Tennessee State will receive a lucrative payout as part of its historic matchup with Notre Dame.
Notre Dame football will reportedly pay Tennessee State a $1 million guarantee when the Tigers visit South Bend for the 2023 season opener, according to the Tennesseean.
The game will be played on Sept. 2, at Notre Dame Stadium and be broadcast nationally on NBC. The Fighting Irish will host the Tigers in the program’s first-ever game against an HBCU opponent.
Notre Dame longtime athletic director Jack Swarbrick joked at a press conference earlier this month that his counterpart — TSU athletic director Mikki Allen — “negotiated for a bigger guarantee than we budgeted.”
Tennessee State head coach Eddie George quipped that Notre Dame could afford what would amount to “a drop in a bucket.”
Also read: Tennessee State athletic director explains how deal with Notre Dame went down
“Y’all are doing really well around here,” he said.
Allen said the deal — the game and the exposure — will do wonders for the program now and in the future.
“This opportunity allows us to expand our brand and allows us to get on a prominent network,” he said. “When you think of NBC, you think of the Golden Domers. To be in that space alongside an iconic brand is special and will do wonders for us.”
