The Michigan State Spartans will pay the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns a fee for their canceled football game in 2024, according to a story reported by MLive.com.
Michigan State was originally scheduled to host Louisiana at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich., on Sept. 14, 2024. The guarantee for that contest, according to the copy of the contract, was set to be $1.1 million.
Due to conference realignment, plus Army joining a conference, a series of scheduling moves resulted in Michigan State having to back out of the Louisiana contest. The Spartans will pay the Ragin’ Cajuns $600,000 in liquidated damages for canceling the contest, per the MLive report, which is $100,000 higher than the terms of the original contract.
In place of the Louisiana contest, which was revealed earlier this month, Michigan State will now host the Prairie View A&M Panthers at Spartan Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. Prairie View A&M will receive a $500,000 guarantee for the contest, according to documents obtained by the outlet.
Prairie View A&M competes in the Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC) of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Panthers went 6-6 (6-2 SWAC) last season, falling in a 35-14 decision to Florida A&M in the SWAC championship game.
With the addition of Prairie View A&M, the Spartans have now completed their non-conference slate for the 2024 campaign. The Spartans host Florida Atlantic (Aug. 31) and travel to Boston College (Sept. 21).
In Big Ten play in 2024, Michigan State will host Ohio State (Sept. 28), Iowa (Oct. 19), Indiana (Nov. 2), Purdue (Nov. 23), and Rutgers (Nov. 30). The Spartans will hit the road for conference outings at Maryland (Sept. 7), Oregon (Oct. 5), Michigan (Oct. 26), and Illinois (Nov. 16).
With the Michigan State game off, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns will instead travel to face Wake Forest at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Saturday, Sept. 28. That matchup was reported back in January ahead of the complete reveal of the 2024 ACC football schedule.
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