The rich continue to get richer.

Alabama’s athletic department will earn $1.75 million more than its season-opening opponent Louisville for its appearance in the 2018 Camping World Kickoff on Sept. 1 in Orlando Fla., according to contracts obtained by the Louisville Courier Journal via open records requests.



Per the Courier Journal, each school signed its own contract with ESPN to agree to play in the game back in 2015. Alabama will earn $4.5 million, while Louisville’s payout was $2.75 million. UA’s contract obliges the school to buy 18,000 tickets for distribution to its fans, while Louisville agreed to purchase only 10,000. Both schools will be granted two 20-person suites, 25 parking passes and 200 complimentary tickets, as well as 1,000 tickets at $25 each for students.

The start of the 2018 season will be the seventh year in a row the Crimson Tide has played a high-profile, neutral-site non-conference game to open the season. In 2017, Alabama and Florida State both received a $5 million guarantee for their game in Atlanta. In 2015, the contractual payouts to the Tide and Wisconsin were $4 million for their game in Arlington, Texas. In 2012, Alabama and Michigan both made $4.7 million to play inside of AT&T Stadium.

Alabama’s 2018 season opener against Louisville is scheduled for a 7 p.m. CT start on ABC.

UA and Louisville will be meeting for the fourth time in program history with the Tide holding a 2-1 edge in the series. The last meeting took place in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., after Alabama swept two games from the Cardinals in the 1976 and 1977 seasons.

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As for other future games on UA’s schedule, athletic director Greg Byrne weighed in on that.

“We still have a period between ‘24 and ‘27 where we’re talking about some different scenarios,” Byrne said. “I’m sure neutral games will be part of those years. Will they be all four? I don’t know yet. Depends on how some conversations go. One of the things that people often forget about when they have the scheduling discussion is there’s an assumption that both teams want to play each other, and there’s also an assumption that dates can work. Those two things create challenges in that process.

“But I think it is important for all of us as ADs and our coaches -- and Coach (Nick) Saban and I have very much been in lockstep on it -- is finding games that our fan bases are going to be excited to be a part of, that our teams are going to be excited to be a part of. And that’s worked for us.”

Alabama's known future non-conference games:

2018

Sept. 1 -- Louisville (at Orlando)

Sept. 8 -- Arkansas State

Sept. 29 -- UL-Lafayette

Nov. 17 -- The Citadel

2019

Aug. 31 -- Duke (at Atlanta)

Sept. 7 -- New Mexico State

Sept. 21 -- Southern Miss

Nov. 23 -- Western Carolina

2020

Sept. 5 -- USC (at Arlington, Texas)

Sept. 12 -- Georgia State

Sept. 26 -- Kent State

2021

Sept. 4 -- Miami (at Atlanta)

Sept. 25 -- Southern Miss

TBD -- Mercer

2022

Sept. 3 -- Utah State

Sept. 10 -- at Texas

2023

Sept. 2 -- Central Michigan

Sept. 9 -- Texas

Sept. 16 -- Western Kentucky

2028

Sept. 2 -- at Notre Dame

2029

Sept. 1 -- Notre Dame

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).