Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- It's never been so good to be bad at college football.

Small-time football schools are demanding record amounts from major programs including Ohio State, Louisiana State and Virginia Tech for games outside of their conferences, driving up prices 43 percent over the past five years for the top 10 public schools in the 2007 final Bowl Championship Series rankings, according to their contracts.

The cost soared to as much as $850,000 because the National Collegiate Athletic Association allowed teams in 2006 to start scheduling a 12th game to increase revenue. The extra game set off a bidding war between football powerhouses who compete for weak, non-conference opponents to play at home early in the season. Typically, the big schools get an alumni-pleasing win and the weak sister gets a major portion of its athletic budget.

``I understand it is market driven, but when is enough enough?'' asked Mark Alnutt, an associate athletic director in charge of scheduling at the University of Missouri, No. 6 in last year's final BCS rankings. ``It's getting to the point where you might not be able to afford an opponent.''

Contracts for the top 10 public schools in last season's final Bowl Championship Series standings showed the average payout for non-conference opponents rose to $456,277, compared with $320,144 in 2005. The contracts were obtained from the schools using open-records laws.

BCS Standings

The standings are an amalgam of polls and computer rankings that determine which teams play in the most lucrative postseason games. The first rankings are released this year on Oct. 19.

Virginia Tech, ranked third in the final BCS standings last season, will pay Bowling Green-based Western Kentucky University $850,000 this season for their game Oct. 4. Its most expensive non-conference game in 2005 was $265,000 for a home date with Marshall, the Huntington, West Virginia, school that produced National Football League players Chad Pennington and Randy Moss.

Ohio State will pay Troy University, which finished atop the Sunbelt conference the past two years, $800,000 for their game Sept. 20, up from the $450,000 it paid San Diego State in 2005.

And Louisiana State University, the defending national champion, paid Appalachian State $750,000 for their Aug. 30 game, up from the $500,000 it paid North Texas four years ago. LSU won last weekend 41-13.

Former Stanford Athletic Director Ted Leland, now vice president at University of the Pacific, said it's crucial that football powerhouses schedule beatable teams for their non- conference games.

`Giant Killers'

Schools like Fresno State and Miami University of Ohio used to be perfect for an early win, ``but now they can be giant killers,'' Leland said. ``They don't just give you a loss. They hurt season-ticket sales, could ruin your bowl-game aspirations and can even cost your coach his job.

``So as the list of beatable teams grows smaller, the price goes up and up and up,'' he said.

Last season, Michigan paid Appalachian State, the two-time champion from the second-tier Div. I-AA, $400,000 to play the season opener in Ann Arbor, in front of 109,288 at Michigan Stadium.

Appalachian State, from Boone, North Carolina, won 34-32 over the then-fifth-ranked Wolverines, ending Michigan's hopes for a national title on Sept. 1. Michigan finished 19th in the coaches poll.

Home-and-Home

Big schools like Oklahoma can negotiate a smaller payout if they are also willing to play a game at their opponents' stadiums, in what's called a home-and-home series, at some later date, athletic directors said.

The Sooners will pay Texas Christian and Cincinnati $300,000 to participate in the first half of a home-and-home series this September, less than the $475,000 they paid Chattanooga for a home game on Aug. 30, according to the contracts.

It might be more economical for some major football programs to pay the larger guarantee and pocket the revenue they get at their bigger stadiums rather than give up a home date in the future, athletic directors said.

Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver said successful football programs with 80,000-seat stadiums can generate $4 million in sales from a typical home game. Those schools can pay $1 million guarantees and still generate substantial income for their programs, he said.

Smaller Stadiums

Programs with smaller stadiums like Missouri, which might generate $2 million from a sellout, don't make enough revenue to offer big guarantees like Texas, Ohio State and Nebraska, Alnutt said.

``If you're not one of those big schools, then the guarantees seem to be getting pretty pricey,'' Weaver said. ``But that's how markets work. There is a limited supply.''

Florida Atlantic Athletic Director Craig Angelos represents one of the most sought-after schools in the U.S. His football team joined the NCAA's top division three years ago and it plays in the Sunbelt Conference with the likes of Troy and the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

The Owls went 8-5 overall, 6-1 in the conference to finish last season tied with Troy for the Sunbelt championship. They started the 2008 season with a 52-10 loss to the Texas Longhorns on Aug. 30.

Revenue From Sellout

If it sells out its 20,000-seat stadium, it will generate about $450,000 from ticket sales, Angelos said. Florida Atlantic will earn $1.45 million in non-conference guarantees this season -- about 10 percent of the athletic department's annual budget.

Angelos said while the money is good, he wants to build a winning football team. His new strategy is to cut back on the number of non-conference games Florida Atlantic plays each year, but charge more for those games.

``We're getting picky,'' he said. ``I'd rather play two guarantee games for top dollar, and have a chance to win 10 of the 12 games and build my program.''

Angelos said that as the team improves, he suspects fewer teams will want to schedule them.

``If you are going to pay that much, you don't want a dog fight and the possibility of losing,'' he said. ``I suspect that as we grow our program and improve on the field, I will lose some of my leverage negotiating the guarantee.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Curtis Eichelberger in Washington at ceichelberge@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 5, 2008 00:11 EDT