The Wolf Pack’s non-conference schedule will cost the team nearly $200,000 in guaranteed payouts, but that’s the cost of business for a mid-major school trying to put together a competitive slate of games.

Nevada has a pair of exhibition games – one Sunday and one next Friday – before kicking off the regular season Nov. 10 against Idaho, a game that cost Nevada $85,000, plus about $2,500 in lodging for the Vandals.

While every coach of a good team’s goal is to set up a non-conference schedule that can put it in contention for an NCAA Tournament at-large spot, there also is the often overlooked financial element of putting together such a schedule. For a single-game series, there is typically a payout involved from the home team to the visitor. For home-and-home series, payouts typically don’t exist. The more money teams have in their budget, the more home games they can buy during non-conference play.

Nevada has 14 non-conference games this season, giving it 32 for the season, which is two above the NCAA maximum. But, the Wolf Pack received exemptions for playing at Hawaii and playing in a neutral-court tournament.

Of those 14 non-conference games, five are part of multi-game series – games with Pacific, UC Irvine, Santa Clara, Rhode Island and Davidson – four are part of the Las Vegas Invitational, one is part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Classic and one is part of the MW-Missouri Valley Classic. Nevada bought one home game (Idaho) and is playing one payout road game (Texas Tech will pay Nevada $90,000).

The Las Vegas Invitational accounted for almost all of the $200,000 in guarantees Nevada will pay out this non-conference season. The two home games the Wolf Pack received from the tournament – against UC Davis and Radford – cost Nevada $180,000 and the school must buy 150 tournament passes at $110 each for the two-game Las Vegas portion of the tournament, which totals $16,500.

Coach Eric Musselman has eschewed playing non-Division I opponents during the season in an attempt to boost the school's strength of schedule and improve its home slate for fans. That is a costly move as non-DI schools typically require only a $4,000 guarantee compared to around $80,000 to buy a home game against a D-I opponent.

Ultimately, Musselman said he’s happy with how his non-conference slate turned out.

“The schedule we’re more than ecstatic,” he said. “We dropped the ball last year when we got behind. We thought we had some games, some people backed out on us the last minute. It won’t happen again. We’ll try to of a little better job of doing it earlier, but at the end of the day it’s our best schedule by far, and (assistant coach) Anthony Ruta did an incredible job. He picked the ball up late in the schedule process and did an incredible job. We were sitting there looking at four games and we end up with Davidson at home, Rhode Island at home and Texas Tech on the road. We have some really, really good games and when you look at our schedule, it’s like an NBA schedule. We hardly have any off days.”

Here is a look at the financial details of each of Nevada’s 14 regular-season games this year, plus its two remaining exhibitions. The contracts were obtained by the RGJ via a public records request.

Preseason game vs. Stanislaus State

Date: Oct. 29

Location: Reno

Cost: Nevada pays Stanislaus State $4,000

Perks: Stanislaus State gets 50 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by MW; Stanislaus State will be provided 10 rooms for one night at a hotel designated by Nevada; $100,000 cancellation policy

Return game: No return game

Preseason game vs. Dominican University

Date: Nov. 3

Location: Reno

Cost: Nevada pays Dominican University $4,000

Perks: Dominican University gets 50 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by MW; Dominican University will be provided 10 rooms for one night at a hotel designated by Nevada; $100,000 cancellation policy

Return game: No return game

Game 1: vs. Idaho

Date: Nov. 10

Location: Reno

Cost: Nevada pays Idaho $85,000

Perks: Idaho gets 50 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by MW; Idaho will be provided 12 rooms for two nights at a hotel designated by Nevada; $100,000 cancellation policy

Return game: No return game

Game 2: vs. Rhode Island

Date: Nov. 13

Location: Reno

Cost: No payment

Perks: Rhode Island gets 50 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by MW; $50,000 cancellation policy

Return game: Nevada will play at Rhode Island next season on Nov. 17, 2018

Game 3: at Santa Clara

Date: Nov. 15

Location: Santa Clara, Calif.

Cost: No payment

Perks: Nevada gets 75 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by WCC

Return game: This is a return game from Santa Clara playing at Nevada during the 2015-16 season

Game 4: at Pacific

Date: Nov. 18

Location: Stockton, Calif.

