​GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN – DECEMBER 27: A general view of Lambeau Field prior to an NFL football game between the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens at Lambeau Field on December 27, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images) | Getty Images Non-conference games aren’t always that cheapA while back – and I wish I could find the actual quote – Greg Schiano was responding to a question about non-conference games. The gist of it was, why is Rutgers playing the schools it’s playing? Why play Howard or Norfolk Sate or Ohio University? Why not a school people know better or one that is a greater challenge to prepare for the Big Ten grind?The response from GS, as I recall it, focused something along the lines of, ‘Do you know how much those schools want to play us? It isn’t cheap’.Or something like that.So, how much is being spent by schools to fill out their non-conference schedules? And, to our interest, how much is Rutgers spending on its opponents? As we get ready for the first week of games, let’s look at some non-conference game contracts.2026 Rutgers Non-Conference ScheduleThe contracts for each game this year were obtained through an Open Public Records Request, and this is what we found:UMass: $1.55 million payout and 500 complimentary tickets
that payout tends to be a good deal more than Rutgers pays out for these games. the comped tickets is not unusual in many contracts – we’ll see that more laterBoston College: there is no exchange of revenue; 300 complimentary tickets; games in Chestnut Hill in 2026 and Piscataway in 2027
with no money involved, is this viewed as a “game between equals”, especially with it being a home-and-home? Equal at least in the sense that each team can, more or less, afford to make the trip.It’s interesting that the contract only calls for 300 comps, while the UMass agreement adds another 200Howard: $450K in 2024, $475K in 2026, 400 comp tix
An increased payout for the second game; seems fairSo, bottom line, Rutgers is shelling out just over $2 million this year to pay for opponents to come to Piscataway. Looking back a yearJust for the sake of argument – and because it gave me another reason to file a public records request – I looked at the game contracts for the 2025 season, including the games that came a li-i-i-ttle too close for comfort.Ohio: I bet, like me, you can still see the head banging of RU fans against any wall they could find as this game played out. The 34-31 win to open the season certainly was no easy win. MAC schools can command some cash, and Rutgers paid the Bobcats $1.1 million to cause us that much anguish. Rutgers provided the seeming standard 400 complimentary tickets along with 2,000 tickets to sell.Miami : Then came that other guaranteed win. I mean, the game wasn’t in doubt, ending up 45-17. But it was just 24-10 at the half and at the end of the day, RU only had 63 more yards of total offense. But I digress, as we all reach for the