Here's how much Mizzou will have paid Middle Tennessee State for altered series

Mizzou football’s series with Middle Tennessee State hasn’t come cheap.

Back in 2015, according to contracts obtained by USA Today through an open records request, the Tigers and the Blue Raiders agreed to a three-game set with two matchups to be played in Columbia and another in Tennessee. That turned into two games when Missouri backed out of the planned Sept. 17, 2022, game between the teams in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. That was an expensive choice.

One million dollars expensive, per the agreement.

Missouri’s series with MTSU that was planned to be played between 2016 and 2023, according to the contract, was going to cost Missouri a total of $1,100,000. After this weekend, the Blue Raiders will have made $2,100,000 from MU.

Nonconference games typically come with a fee for the hosting school to cover travel, board and more. The Tigers’ original agreement with MTSU is boilerplate in that regard.

Here are the fees for the originally agreed slate:

For the game Oct. 22, 2016, in Columbia, Missouri agreed to pay MTSU $1,100,000. Mizzou was upset that day, 51-45, in a homecoming game loss in Barry Odom's first season as coach.

For the game Sept. 17, 2022, in Murfreesboro, MTSU was to pay Missouri $200,000. That game was canceled.

For this upcoming Saturday’s game in Columbia, Missouri has agreed to pay MTSU $200,000.

The original contract was signed by then-MU athletic director Mack Rhoades, who is now the AD at Baylor, and Missouri’s board of curators in 2015.

Here’s where the cost shot up:

According to an amended contract signed by then-MU athletic director Jim Sterk and the university’s board of curators on Feb. 29, 2020, the second game was moved to Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, which would have marked Missouri’s opening game of the season.

Under current athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois, Missouri later canceled that game in order to play seven games at home, which ended up matching the Tigers against Louisiana Tech on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, at home to open the season.

By canceling the bout with MTSU, Missouri was in breach of contract and culpable for an $800,000 fee to be paid “no later than 90 days after said contest was to occur,” according to the original contract.

For the three-game turned two-game set, which Mizzou is yet to claim a win from, MU will ship $2,100,000 Middle Tennessee’s way. That’s $1,000,000 more than the original agreement would have cost MU, not counting the $500,000 Missouri sent Louisiana Tech for the replacement game.

The Tigers face the Blue Raiders at 6 p.m. Saturday, their second game of the season after defeating South Dakota 35-10 last Thursday. A win would give Mizzou its first 2-0 start to a season since 2018.

MTSU was paid $1,600,000 for a trip to face Alabama in Week 1 — a game the Blue Raiders lost 56-7.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here's how much Mizzou will have paid MTSU for altered series