suffered a loss to an unranked team, but it happened at home in South Bend.
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It was a crushing setback that has sent the Notre Dame football team plummeting down the latest top 25 college football rankings. However, there may be some added insult to an injury that could seriously damage the school’s chances of landing a spot in the expanded college football playoff this season.
Following the game, popular podcaster and sports business reporter Joe Pompliano revealed some interesting news. “Notre Dame paid Northern Illinois $1.4 million to play them in South Bend today.”
Why would the Notre Dame football program pay an opponent?
The idea of one school paying another may seem outrageous to casual fans. Especially a sum that is over a million dollars. However, the practice is common throughout college sports. Because many small schools are not looking to pay the cost of travel to be dominated in an away game by a more powerful school.
“For decades, bigger schools have paid smaller institutions large sums to come to play on their home turf. The host typically gets an easy victory, the visitor gets a nice payday, and everyone leaves happy,” a Front Office Sports wrote about the tradition in an August report.
The practice is known as “guaranteed games.” And it is unclear if the $1.4 million the Notre Dame football program paid Northern Illinois is just for one game. Nevertheless, college football fans should look at shocking losses a lot differently because there is also often a huge financial cost that comes with those upsets.
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