Arkansas State University have signed a contract to play a football game against Michigan, which agreed to pay ASU $1.8 million to play the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Sept. 19, 2020.
The contract, signed Feb. 16, surpasses the $1.7 million that Alabama pledged to pay ASU to play the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Sept. 8 this year, and it matches the reported $1.8 million contract with Georgia in 2019.
No athletic teams between ASU and Michigan have ever met.
The contract, which ASU shared with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, includes clauses that mandates that the Big Ten Conference will appoint officials and that both athletic programs will pay a $1.8 million buyout on or before Feb. 1 following the game if it is not played.
[DOCUMENT: Click here to read the contract]
ASU will receive 500 complimentary tickets to the game and has the option to purchase up to 2,000 additional tickets. Band members, cheerleaders and a mascot are not included in that 2,500 ticket count, and they are admitted to the game "free of charge."
ASU went 7-5 last season under fourth-year Coach Blake Anderson with a 35-30 loss to Middle Tennessee State in the Camellia Bowl, and Michigan went 8-5 under third-year Coach Jim Harbaugh with a 26-19 loss to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.