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Here’s how much money Clemson is paying App State for Week 2 football game

chapel fowler
·4 min read

The App State football team is a giant killer.

And regardless if the Mountaineers can topple No. 25 Clemson in Death Valley on Saturday night, they’ll head back home having earned a seven-figure payday.

The Tigers athletic department will be paying Appalachian State $1.25 million by February for its football team’s trip to Memorial Stadium this weekend, according to a game contract obtained by The State via public records request.

Per a contract signed by both schools’ athletic directors in January 2018, Clemson owes App State a “guarantee payment” of $1.25 million by Feb. 15, 2025, under the “buy game” set-up frequently used by power conference schools to fill out their home football schedules.

In the context of college athletic department budgets, the monetary amount itself isn’t unusual: Clemson paid Conference USA’s Louisiana Tech $1.1 million for a 2022 game at Death Valley and forked over $1.2 million to FAU, another C-USA team, for a 2023 home game. But those were relatively easy wins.

App State has given every indication over the years it’s not.

The Mountaineers, based in Boone, NC and competing in the Sun Belt Conference, are considered one of the best Group of Five schools in the country by just about everybody — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney included — and have proven it.

Again, again and again.

Forever famous for its 2007 upset of Michigan on the road as an FCS team, App State has scored three more wins against power conference schools since it officially became an FBS member seven seasons ago — with its added “buy game” money often serving as a punchline on top of those national news-making wins.

North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas A&M have all paid App State hundreds of thousands of dollars for the right to march into their home football stadiums and upset them. It’s a fact Swinney and Clemson, despite entering as a 17-point betting favorite, will be well aware of when facing coach Shawn Clark’s squad.

“App State’s not gonna sneak up on anybody,” Swinney said Monday night on his radio show. “If App State’s been sneaking up on you, you’ve been in a cave.”

Adding to the intrigue of this game for the upset-minded Mountaineers: Clemson (0-1) is coming off a demoralizing 31-point loss to No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta. Swinney has emphasized multiple times this week App State (1-0) has his team’s “full attention.”

Here are more nuggets from this Saturday’s game contract:

Clemson App State contract details

  • An initial agreement between Clemson and App State for a 2024 football game was entered Jan. 4, 2018. Former Tigers athletic director Dan Radakovich signed it Jan. 10, 2018, and App State AD Doug Gillin followed on Jan. 18, 2018.

  • The Mountaineers were allotted 2,300 free tickets.

  • App State’s band, cheerleaders and mascot(s) are to be admitted to the game without charge, with band member’s seats coming from the aforementioned 2,300-ticket allotment. Band members will have their own seating block in the stadium.

  • The Mountaineers are permitted to conduct a walk-through at Memorial Stadium at some time between 12:30 and 3 p.m. the day before the game (Friday Sept. 6). That request had to be put in by last Sunday.

  • App State gets 60 team bench area passes, 16 all-access passes, eight coaches’ booth passes and six team/coaches video passes.

  • The Mountaineers get parking passes for one equipment truck, four buses and six cars “for use by the football program and administration” at Memorial Stadium.

  • Had Clemson or App State breached the contract by canceling the game without mutual consent, the breaching school would have owed the other school the full $1.25 million regardless of when it canceled the game.

App State vs. Power 4 schools

Since officially joining the FBS in 2014, the Mountaineers are 3-10 against Power 4 schools. Their last eight games have all been decided by seven or fewer points.

  • 2014: At Michigan, 52-14 L

  • 2015: At No. 12 Clemson, 41-10 L

  • 2016: At No. 9 Tennessee, 20-13 L (OT)

  • 2016: Vs. No. 25 Miami, 41-10 L

  • 2017: At No. 15 Georgia, 31-10 L

  • 2017: Vs. Wake Forest, 20-19 L

  • 2018: At No. 9 Penn State, 45-38 L (OT)

  • 2019: At UNC, 34-31 W

  • 2019: At South Carolina, 20-15 W

  • 2021: At No. 22 Miami, 25-23 L

  • 2022: Vs. UNC, 63-61 L

  • 2022: At No. 6 Texas A&M, 17-14 W

  • 2023: At No. 17 UNC, 40-34 L (2OT)