The demand for cupcakes - typically lower-level college football teams that will travel to an established program and offer up their hides in exchange for a big payday - has soared over the past few years, especially with the addition of the 12th game in the regular season schedule. The results are expected: the price of cupcakes has exploded.
On the other hand, SDSU officials say the revenue from such games is needed. Which is a big reason SDSU agreed to play another power-league team Saturday at Missouri. For playing the game, Missouri will pay SDSU $800,000. Same goes for next year, when SDSU has agreed to play at traditional powerhouse Michigan for $1,016,800.
I'm not convinced that SDSU is that much of a cupcake. But maybe that's just the pregame jitters for me.
There's a paper in here for an entrepreneurial person willing and able to dig around for cupcake prices. The prices of cupcake games should depend on the number of regular season games, the demand for the home team's games (which partly if not completely explains the $200,000 between the Michigan and Missouri payouts), and other factors.