.Northern Illinois stunned No. 5 Notre Dame last weekend break on a last-second basket to notch college football's very first major upset of 2024. For the Huskies, it is actually a succeed they'll be celebrating for a long times to come. For the Fighting Irish, it's a season-crusher. To shed the home opener to a tiny institution from a significantly inferior conference was an embarrassment for Notre Dame.Especially because they spent NIU $1.4 million to carry out it.This radiates a lighting on among the longest and also most expensive practices in university soccer: guarantee games. They are actually likewise gotten in touch with "loan video games," "salary games," or even, as I as if to phone them, "get full weeks." An expensive (as well as dangerous) traditionFor many years, in the initial couple of weeks of the period, major university soccer establishments have spent much smaller universities to find to play them in their house.In Week 1 alone, much more than $35 million was actually invested around at the very least 55 guarantee games, according to Face Workplace Sports. Alabama wrote the largest check to its challenger, Western Kentucky, for a monstrous $1.9 million. WKU shed that video game 63-- 0, however they most likely hit the rely on the bus ride home and probably won't reconsider it.In Full week 2, three universities-- Western Michigan, Center Tennessee, and Utah State-- acquired payments bigger than NIU's $1.4 million. They dropped through a bundled score of 156-- 3, but they take away an overall of $4.85 million in the process.It's typically a good deal for each crews. The small institutions acquire a salary, the big colleges acquire yet another home game to dairy gameday profits. The little college gets to play on the huge phase as well as acquire nationwide visibility, the major one gets a dish on the schedule to begin the year in a sport with no preseason. So all's well as well as good till the lower group determines to present out and pull the distress.