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What will OU football pay its non-conference opponents in 2026?

headshotby: George Stoia05/26/26GeorgeStoia

OU will be footing a pretty hefty bill in 2026 for its non-conference football opponents, according to documents obtained by SoonerScoop.

The Sooners are set to face UTEP, Michigan and New Mexico this upcoming season. Two of those games — UTEP and New Mexico are buy games for Oklahoma.

The Michigan game is actually one that the Sooners will be paid for. Michigan will pay OU $750,000 to play in Ann Arbor this year. Last year, that was reversed. Michigan will also provide 350 complimentary tickets and 3,650 tickets offered for sale. Any band seating must come from that ticket allotment.

As for UTEP and New Mexico, the Sooners will pay nearly $3 million combined to play the two G5 programs. OU will pay UTEP $1.3 million and New Mexico $1.6 million. That’s higher than what Oklahoma paid Kent State ($1.5 million) and Illinois State ($660,000) last year.

In total, OU will pay non-conference opponents $2.15 million. That number is lower than last year ($2.91M), thanks to the Michigan game flipping to Ann Arbor.

Here is OU football’s full 2026 schedule.

  • Sept. 5 vs UTEP
  • Sept. 12 at Michigan
  • Sept. 19 vs New Mexico
  • Sept. 26 at Georgia
  • Oct. 3 vs BYE
  • Oct. 10 vs Texas (Dallas)
  • Oct. 17 vs Kentucky
  • Oct. 24 at Mississippi State
  • Oct. 31 vs South Carolina
  • Nov. 7 at Florida 
  • Nov. 14 vs Ole Miss
  • Nov. 21 vs Texas A&M
  • Nov. 28 at Missouri

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