.Northern Illinois stunned No. 5 Notre Dame final weekend on a last-second field goal to notch college soccer's very first big trouble of 2024. For the Huskies, it is actually a succeed they'll be actually commemorating for several years to find. For the Battling Irish, it is actually a season-crusher. To drop the home opener to a tiny college coming from a vastly inferior event was an awkwardness for Notre Dame.Especially since they spent NIU $1.4 thousand to do it.This beams a lighting on among the lengthiest and very most costly heritages in college volleyball: promise games. They're also phoned "money video games," "income activities," or, as I such as to contact them, "buy weeks." An expensive (as well as risky) traditionFor many years, in the first handful of weeks of the time, significant university volleyball companies have actually paid smaller sized colleges ahead to play them in their house.In Full week 1 alone, more than $35 million was devoted around at the very least 55 promise video games, depending on to Face Office Athletics. Alabama composed the biggest check to its own rival, Western Kentucky, for an immense $1.9 thousand. WKU shed that game 63-- 0, yet they possibly hit the rely on the bus flight home as well as very likely will not think twice about it.In Week 2, 3 schools-- Western side Michigan, Center Tennessee, as well as Utah State-- got payments bigger than NIU's $1.4 million. They shed by a bundled rating of 156-- 3, but they take away an overall of $4.85 million in the process.It's typically a good deal for both staffs. The tiny colleges get a payday, the large colleges acquire another home video game to dairy gameday earnings. The little university comes to play on the huge stage and receive national exposure, the big one acquires a cupcake on the routine to start the year in a sport with no preseason. Thus all's effectively as well as excellent till the smaller crew makes a decision to show out as well as take the upset.