What LSU football is paying UCLA for Power Four matchup at Tiger Stadium
BATON ROUGE — LSU football is finishing a home-and-home series Saturday at Tiger Stadium against UCLA (2:30 p.m., ABC).
The first game of the series was played on Sept. 4, 2021, in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, where the Bruins won, 38-21. Ed Orgeron was LSU's coach that day, so a lot has changed as Brian Kelly is now overseeing the No. 16 Tigers (2-1).
Hosting a Power Four team on campus does come with a bit of a price. But for series like the LSU-UCLA deal, it evens out.
Per documents obtained by the USA Today Sports Network, LSU will pay UCLA $582,500 for the game in Baton Rouge. That is a slight increase from the original agreed-upon amount of $550,000, which UCLA paid LSU, as the initial game contract was changed by both parties just a couple of weeks prior to the first game taking place in 2021.
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The original deal was signed Jan. 9, 2014 and LSU was to play UCLA in the 2024 season opener on Saturday, Aug. 31 at Tiger Stadium. The game was rescheduled so LSU could play in the Las Vegas Kickoff Classic, a top-25 matchup with USC for which LSU was paid $5 million by ESPN Events.
LSU entered into agreement with ESPN in July 2021 to play USC on Sunday, Sept. 1 date, which had to bring LSU and UCLA back to the table to agree upon a new game date for 2024.
Syracuse was the last Power Four team LSU hosted in 2017 and it paid the Orange $550,000 for the second game of a home-and-home series. The first was played at Syracuse in 2015.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: A look at LSU football's payout to UCLA to come play at Tiger Stadium