No, college football players don't get paid. But, there are perks that don't come in the form of paper money at the end of the year for those teams that performed well enough to receive a bowl invite.
Every year, one of the most interesting "side stories" is what the players get in their bowl game gift packages. Not all bowl game gift packages are created equally.
It usually depends on both the size of the sponsors for the games and the prestige of the bowl game. Usually, the bowls in mid-December aren't going to have the same gift packages as bowl games on New Year's Day.
The Sports Business Journal has tracked what's going into each bowl games' gift packages this bowl season.
This year, the state of Arizona will host several bowl games, as per usual.
The Cheez-It Bowl (formerly the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl) is in its first year of title sponsorship and the game will be played at Chase Field, the home of the Diamondbacks in Phoenix. TCU (6-6) will face California (7-5).
The players at TCU and Cal actually get a pretty nice haul here. According to SBJ, players will receive:
Players in the Cheez-It bowl are getting a much nicer package here than many of the bowl games that are on par with the Cheez-It Bowl in terms of prestige.
The Arizona Bowl sponsored by Nova Home Loans is a smaller bowl game, hosted at the University of Arizona in Tucson Dec. 29. Arkansas State (8-4) will face Nevada (7-5).
According to SBJ, here's what Red Wolves and Wolf Pack players will get:
- Ghostek backpack with a power bank and external USB port
- Beats by Dre earbuds
- Amazon Fire Kindle with built-in Alexa
- Hydroflask
- Cooling towel
- Frito Lay products
The biggest bowl game in Arizona is the Playstation Fiesta Bowl, one of the "New Year's 6" games, meaning it's among the most prestigious in college football.
Playstation took over as the title sponsor for the game in 2016. Tostitos served as the sponsor from 1996-2014.
This year, the game will feature two programs that finished not far outside the College Football Playoff. No. 8 UCF (12-0) will take on No. 11 LSU (9-3) at State Farm Stadium in Glendale Jan. 1.
Here's what the players will get in their gift packages, according to SBJ:
Arizona State will be the only team from Arizona playing in a bowl game this year when they take on Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl Dec. 15. As if a free trip to Vegas and comped rooms at the MGM aren't enough, players will also receive some other gifts, most of which seem still to be determined by SBJ.
- Gift suite TBD
- Collectible Las Vegas item TBD
- Dad hat
- Beanie
- Fanny pack
You can see the rest of the bowl game gift packages here.
