After $24M move to FBS football, Sac State will net $225K in 2026 game guarantees
When the Sacramento State Hornets football program earlier this year made an aggressive leap into college football’s top level, the Football Bowl Subdivision, it took on a roughly $24 million obligation over the next five years to join the Mid-American Conference.
Key in helping pay for that ascension, school officials said, would be future money made from playing higher-profile schools in non-conference road games, known as game guarantees.
“All of this is being primarily paid for by game guarantees,” university president Luke Wood said in February, according to the State Hornet student newspaper. “As an FBS school, we can get $1 million to $1.5 million per game.”
But for 2026, game guarantees for games against Hawaii, North Dakota State, Mississippi Valley State and Fresno State will net Sac State just $225,000, according to contracts provided to The Sacramento Bee in response to a California Public Records Act request.
The Hornets have two road games that will bring in funds: Fresno State on Sept. 12, for $350,000; and Hawaii on Nov. 28, for $225,000. They will pay Mississippi Valley State a $350,000 guarantee for a Sept. 5 home game in Sacramento.
Sac State’s home game against North Dakota State on Sept. 19 is the first in a traditional home-and-home agreement, with no money involved and Sac State slated to visit North Dakota State in 2027, though either program canceling without mutual consent would be contractually obligated to pay the other $350,000.
The contract with Fresno State was signed in 2020, well before Sacramento State made its move to the FBS and while it continued to play in the lower-level Football Championship Subdivision as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
The game against Hawaii was announced in March after Hawaii had a home-and-home canceled with UMass. The Mississippi Valley State game was agreed upon when Sacramento State was considering operating as an FBS independent, months before the move to the MAC became official.
Sac State football’s monetary obligations
Sacramento State’s entry fee to the MAC was $18 million, spread out over the five-year agreement. The university made a $6 million payment to the MAC that was due April 3, and is on the hook for $3 million payments each December through 2030.
The school will also pay $75,000 in affiliate member fees this year, which will increase by 4% each of the four remaining years, and $130,000 annually in standard bowl fees charged to each team in the conference.
Additionally, Sac State will pay $5 million to the NCAA for the FBS promotion and will pay travel costs for the four visiting conference opponents, bringing the grand total cost through 2030 to roughly $24 million.
An eight-figure fee to move from an FCS conference into an FBS conference is not unheard of. North Dakota State also newly joined an FBS conference, the Mountain West, for 2026 and paid $12.5 million to the Mountain West to do so, plus the $5 million NCAA fee.
‘Extremely late start’ for 2026 scheduling
The net $225,000 for Sac State from non-conference games is a far cry from what the school would need from game guarantees in future years to pay for the move to the FBS and the MAC.
But athletic director Mark Orr said he was less concerned about the low dollar figure for 2026 and more concerned with getting games on the schedule in the first place.
The FBS move required Sacramento State to schedule a minimum of five FBS home games, which was difficult just months before the season while most non-conference schedules for FBS teams are mapped out years in advance, Orr said.
“We obviously got an extremely late start in putting a schedule together for 2026,” Orr said. “For us to have two non-conference home games, two road games and still come out on net positive in my eyes for 2026, that’s quite an accomplishment.”
How much could guarantees grow in 2027 and beyond?
Orr said he’s been working on scheduling bigger non-conference opponents starting in 2027 through 2034.
He expects there to be games against bigger name schools in the region, including Cal, Stanford, San Jose State, Nevada and regular games against Fresno State in the coming years.
Sac State has played road games against each of those five schools since 2021, including an upset win over Stanford in 2023. Stanford paid Sac State a $625,000 guarantee for that game, news outlets reported at the time.
Orr also noted Sac State is nearing agreements with Power Four schools — those in the SEC, Big 10, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference — similar to what Fresno State and San Jose State have signed in recent years.
“We’re very close to finalizing a game for 2027 with a Power Four school that will be a significant amount of revenue,” Orr said. “Certainly more than all of our guaranteed revenue combined for this year. ... We’re in conversations and negotiations with several Pour Four programs that are interested in playing us in future years.”
Fresno State received $1.85 million for its road game against Michigan and $1.35 million against UCLA in 2024.
San Jose State received game guarantees of $1.5 million for contests against Arkansas (an upset win in 2019) and Penn State in a game that was moved from 2020 to this September due to the COVID-19 pandemic. San Jose State also reportedly made $1.1 million to play at USC in the 2023 opener and $1.85 million to play at Texas last season.
Sac State is confident it can afford move to MAC
Sac State’s ability to foot the bill for the move to the MAC amid a budget shortfall for the public university of upward of $31 million in 2025 was a key question when the announcement was made in February.
The questions grew sharper as details of the agreement were made public. There isn’t much money coming in from the MAC as Sac State won’t receive broadcast revenue from the conference throughout the five-year agreement. And they have to foot the bill for visiting teams coming for conference games, which are expected to be six figures for contests with MAC programs traveling from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.
For Sac State to recoup even half of the $24 million being spent to join the MAC via game guarantees over the remainder of the five-year agreement, the university would need those guarantees to net an average of $3 million a year from 2027 through 2030.
College football teams generally play three to four non-conference games each season, so in a balanced non-conference schedule with two home and two road games, Sac State would need to average $1.5 million per road game — and that’s ignoring the need to offset any guarantees Sac State might pay out to visiting teams.
Orr said he believes the school will be able to pay its share to get into the MAC with the help of game guarantees, corporate sponsorships and local revenue despite the obstacles of the agreement and the university tightening its financial belt.
“I think all that’s pretty lined up,” Orr said. “We feel good about the entry fee, what we’ve committed to.
“I think the challenge now is in the marketplace of Division I athletics with NIL (name, image and likeness monetization rights for college athletes), and all the other needs that you have to be competitive at an FBS level, those are also revenue opportunities, fundraising opportunities that we’re chasing as well.
“We didn’t enter FBS and the MAC just to be in it. Certainly we want to win and be competitive.”
