Clemson to spend $1.6 million in payouts for home football ‘guarantee games’ in 2023
The No. 25 Clemson football team is in sore need of a couple bounce-back wins after losing Monday’s season opener to Duke.
The Tigers will get an opportunity at just that with FCS Charleston Southern and Florida Atlantic coming to Memorial Stadium the next two weekends.
But it’ll come with a seven-figure price tag.
The Clemson athletics department will pay out a combined $1.6 million to Charleston Southern and Florida Atlantic for their visits to Clemson later this month, according to game contracts obtained by The State through an open records request.
Clemson will pay $400,000 to Charleston Southern and $1.2 million to FAU by Feb. 15, 2024, for their football teams’ games at Clemson on Sept. 9 and Sept. 16, respectively.
That $1.6 million is in line with the roughly $1.5 million Clemson paid out to FCS Furman and Louisiana Tech for non-conference games during the 2022 season.
Also known as “buy games” or “guarantee games,” these games between Power Five teams and Group of Five FBS or FCS teams — almost always held at the Power Five team’s home stadium — are a staple of college football and have benefits for both schools.
The smaller team gets national exposure as well as a solid paycheck to help balance out its athletics department budget, and the larger school — in theory — gets an easy home win ahead of conference play and takes a step toward the NCAA’s bowl eligibility threshold (six games).
Clemson has also routinely used these games to get younger players and walk-on players the snaps they wouldn’t get in, say, a high-stakes ACC game like Monday’s at Duke.
Guarantee games, of course, aren’t actually guaranteed wins.
In 2022, App State won at Texas A&M, Georgia Southern won at Nebraska and Middle Tennessee State won at Miami in “buy games.” Just last week, Texas State made national news by upsetting Baylor 42-31 in Waco for its first ever win against a Power Five team.
After losing by 21 points to Duke and nearly falling out of the AP Top 25, coach Dabo Swinney and the Tigers will certainly be trying to avoid that fate against Charleston Southern, which competes in the FCS Big South, this Saturday and Florida Atlantic, which competes in FBS Conference USA, next Saturday.
Here’s a closer look at the contracts.
Clemson vs. Charleston Southern contract
The Clemson-Charleston Southern game was a late addition to the Tigers’ 2023 home slate after Wofford, the team’s previously scheduled in-state FCS opponent, signed a contract to play at Pittsburgh instead.
Clemson and CSU agreed to play in a contract struck Nov. 18, 2022. Clemson must pay Charleston Southern $400,000 “no later than February 15 of the year following the Game for which the guarantee was provided,” per the contract.
It’s the first ever meeting between the schools.
Other notes
Charleston Southern will be allotted 500 free tickets and 60 team bench area passes, 16 all-access passes, eight coaches’ booth passes and six team/coaches video passes.
Charleston Southern had the option to request up to 2,000 more tickets to sell by Feb. 1, 2023. Any unsold tickets could be returned to Clemson by May 1, 2023.
For weekend travel from Charleston to Clemson (a roughly 4-hour drive), CSU’s football program gets parking passes for one equipment truck, four buses and six cars.
In the event of cancellation without mutual consent within six months of the game, the school breaching the contract would have owed the full $400,000 by Feb. 15, 2024. There was no penalty for notice of cancellation with six months’ notice or more.
Clemson vs. FAU contract
Clemson and FAU, based in Boca Raton, Florida, signed the contract for next weekend’s game over eight years ago on Jan. 30, 2015. Clemson owes Florida Atlantic $1.2 million for the contest by Feb. 15, 2024.
The schools have met once before, with Clemson winning 54-6 in a 2006 game at Memorial Stadium back in the Tommy Bowden era.
Other notes
FAU will be allotted 500 free tickets and 60 team bench area passes, 16 all-access passes, eight coaches’ booth passes and six team/coaches video passes.
Florida Atlantic had the option to request up to 4,000 more tickets to sell by June 1, 2023. Any unsold tickets could be returned to Clemson by Aug. 26, 2023 (14 days before the game).
For travel from Boca Raton, Florida to Clemson (a roughly 11-hour drive), the FAU football program gets parking passes for one equipment truck, one equipment van, four buses and six cars.
FAU gets 90 free game programs delivered to its dressing room at least an hour before game time, according to the game management section of the contract.
In the event of cancellation without mutual consent, the school breaching the contract would have owed the full amount ($1.2 million) by Feb. 15, 2024, regardless of how soon or how late it breached the contract.
Clemson schedule trends
The 2023 season marked the 16th consecutive year that Clemson has played an in-state FCS program at home. Outside of CSU, a first-time opponent, Furman, The Citadel, S.C. State, Presbyterian, Wofford and Coastal Carolina (pre-FBS transition) have played such games in Death Valley.
The FAU game also falls into Swinney’s general scheduling philosophy of Clemson hosting an in-state FCS school and Group of Five FBS school at home annually.
On top of that, Clemson plays an annual game against in-state rival and SEC school South Carolina and a game against another Power Five school (generally in a home-and-home setup with Notre Dame or another SEC school). Later this season, Clemson hosts Notre Dame Nov. 4 and visits South Carolina Nov. 25.
Clemson future non-conference opponents
2024: Georgia (in Atlanta), South Carolina, App State, The Citadel
2025: LSU, at South Carolina, Troy, Furman
2026: at LSU, South Carolina, Georgia Southern, Charleston Southern
2027: Notre Dame, at South Carolina, Wofford
2028: at Notre Dame, South Carolina, Troy
