You may not ever see a more jarring three-game stretch than what Portland State has just been through. Sandwiched around a 31–17 loss to Wyoming in Week 2 was a Week 1 loss to in-state foe Oregon, 81–7, and a 91–0 blowout over North American, based in Texas. The Vikings improbably ended their non-conference slate with a +3 point differential, and their two most eye-popping results tell a clear story about the economics of college sports and how things trickle down from the highest rungs of the ladder to the lowest.
Portland State played Oregon in Eugene and earned around $600,000 for their troubles (which they were able to take home more of because it was a game that didn’t involve cross-country travel). It’s a significant portion of the school’s $15 million annual athletic budget. By comparison, the Ducks have an athletics budget of around $150 million. They needed someone to come play them for an early-season warmup, and shelling out $600,000 for a “buy game” is standard operating procedure for a program of their size.
Oregon is in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of Division I, and Portland State is in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The most significant distinctions are that the NCAA runs the FCS postseason while the FBS is run by the bowls and the College Football Playoff. FBS and FCS also have different scholarship requirements (85 full scholarships versus 63 total scholarships that can be divided up between athletes).
