UNLV paid $600,000 to be humiliated by a 45-point underdog.

There is a follow-the-money point to be made about Howard’s 43-40 upset over UNLV, the strata of college football and so-called “guarantee games,” when a big school pays a smaller school to travel to its stadium for a near-certain victory.

Howard received $600,000 from UNLV. Later this month, UNLV will get a $1.2 million check from Ohio State for playing in Columbus. Ohio State bags $21.5 million from the Big Ten’s media rights deals, most of which comes from football.

AD

AD

So, then: A tiny percentage of television network subscriptions fees filters all the way down to sprucing up Howard’s track. Along each transaction, administrators, executives and coaches are enriched while the players receive room and board and little else. Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett’s labor (very) indirectly helps Howard pay its athletic bills. It feels a bit like grotesque comedy.

Except there is a story behind this season’s most remarkable story. Howard came to play UNLV in the first place because of forces outside the typical moral muck of college sports, a unique arrangement UNLV engineered with financial assistance from a municipal body.

“This wasn’t about the guarantee,” said former UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy, who scheduled the meeting. “We know it’s different. I think it came off just as the same-old: paying them $600,000 for a win.”

AD

AD

Well, it may have been a little about the guarantee. Howard had to pay for its football team and band to travel and spend three nights in Vegas, but it likely will clear about $300,000 net to distribute throughout its 19-sport athletic department.

“That doesn’t support us for the year,” Bison Athletic Director Kery Davis said. “It is helpful. … Institutions that are what people consider lower-resource institutions have historically needed games like this to help with their operating budget.”

But UNLV and Howard played for reasons beyond a thought-to-be-certain victory and a fat paycheck. Howard’s trip to UNLV is part of a three-year series in which a historically black college or university will play UNLV on the opening weekend. UNLV hosted Jackson State last season, and it will bring in Grambling State next year.

AD

AD

The idea started with Lawrence Weekly, a Grambling alum and the chairman of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The body promotes Vegas and attracts tourism; it came up with “What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas.” Weekly believed a string of HBCU football games would target a different audience to visit and could help diversify the city’s tourism. He reached out to Kunzer-Murphy, and they started a unique process.

To help UNLV pay the opponents, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority chipped in — it paid $300,000 of the $600,000 Howard received. In exchange, Howard guaranteed it would bring its band a day early and play at a high school game, where the university could set up a recruiting table and pass out information to students who, owing to geography, may not be exposed to HBCU culture.

Davis is disinclined to pursue guarantee games. He began his tenure as Howard’s athletic director on Sept. 8, 2015, five days before the Bison traveled to play Boston College. Davis had nothing to do with scheduling that contest, for which Boston College reportedly paid Howard $350,000. Howard trailed, 62-0, at halftime and lost, 76-0, after both coaches agreed to shorten the third and fourth quarters to 10 minutes.

AD

AD

“That was embarrassing,” Davis said. “I don’t want to participate in events that will embarrass our program or embarrass our institution, for any amount of money.”

When Davis hired London, he explained his scheduling philosophy. He planned to replace guarantee game money with alumni donations and sponsorships. He wanted to play teams Howard could compete with and matched their academic profile. When the Bison did step up, it would be more about increasing their local profile. They will play Harvard and Georgetown in 2019, and Davis is trying to get Maryland on a future schedule.

Playing UNLV didn’t fit those criteria. But it would allow for much more. Howard branded the game “Bison In Vegas” and used it to help celebrated the university’s 150th anniversary. Davis saw it as a chance to connect with alumni and prospective students on the west coast. Buses came from Arizona and the Bay Area.

AD

AD

“I did realize this was a unique opportunity,” Davis said. “We didn’t do it for the money. We did it for the opportunity. In bringing in Coach London, whether we win or lose, I knew on that plane going out there this was not going to be 76-0.”

“It does well for the brand of the school,” said Cedric Crear, a Howard alum who sits on the Nevada System of Higher Education board of regents and helped broker the game. “It was an opportunity to come out and introduce people who might not have heard of Howard. It was a great community week for Las Vegas, and especially to the black community.”

The Rebels, of course, also expected they would pick up an easy victory in the process. Kunzer-Murphy was dismayed the result overshadowed the point of the game. At Howard, the victory roused the school. On social media, Davis saw Howard alums saying they may actually have go to the football game at homecoming this year.

AD

AD

“I used to decry the fact we had a huge tailgate happening in the parking lot while the game was going on,” Davis said. “So this is a huge shot of adrenaline.”

It was also a nice injection of money. For a change in college sports, it was actually more than that.