The cost of college football buy games "has been steadily rising," but the Univ. of Washington's payment to Arkansas State in '21 will be "next-level stuff in the Pac-12," according to Jon Wilner of the San Jose MERCURY NEWS. Arkansas State will receive a $1.75M paycheck from UW in '21, after reportedly taking $1.7M from Alabama last year and $1.8M from Georgia this year. Georgia State in '14 "visited Husky Stadium for just $900,000." Since then, the price "has doubled." UW AD Jen Cohen said, "The schools in that business are sophisticated. They're getting smarter about waiting." UW's financial model "includes annual payments" of $14.8M on the "debt service for the Husky Stadium renovation." Cohen said that to "make the math work," the school has to "rely on the revenue from playing seven home games per year." Cohen: "We have to be competitive with leagues that have schools that want seven home games and have tremendous resources and that are willing to pay." Cohen said that at some point, the "price for the likes of Arkansas State will become untenable for the Power Five business models currently in place." UW generates approximately $7M in "gross revenue per home game" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 9/19).
