As was reported previously, USC replaced Notre Dame on its 2026 schedule with San Jose State, a game that was an optional for both teams and since has been squashed.
Since that went down, the Irish and Trojans have come to an agreement to resume the series, but not without a few years in-between the last matchup. As for this year, it recently was released how much USC would have to play SJSU by Andrew Hartley, a cool $1.4 million.
It’s very common for bigger teams to pay smaller school to come to their place, and for programs whose budgets aren’t large, it’s a nice payday for what most likely will be a blowout loss. However, there is a big argument to be made that USC could have had an even bigger payday when Notre Dame heads to Los Angeles.
The
Irish are one of a few teams nationally that travel extremely well, and there is no doubt that the game would have been sold out. Not only that, with an influx of Irish fans, it would help the local economy and bring a much better atmosphere to the contest.
Obviously, it would have been great for Notre Dame and USC to play this fall, but that is now in the past, and we can look forward to when the rivalry gets started again in 2030.
So $1.4 million spent to replace Notre Dame https://t.co/yq2eAyf3ch
— InsideUSC (@InsideUSC) August 24, 2026
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: USC reveals how much it will pay San Jose State to replace Notre Dame
