College Football: Why Liberty is paying $1.32 million for Old Dominion game

2. The Flames left plenty of loopholes in the contract

The details in the contract between Liberty and Old Dominion are honestly fairly standard. If anything, the Flames managed to retain plenty in what was really a fair-market deal. The small stipulations in the contract, though, make this especially favorable for Liberty. When the teams meet on September 1 at Williams Stadium, the Flames should have no issue making up the bulk of their expenditure.

Bringing Old Dominion to town pretty much guarantees a sellout. The maximum capacity at Williams Stadium is officially 19,200, though it has seated upwards of 22,000 in the past. The Flames retain all of the ticket revenue from the deal, as is standard with such buyouts. But as an independent, the fact that they also retain all broadcast rights is equally valuable. The school-owned Liberty Flames Sports Network certainly has devoted the resources to improving its broadcast capabilities. How much value there is in trying to syndicate their games nationwide, though, remains to be seen.

They can certainly demand more for syndication rights with an FBS opponent, though. Liberty also conveniently afforded itself an out clause should it manage to land in a conference by 2018. And they also don’t owe Old Dominion the $1.32 million until January 31, 2019, allowing the school to keep accruing interest for five more months on those millions.