The Colorado Buffaloes continue to rack up inexcusable losses against winnable opponents, despite having a coach paid like one of the best in college football. Those two things typically go on for a long time without any resolution.
Will Colorado part ways with Deion Sanders? Who knows, but with each passing loss, most recently a 20-10 defeat to Arizona State in Tempe, the answer to that question gets clearer. Results matter, and over the past two seasons, and truthfully for the better part of his four-year tenure aside from 2024 as head coach, the results have been nowhere close to good enough for the amount of resources poured into the program.
For a few weeks now, fans have been wondering what it would take for Colorado to move on from Sanders.
Well, it would cost a pretty penny.
Deion Sanders' contract details
In March 2025, Sanders signed a five-year, $54 million contract extension with Colorado that runs through the 2029 season. His base salary this year is $10.8 million, the fourteenth-highest salary in college football. Needless to say, Colorado is nowhere near the fourteenth-best team in the country, and even if the extension was not just for the on-field product, but also for what Sanders brought to the university and city, those boosts have died down as well.
Sanders would make $11 million in 2027, $11 million in 2028 and $12 million in 2029 if he saw out the remaining three years of his deal.
Deion Sanders' buyout details
Like most coaches, Sanders buyout changes depending on whether he leaves or is fired. Colorado could also work out a deal with Sanders to lower his buyout if both sides want to part ways, but that seems least likely, especially in season.
If Sanders is fired before the end of 2026, his buyout would be $25.5 million. In 2027, that number would decrease to $17.25 million.
Sanders would owe Colorado $10 million if he left for another job before December 31, 2026.
Can Colorado afford Deion Sanders' buyout?
The biggest question remains whether Colorado could afford the nearly $26 million buyout, and the short answer is yes. If you factor in that Sanders would be paid around $34 million over the next three seasons if he stays, the buyout ($25.5 million) would actually save the university under $8.5 million ($2.8 million per year).
The buyout plus hiring a new head coach at $4-4.5 million per year would be about $37.5-39 million, or about $1.5 million more per year over three seasons. A very doable number if that is the direction CU chooses. If you hire a coach with an even lower annual salary, say a current Group of Six coach, the change could cost less than $1 million a year.
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This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Deion Sanders contract buyout, salary at Colorado in 2026
