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Michigan and Notre Dame will renew their rivalry on the football field in 2018 and 2019.

(Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News )

ANN ARBOR -- The new football home-and-home matchup between Michigan and Notre Dame comes with a much smaller buyout than the deal which fell victim to it.

If Michigan or Notre Dame should decide to back out of one or both games -- not exactly an unheard of event, at this point -- the school that cancels will have to pay the other $150,000 if it's done two years out, $500,000 if done between between one-to-two years out, and $1 million if it's done one year out.

The contract, obtained Friday by MLive via a Freedom of Information Act request, also allows Notre Dame to cancel the series with no buyout if the school enters into a deal requiring it to pay more than five games as part of a conference affiliation.

Notre Dame is currently contracted to play five ACC games per season.

As part of the new agreement between Michigan and Notre Dame, the Wolverines will play in South Bend on Sept. 1, 2018, and host the Fighting Irish at Michigan Stadium on Oct. 26, 2019.

To make way for the series, Michigan had to cancel a 2018-2019 home-and-home with Arkansas. According to that contract, a cancellation fee of $2 million must be paid to Arkansas by Michigan "within ten days after the scheduled games dates."

The first game between U-M and Arkansas was scheduled for Sept. 1, 2018.

The agreement between Michigan and Arkansas also called for the home team to pay the visiting team $400,000 for each game.

No such stipulation exists in the Michigan-Notre Dame deal.

The Wolverines and Irish last met on Sep 6, 2014, resulting in a 31-0 win for Notre Dame.

That final date came after Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbick opted out of a contract dated to run through 2031 before the 2012 game at Notre Dame Stadium. The relationship between the two then deteriorated as Swarbick and former Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon threw public verbal jabs over the specifics.

At the root of Notre Dame's decision to back off was a schedule crowded by the addition of five ACC games per year -- a mandate of the school's migration into the league in all non-football sports in 2012.

Since that series dissolved, Michigan replaced Brandon as athletic director, bringing in interim athletic director Jim Hackett to bridge the gap to Warde Manuel, the Wolverines' now permanent AD.

The new contract signed by Manuel and Swarbick is dated July 7, 2016.

As part of the agreement, the Big Ten will appoint officials for Michigan's home game, while "an athletic conference designated by Notre Dame" will appoint officials for the game in South Bend.

Michigan leads the all-time series against Notre Dame, 24-17-1.