UNLV Rebels Paid $1.75 Million By TKO For Rescheduling Game To Week 0

Earlier this summer, the UNLV Rebels football team agreed to move their September 13 matchup with the Idaho State Bengals at Allegiant Stadium to Week 0 on August 23 due to a scheduling conflict. The Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford Megafight ended up being scheduled for the same day. While the Rebels did agree to move their game, they were compensated for doing so. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has now reported what that compensation was.

TKO World Wide LLC, the parent company of both the UFC and WWE, has agreed to pay UNLV's athletic department $1.75 million for “certain costs and inconvenience associated with rescheduling”. The agreement states that, “TKO Worldwide has requested that UNLV athletics reschedule the football game to accommodate the (boxing event) and is willing to compensate UNLV athletics for the cost and inconvenience of doing so.”

This is a large sum of money for the athletic department, which was $27 million in debt as recently as March, and just gave out two big contracts to head football coach Dan Mullen and head basketball coach Josh Pastner. UNLV athletic director Erick Harper spoke about the influx of money from the agreement, “The terms reached to offset our major schedule change — including the financial resources and event tickets — will be strategically used to strengthen our programs,” Harper said. “The agreement reflects our commitment to being a strong community partner while always prioritizing the student-athlete experience.”

The Rebels were not the only team impacted by this move, though. Idaho State was also forced to adjust their schedule due to the boxing match. In an amended game contract, UNLV will now pay them $ 500,000 for what is now their season opener as well.

This was a great deal for the school, which gets a significant amount of money to cut into their debt. It's also a big win for the city of Las Vegas, which now gets both the Rebels' season opener as well as one of the biggest boxing matches in recent memory to drive up the city's economy. Fans are excited too, because they no longer have to wait an extra week for Rebels football. The game was moved up to Week 0, which is this Saturday. The game against the Bengals will also now be televised in prime time. This is a win for everyone involved.