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Notre Dame will reportedly pay Tennessee State $1 million for 2023 football game

On3 imageby:Patrick Engel•04/21/22•

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On3 image
Eddie George (second from left) and Marcus Freeman (second from right) are former Ohio State stars.

Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick learned his Tennessee State counterpart, Dr. Mikki Allen, is a strong negotiator while the two were scheduling their schools’ 2023 meeting on the football field.

“Let me just say that Dr. Allen negotiated for a bigger guarantee than we budgeted,” Swarbrick said with a smile at a joint press conference with Allen.

Not that it was really a problem. Everyone in the Notre Dame Stadium media room that day could admit as much.

“I look around here and y’all can make it happen,” Tennessee State coach Eddie George said in response, laughing. “Y’all are doing really well around here. This is a drop in the bucket.”

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That guarantee is $1 million, according to a report from The Tennessean. It’s reportedly the largest payment Tennessee State has ever received for playing football game against an FBS school. It’s much higher than most FCS programs typically receive for playing FBS guarantee games.

The game is Notre Dame’s first against an FCS program and an HBCU. It will be played on Sept. 2, 2023 and is the Irish’s second game of the season — following their opener against Navy in Ireland.

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For Notre Dame, $1 million is on the lower end of recent paychecks it has given non-Power Five opponents to come play a one-off game in South Bend. The Irish paid Toledo $1 million for playing at Notre Dame Stadium last year. They gave Cincinnati $1.2 million for their October 2021 visit. Ball State (2018) and Bowling Green (2019) earned $1.1 million for playing at Notre Dame. Western Michigan was set to receive $1.175 million for a 2020 game that was canceled. The 2020 meeting with South Florida did not have a guarantee payment because it’s part of a three-game series.

Looking ahead, Notre Dame will pay Marshall $1.25 million and UNLV $1.35 million for their respective trip to South Bend this season. Northern Illinois will pocket $1.4 million for its 2024 road game against the Irish.

Payment amounts for those recent past and upcoming FBS guarantee games were obtained via prior open records requests by BlueandGold.com. Notre Dame also plays Central Michigan in 2023.

2023 Notre Dame football schedule

Aug. 26: Navy*

Sept. 2: Tennessee State

Sept. 16: Central Michigan

Sept. 23: Ohio State

Oct. 14: USC

Oct. 28: Wake Forest

Nov. 4: at Clemson

Nov. 25: at Stanford

TBA: at Duke

TBA: at Louisville

TBA: at NC State

TBA: Pitt

  • Played at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland

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