$1.65 million pulls ASU to Nebraska

Arkansas State Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir
Arkansas State Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir

Arkansas State will return to Lincoln, Neb., for the third time in nine seasons in 2017, and this time it will bring back a record payout.

Nebraska and ASU announced Monday that the Red Wolves will visit Memorial Stadium on Sept. 2, 2017, for the season-opener for both teams. ASU will receive $1.65 million for its third trip to Nebraska since 2009, Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said in a text message to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Monday.

That total payout is ASU's most ever for one football game, and is believed by ASU to be the largest payout not tied to another negotiation in the history of college football. Florida will reportedly pay Colorado State $2 million for one game in any season between 2017-2020, but that deal was brokered as part of Florida's buyout to hire Coach Jim McElwain from the Rams last winter.

It's hardly the only big payout Mohajir has negotiated in recent seasons. The Red Wolves are set to receive $1.3 million for this year's season-opener at Southern California on Sept. 5 and for a Sept. 10, 2016, game at Auburn. For games at Southern Cal, Auburn and Nebraska, ASU is set to make $4.25 million in game guarantees over the next three seasons.

Those revenues could benefit an athletic department undergoing widespread facility upgrades. ASU's Student Activity Center -- a 78,000 square-foot indoor practice facility on the north side of Centennial Bank Stadium -- should be considered complete this week, Mohajir and Coach Blake Anderson said while in Little Rock last week. A $16 million expansion to ASU's press box and suites on the west side of the stadium is under way and will be completed in time for this season, and the school still wants a new football operations center.

Mohajir said the indoor facility just needed netting to be used by the baseball and golf teams and landscaping to be considered complete. Anderson said teams will be able to use the $11 million facility when they return to campus June 1.

It is ASU's largest facility upgrade since the opening of the south end zone complex in 2002.

"It's as good as any facility in America, and I would compare it to any NFL facility," Mohajir said last week. "I haven't really thought of it as a sense of accomplishment, because I'm really thinking about what our next move is. But, we're very proud of it."

Scheduling Nebraska does mean one schedule tweak to 2017. ASU's home-and-home series with Nevada-Las Vegas announced last summer called for ASU to visit UNLV on Sept. 2, 2017, but Mohajir said that game has been moved to 2019. UNLV is scheduled to play at ASU in 2018.

ASU's 2017 schedule now consists of the Nebraska game and a Sept. 9 game against Miami at Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro.

This season, ASU will play nonconference games at Southern Cal and Toledo (Sept. 26) and will host Missouri (Sept. 12) and Missouri State (Sept. 19). The Red Wolves' 2016 nonconference schedule consists of home games against Toledo and Central Arkansas, and trips to Auburn and Utah State.

ASU last met Nebraska on Sept. 15, 2012, when ASU pulled within 28-13 heading into the fourth quarter before the Cornhuskers took a 42-13 victory. Nebraska also beat ASU 38-9 in 2009.

Sports on 05/19/2015

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