.Northern Illinois stunned No. 5 Notre Dame last weekend on a last-second field goal to mark college regulation football's very first large trouble of 2024. For the Huskies, it is actually a gain they'll be actually commemorating for several years to follow. For the Combating Irish, it's a season-crusher. To lose the home opener to a small university coming from an extremely substandard event was a humiliation for Notre Dame.Especially considering that they spent NIU $1.4 million to accomplish it.This shines an illumination on one of the longest and most pricey traditions in college football: assurance video games. They are actually additionally phoned "funds activities," "paycheck games," or even, as I as if to phone them, "get weeks." An expensive (as well as risky) traditionFor years, in the 1st few weeks of the time, major college volleyball institutions have paid out smaller colleges to come to play all of them in their house.In Full week 1 alone, more than $35 million was actually spent around at least 55 assurance games, depending on to Face Workplace Sports. Alabama wrote the biggest inspection to its own enemy, Western Kentucky, for a tremendous $1.9 million. WKU dropped that game 63-- 0, but they most likely attacked the rely on the bus trip home and most likely will not reconsider it.In Week 2, three schools-- Western Michigan, Center Tennessee, and Utah Condition-- got payments larger than NIU's $1.4 thousand. They lost by a combined credit rating of 156-- 3, but they take away a total of $4.85 million in the process.It's typically a deal for both teams. The little universities acquire a paycheck, the large colleges acquire an additional home video game to dairy gameday profits. The small college comes to use the large stage as well as get national visibility, the big one acquires a dish on the schedule to begin the year in a sport with no preseason. Thus all's properly and great till the smaller group determines to show out and also pull the upset.