The Alabama Crimson Tide are looking to bounce back after an embarrassing road loss to unranked Florida State. The good news for Tide fans is that Alabama has a great opportunity to do so in its Week 2 game against UL-Monroe, an FCS opponent.
Alabama is listed as a 36.5-point favorite against the Warhawks, and it'd be helpful for Kalen DeBoer and the Tide to cover that and then some. Regardless of how Saturday night's game plays out, however, UL-Monroe will be going home with a big payday.
You see, FCS schools traveling to big-name power conference schools often comes with a significant chunk of change. The money earned is crucial for smaller schools like UL-Monroe to fund their athletic departments each and every year.
Let's take a look at how much UL-Monroe will get for playing Alabama this week.
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Alabama vs. UL Monroe payout details
Following Saturday night's game at Bryant-Denny Stadium, UL-Monroe will walk home with $1.925 million. These two schools also met in 2022, which Alabama won 63-7.
According to FBS Schedules, which obtained the game contracts for both the 2022 and 2025 contests between the two schools, the Warhawks made $1.915 million three years ago. So ULM will get a nice extra $10,000 from when these two met last time.
Saturday night's game will be what's commonly referred to as a 'guarantee game' for UL Monroe. They're called that because regardless of how it plays out, the Warhawks are guaranteed to go home with the agreed upon amount. Typically, those figures are sorted out upon scheduling of the games.
ULM will be looking for its first season at .500 or better since 2018. The Warhawks won 29-0 against St. Francis in Week 1, and if ULM keeps it close against the Tide expect Kalen DeBoer's seat to get even hotter.
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Notable FCS vs. FBS guarantee game figures
As mentioned previously, these games are lifelines for smaller schools. Non-power schools simply don't have the bloated budgets of big-name schools, so these games are critical for athletic departments each and every year.
Last year, Western Kentucky got paid $1.9 million to play Alabama. WKU athletic director Todd Stewart said that although he realized the odds of his team winning were slim, playing the game is a big deal financially.
“If you’re scheduling somebody like Alabama for a road game, you know the chances of you winning the game are not great,” WKU Stewart said via Front Office Sports.
“If we didn’t play this game, and our football budget had $1.9 million less, our program would look very different.”
Last season, $1.9 million was also the going rate for games like Auburn–New Mexico State and Georgia–UMass. Several other matchups came in at $1.8 million, including Michigan–Arkansas State, Ohio State–Akron, Western Michigan, and Texas–Colorado State.
“I don’t love the model and at the same time understand the things that we have to do financially to run this athletic department," Kent State AD Randale Richmond said via the Associated Press in 2024. because we do have a great opportunity to impact the lives of young people,” he said last week. “And we can only do that if we are meeting our budgetary demands and needs.”
Here's a look at some of the other payouts big-name schools will have to make this season, regardless of outcome.
| Game | Date | Amount |
| Penn State vs. Nevada | Aug. 30 | $1.6 million |
| Michigan vs. New Mexico | Aug. 30 | $1.8 million |
| Penn State vs. FIU | Sept. 6 | $1.6 million |
| Clemson vs. Troy | Sept. 6 | $1.5 million |
| LSU vs. Western Kentucky | Nov. 22 | $1.8 million |
| Georgia vs. Charlotte | Nov. 22 | $1.9 million |
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