An internal audit has revealed that the University of Colorado overpaid head football coach Deion Sanders by $50,000 after misclassifying the Alamo Bowl as a higher-tier bowl game and that the school lost over $1.2 million on the bowl appearance overall due to uncontrolled spending.
How the overpayment happened
According to the audit obtained by USA Today, Sanders’ contract entitled him to a $150,000 bonus for a non-New Year’s Six bowl appearance and $200,000 for a New Year’s Six game. The Alamo Bowl falls under the first category but Sanders was paid the higher $200,000 figure due to what the audit described as the “misclassification of the Alamo Bowl as a NY6 bowl rather than the non-NY6 incentive provision specified in the Head Coach’s contract.”
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The same audit found that Sanders’ assistant coaches and support staff were also overpaid by $71,333 for the same bowl game, due to “discretionary adjustments” beyond the one week of base pay they were entitled to, per USA Today.
The audit report, dated June 4, 2026, was distributed to university leadership. It did not identify any intentional misconduct but said “significant improvements” were needed to prevent this from happening again.”
However, this is also not the first time Colorado paid Sanders beyond what his contract required. In late 2023, the university gave him a discretionary bonus of $250,000 which was not stipulated in his contract for the “national recognition” he brought to the school in his first season, per USA Today.
How Colorado lost $1.2 million on the Alamo bowl
The bigger financial blow came from the bowl game itself. Colorado’s total recorded expenses for the Alamo Bowl came to $4,210,256, while revenues, including conference distribution, ticket sales and a Buffs Bash event which added up to $2,972,108, leaving a net loss of $1,238,148.
A major driver of the overspending was the band. Colorado sent 210 band members to San Antonio at a cost of $945,053, when sending just 50 members would have cost roughly $198,541, a difference of nearly $750,000.
The audit noted that the university “proceeded with the postseason participation without an event budget, which limited proactive financial oversight and contributed to decentralized spending decisions, resulting in event-related expenses exceeding revenues,” according to USA Today.
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What Colorado is doing about it
Following the audit, Colorado’s athletic department said it will update its postseason pay policy to make the rules clearer, better define who qualifies for what bonus and set proper approval processes for any exceptions.
The department will also now be required to submit budgets for review by the CU Boulder Business, Finance and Infrastructure Office before spending decisions are made.
In a statement to USA Today, Colorado’s athletic department said: “Reviews such as these are valuable tools for CU Athletics to identify areas and processes that are working as well as opportunities for improvement… We are committed to implementing all of the suggestions outlined in the audit starting this August.”
