The cost of doing nonconference scheduling business continues to rise.
The latest example of that burgeoning phenomenon is Michigan. In March of this year, U-M announced that it had canceled a future home-and-home series with Virginia Tech and replaced the 2020 Tech game with one against Arkansas State.
According to the game contract obtained by mlive.com, U-M will pay the Sun Belt Conference school a whopping $1.8 million for the Sept. 19, 2020, game in Ann Arbor. When the $375,000 cancellation fee paid to Virginia Tech is factored in, that date on the 2020 calendar will cost the U-M athletic department nearly $2.2 million.
A new opponent for the second game against Tech, scheduled for Blacksburg in 2021, has yet to be announced.
The Big Ten and Sun Belt schools, incidentally, have never met before in football. U-M’s most recent game against a team from the SBC came in 2014 against Appalachian State -- no, not that Mountaineers team.