Cost: No payment

Perks: Nevada gets 75 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by WCC; $100,000 cancellation policy

Return game: Third is the third game in a four-game series; Pacific will play at Nevada in 2018-19 season

Game 5: vs. Davidson

Date: Nov. 21

Location: Reno

Cost: No payment

Perks: Davidson gets 50 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by the home team but must have officiated at least five NCAA tournaments; Davidson will be provided 12 hotel rooms for two nights by Nevada; $100,000 cancellation policy

Return game: Nevada will return a game played at Davidson by year 2019

Game 6: at Hawaii

Date: Nov. 24

Location: Honolulu

Cost: No payment (but Hawaii will cover up to $23,314 in travel/lodging expenses)

Perks: Hawaii will procure roundtrip airfare not to exceed $800 for a travel party of 23, with fare based on lowest coach rate available from Reno-Tahoe airport; tickets must be purchased prior to June 1, 2017; Hawaii will provide 13 hotel rooms for two nights at an Outrigger property designated by Hawaii; room rate not to exceed $189 plus taxes per night; Nevada gets 25 complimentary tickets; $100,000 cancellation policy; referees to be appointed by the Big West

Return game: No return game

Game 7: vs. Illinois State

Date: Nov. 29

Location: Reno

Cost: No payment

Perks: Illinois State required to arrive in Reno by 11 p.m. local time the night before the game; refs will be appointed by the Missouri Valley Conference; Illinois State will receive 50 complimentary tickets, with a minimum of 25 being located as close to their bench as possible; teams must exchange recordings of three games from that season for scouting purposes

Return game: No return game

Game 8: at UC Irvine

Date: Dec. 2

Location: Irvine, Calif.

Cost: No payment

Perks: Nevada provided 50 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by the Big West; cancellation policy of $50,000

Return game: This is a return game from UC Irvine playing at Nevada last season

Game 9: at Texas Tech

Date: Dec. 5

Location: Lubbock, Texas

Cost: Texas Tech pays Nevada $90,000

Perks: Nevada provided 75 complimentary tickets; refs assigned by the Big 12; cancellation policy of $90,000

Return game: No return game

Game 10: vs. TCU

Date: Dec. 8

Location: Los Angeles (Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Classic)

Cost: Nevada owes Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Classic $7,812.50 in guaranteed ticket purchases (see below)

Perks: Game officials provided by Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; all ticket revenue will remain with Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Staples Center; Nevada provided 50 complimentary tickets in premium seating section; Nevada agrees to purchase 125 game tickets at $62.50 in lower bowl (total of $7,812.50); Nevada responsible for travel to game; Nevada would owe the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame $100,000 if it did not complete the game

Return game: No return game

Game 11: vs. Radford University

Date: Dec. 17

Location: Reno (Las Vegas Invitational)

Cost: Nevada owes Las Vegas Tournament, Inc. $90,000 for this single game

Perks: Nevada retains all revenue created by this home game; Nevada would owe Las Vegas Tournament, Inc. $90,000 if it did not complete the agreement; refs will be assigned by the MW

Return game: No return game

Game 12: vs. UC Davis

Date: Dec. 19

Location: Reno (Las Vegas Invitational)

Cost: Nevada owes Las Vegas Tournament, Inc. $90,000 for this single game

Perks: Nevada retains all revenue created by this home game; Nevada would owe Las Vegas Tournament, Inc. $90,000 if it did not complete the agreement; refs will be assigned by the MW

Return game: No return game

Game 13: vs. Southern Illinois

Date: Dec. 22

Location: Las Vegas (Las Vegas Invitational)

Cost: Nevada owes Las Vegas Tournament, Inc. $16,500 in guaranteed ticket purchases (see below)

Perks: Nevada will purchase a minimum of 150 tournament passes at $110 each (total of $16,500); Nevada will get 100 complimentary all-tournament passes; Nevada responsible for travel to game; Nevada agrees to promote fan and alumni participation by mailing a one-page tournament brochure along with a one-page letter from the head coach inviting season-ticket holders to join the team in Las Vegas; Nevada would owe Las Vegas Tournament, Inc. $90,000 if it did not complete the agreement; refs will be assigned by and paid for by tournament

Return game: No return game

Game 14: vs. San Francisco

Date: Dec. 23

Location: Las Vegas (Las Vegas Invitational)

Cost: Guaranteed ticket purchases listed under game 13

Perks: Nevada will purchase a minimum of 150 tournament passes at $110 each (total of $16,500); Nevada will get 100 complimentary all-tournament passes; Nevada responsible for travel to game; Nevada agrees to promote fan and alumni participation by mailing a one-page tournament brochure along with a one-page letter from the head coach inviting season-ticket holders to join the team in Las Vegas; Nevada would owe Las Vegas Tournament, Inc. $90,000 if it did not complete the agreement; refs will be assigned by and paid for by tournament

Return game: No return game

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@rgj.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayRGJ.