Bethune-Cookman Football to Face Miami, Central Florida
Bethune-Cookman University football will face the University of Miami (FL) and the University of Central Florida in guaranteed away games beginning in 2011, the university posted yesterday on its website. The deals, which could net the university more than $1 million in guaranteed revenues, positions the Wildcats for revenue-bearing contests well into the future. From the Daytona Beach News-Journal (via the BC website):
Seven other Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schools have played “guarantee games” against major conference football teams during the past two years. The games are a way for major football powers to secure a lucrative home game without having to play that opponent on the road in the future; the opponent leaves with a fat paycheck.
“It’s substantial money that will help both the football program and the entire university,” Thompson said. “We’ll use the money to grow the department by hiring more support positions, not only in football but in women’s sports as well. And the remaining dollars would go back to the university.”
Thompson said the Wildcats had been looking at guarantee games for the past several years but became “aggressive” in their search last year. And when Jenkins was hired to take over the program last December, he made the schedule upgrade a priority. Their goal is to play one guarantee game every season, and Thompson is trying to schedule those opponents through 2020.
Bethune-Cookman is also in negotiation with Tennessee State University to schedule home-and-home contests with the Ohio Valley Conference’s sole HBCU member.
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