Duke football pays N.C. Central $300k per game

Duke football romped N.C. Central 45-0 on Saturday and paid the Eagles $300,000 to do it.

Duke's contract with N.C. Central pays $300,000 each for the game last year, the one Saturday and another on Sept. 15, 2015, according to the contract obtained by The Chronicle through a public records request. There are also games scheduled for Sept. 3, 2016 and Sept. 2, 2017 for $350,000 each.

That's more than N.C. Central's recently-fired head coach Henry Frazier's salary. For some more perspective, Duke football's expenses from Oct. 16, 2011-Oct. 15, 2012 (the last available public data) were $20.5 million.

Paying FCS schools for cupcake games is nothing new, though at least Duke won the game. Seven teams paid FCS teams in the first week and still lost, according to ESPN's Brett McMurphy with payments ranging from $225,000-$450,000. Notably, then-No. 25 Oregon State paid Eastern Washington $450,000 and became just the third ranked FBS to lose to an FCS team. McNeese State also took $400,000 from South Florida and subsequently drubbed the Bulls 53-21.

Losing to Division I-AA or FCS teams is also nothing new to Duke: the Blue Devils fell to Richmond in 2006, 2009 and 2011.

So, even if only 22,521 fans saw Duke beat N.C. Central on Saturday—the previous low for an opener under head coach David Cutcliffe was in 2012 at 31,117—at least Duke got its win.