Grading The Week: Did CU Buffs’ Deion Sanders get assist from Cowboys’ Jerry Jones in historic new contract?

Who says Jerry Jones isn’t a football genius?

The man didn’t just help to nearly double his good friend Deion Sanders’ salary. Our man Jerry also helped to make sure that an NFL rival — such as, oh, say, the New York Giants — would have a heck of a time prying Coach Prime out of Boulder.

Well, at least if said rival had an inkling to do so before New Year’s Day 2027.

The bean-counters up in the Grading The Week offices have to be honest: We’d kind of love to have Sanders’ reps over at SMAC in charge of our next contract negotiations. Because after months of back and forth behind the scenes, CU on Friday officially shot Sanders into the $10 million-per-year club in college football with a new five-year, $54-million extension.

It’s an earnings stratosphere that’s as small as it is elite — a subset that as of Saturday included Coach Prime; Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, USC’s Lincoln Riley, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, North Carolina’s Bill Belichick, and, if we’re counting deferred money, Oregon’s Dan Lanning.

Nice work, if you can get it. While Sanders, on the surface, got the better end of the deal with the university, Coach Prime’s new contract also includes some fine print that almost all the other seven coaches at public institutions in the $10-million-per-year club don’t. And that’s a hefty payment owed to CU if Sanders chooses to leave for another college or NFL job before Dec. 31, 2026.

Jerry Jones as Coach Prime’s contract wingman — A-minus

Coach Prime would owe CU a whopping $12 million in liquidated damages if he were to depart for another comparable coaching gig on or before Dec. 31 of this year. To put that number in context, check out the published buyouts for 2025 among the other members of the $10-million club who are also at public institutions:

• Smart: $5 million payment

• Day: $6 million payment

• Swinney: $4 million payment, $6 million if he goes to Alabama

• Sarkisian: $6 million payment

• DeBoer: $4 million payment

• Belichick: $10 million payment before June 1; $1 million after

• Lanning: $20 million payment

Should Sanders choose to act on, say, an NFL offer before the end of the year, he would owe a million more to get out of his CU deal than Smart and Day would owe, combined, in their reported payments ($11 million) at Georgia and Ohio State, respectively.

Coach Prime’s “damages” number drops to a still hefty $10 million from Jan. 1, 2026, through Dec. 31, 2026, then dips to $6 million on Jan. 1, 2027.

Why was CU pushing to protect itself in the short term? Dollars and common sense — Coach Prime’s been good for business (ticket sales, donations, merchandise, national media presence, etc.) from Day 1, a ratings draw whether the Buffs were 4-8 (in ’23) or 9-4 (in ’24).

Not to get too deep into the weeds of higher ed, but colleges are staring at an enrollment cliff in the decades to come as the number of undergraduate-aged students in America decreases. Which makes revenue streams such as out-of-state tuition even more attractive to the bosses in Boulder, who have credited “The Prime Effect” for an 18% jump in applications from out of state. CU estimated its base tuition rate/fees starting at $14,002 per year in the ’24-25 fiscal year for in-state undergrads, with the base rate/fees starting at $43,622 for out-of-state enrollees.

CU clearly wants to discourage the viral exchanges/narratives such as the one between Jones and Sanders this past January, a courtship that roped in ESPN, Adam Schefter and Monday Night Football before fizzling out.

Conventional wisdom at the time said it was a leverage ploy, and, in hindsight, it worked. It worked so well, ironically, that Jones himself probably wouldn’t have the stomach to pay the buyout needed to put Coach Prime in charge of “America’s Team” anytime soon.

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