Deion Sanders's Mega CU Contract Extension, by the Numbers

The University of Colorado has extended Deion Sanders’s contract as head football coach through the 2029 season, to the tune of around $10 million per year.

Sanders came to CU two years ago, immediately propelling the struggling football program into the national spotlight with his signature “Prime Time” branding. The season before he arrived, the team won just one game. But in the 2024 college football season, CU won nine games and made it to a bowl game for the first time in four years.

Sanders’s contract originally lasted through the 2027 season, so this version adds two more years and skyrockets his base salary. The new version of the contract guarantees that Sanders will make $10 million per year before performance incentives, while Sanders’s previous contract set his guaranteed money at $5 million annually.

Provided he hit every performance incentive offered, Sanders could have made around $6 million a year under his old contract. He did not hit every metric; some related to winning a championship or Coach of the Year honors, neither of which happened. Under the contract extension, however, he could make around $10.8 million each year, and the total value of the deal could reach up to $54 million.

“We’ve just scratched the surface of what this program can be,” Sanders said in an announcement of the contract deal. “I’m committed to bringing greatness to this university, on and off the field. We’ve got work to do, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here, making history with these incredible players and this passionate fan base.”
 

Deion Sanders’s Impact in Colorado

Sanders’s time at CU has brought not just athletic success but economic benefits for the City of Boulder and the university as well, largely thanks to Sanders bringing more attention to the school and town.

According to CU, over 54 million people watched CU football games on TV in 2024. The Alamo Bowl, in which CU lost to Brigham Young University, garnered 8 million viewers, the highest viewership in the bowl’s history.

Applications to CU increased by 20 percent year-over-year, with students from out of state and applications from students who are non-white both increasing. Applications from students who identified as Black or African American increased by 50.5 percent.

NOW GIVE ME MY THEME MUSIC

Coach Prime is staying in Boulder. 🏔️#GoBuffs | https://t.co/vJJTAN5ceR pic.twitter.com/nAwcnLlI36

— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) March 28, 2025

The university estimates that home football games generated $93.9 million in economic impact for Boulder and $146.5 million for the region.

Sanders also kept the athletes in the classroom, with the team achieving a collective 3.011 GPA in 2024, the first time in program history that the football team has held a GPA of over 3.0.

How Deion Sanders's New Contract Compares to His Old Contract

For all that work, Sanders will rake in the cash. The contract extension elevates Sanders’s salary to the highest of a football coach in the Big 12, CU’s conference, and the top 10 in the country.

Under Sanders’s previous contract, he earned $1.75 million for his media appearances, with the amount increasing by $100,000 annually. In the new contract, Sanders will earn double that amount, pulling in $3.25 million each year for media appearances. In the third and fifth years of the extension, the media appearances salary will increase by $500,000.

Previously, Sanders earned the same amount for assisting the athletics department with promotion and fundraising activities. That component of his salary will also double, following the same structure as his payments for media appearances.

The final element of Sanders’s guaranteed salary that doubled is the payment Sanders gets for “development of the student-athlete,” which went from $1.5 million per year to $3 million.

Sanders retains such benefits as a Boulder Country Club membership and tickets to CU football and basketball games, but his private airfare budget to be used in recruiting has increased from $200,000 to $300,000.

The performance incentives in the contract remained largely the same, but with adjustments based on the new College Football Playoff format and some tweaks to specific dollar amounts.

According to CU, the extension is paid entirely from the Athletic Department budget funded by media rights, and ticket and merchandise sales, as well as donations and sponsorships. No tuition or state funding will be applied.

With this new deal, it seems as though Sanders is ready to make Colorado his home, and has the money to pay for a new home.

“Anybody got at least a five-bedroom home with acreage for sale?” he added in the announcement.