Millions of dollars at stake for Arizona State and BYU football
The Valley has officially been activated.
Tempe, Arizona, is the place to be this weekend as the No. 21 Arizona State Sun Devils host the No. 14 BYU Cougars in a Big 12 college football game with wide-ranging implications.
What's on the line Saturday?
Millions of dollars, for starters.
College Football Playoff Payouts
The BYU-Arizona State winner will have a great shot at a berth in the Big 12 football championship game. A victory in the Big 12 title game comes with an automatic bid to the 12-team College Football Playoff — and a $4 million payout.
Another $4 million will be paid out to each team who makes the CFP quarterfinals, then $6 million for making the semifinals and another $6 million for advancing to the national championship game.
That doesn't include the $3 million each team gets to cover expenses for each round.
Let's pretend Arizona State makes the CFP and wins a first-round game. The total payout for the Sun Devils, including expenses, would be $14 million. A semifinal appearance would result in a $23 million payout, while a championship game berth would result in a $32 million payout ($20 million in revenue distribution plus $12 million to cover expenses).
That's game-changing money.
How The Big 12 Distributes The Money
That money does not get paid out directly to the school — it goes to the conference.
That is why it is such a big deal for a conference like the Big Ten to have four teams in the CFP field. Assuming No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Penn State and No. 5 Indiana all get in, that's a guaranteed payout of $12 million for the Big Ten — and an opportunity to make much, much more.
The Big 12 is likely only going to get one team into the CFP. Chaos would have to ensue over the final two weeks of the season for No. 14 BYU (9-1) or No. 16 Colorado (8-2) to get an at-large bid. The only path for No. 21 Arizona State (8-2) and No. 22 Iowa State (8-2) to get in is through an automatic bid.
Assuming the Big 12 gets one team in, the $4 million would be divided evenly among the 16 schools, with the participating team receiving a bonus.
CFP Brings NIL Exposure
From a player perspective, there's even more money on the line. The exposure an appearance — and a great performance — in a College Football Playoff game brings is significant.
After Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers had a big game in the Longhorns' 37-31 loss to Washington in the 2023 CFP Semifinals, Ewers landed NIL deals with EA Sports, Hulu, a private jet company, Dr. Pepper and more. According to On3, his NIL valuation is now $1.8 million.
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham has publicly promoted NIL deals for his players, and he knows how big that kind of exposure is for the future of his program.
"The fact that [QB Sam Leavitt] has three years left, every company in the state should be calling him for an NIL deal," Dillingham said earlier this season. "People should be throwing cars at him, they should be throwing condos at him, they should be throwing whatever they can throw at him to be excited about the fact that you have an NFL-level player in your state in the flagship school, in the town, for three more years."
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.