FAMU waives $650,000 buyout in Georgia game cancellation

First-time Athletic Director John Davis signed an agreement releasing Georgia from a contractual buyout, prompting questions about the decision and the value of experience.

When the University of Georgia decided it no longer wanted to host FAMU in 2028, the contract appeared to provide a simple remedy.

If Georgia canceled the game, the Bulldogs would owe FAMU the same $650,000 they had agreed to pay the Rattlers for traveling to Athens.

Instead, FAMU voluntarily signed away its right to any financial buyout.

According to a Jan. 13 letter obtained by the Athens Banner-Herald through an open records request, FAMU Athletic Director John Davis signed a mutual termination agreement prepared by Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks that released Georgia from any financial obligation associated with canceling the game.

The matchup, scheduled in December 2020, was one of the so-called "guarantee games" that have become a financial lifeline for Football Championship Subdivision programs and many historically Black colleges and universities. Such games routinely generate hundreds of thousands of dollars that help fund scholarships, coaching salaries, Olympic sports and day-to-day athletic operations.

For FAMU, whose athletic department operates on an annual budget of roughly $12 million, the forfeited payment represented more than five percent of its annual operating budget. By comparison, Georgia's athletic department generates approximately $239 million annually, making it one of the wealthiest programs in college sports.

To many FAMU supporters, the financial disparity only magnified the decision.

"Our inexperienced AD signed the mutual agreement portion of the contract that basically lets Georgia off the hook without paying us. This is one of the stupidest moves EVER" one alumnus wrote on social media. "Experience matters."

"Experience makes all the difference between a $650,000 cancellation buyout and nothing because you mutually agreed to cancel the game," the supporter wrote. "I am not mutually agreeing to nothing when $650,000 is on the line for the department."

Others were even more succinct.

"Nope. Buy me out."

The criticism focuses less on Georgia's decision to cancel the game, that's their right, but on FAMU's willingness to release one of the nation's richest athletic departments from a contractual obligation without getting paid.

Davis, a former Florida State football player, assumed leadership of FAMU Athletics last year, after severing  as Secretary of the Florida Lottery, the FAMU appointment marked his first time leading an intercollegiate athletic department.

In college athletics, where contracts involving millions of dollars are negotiated routinely, athletic directors are expected to protect institutional interests with the same rigor expected of chief financial officers or corporate executives. Critics argue that Davis's decision to sign away a guaranteed $650,000 payment reflects the steep learning curve that often accompanies first-time athletic directors.

Whether there were strategic reasons for the agreement remains unknown. Neither FAMU nor Georgia has publicly explained why the Rattlers agreed to waive the buyout, nor have they disclosed whether FAMU received any consideration in exchange for relinquishing its contractual rights.

Without such an explanation, the decision has become difficult for many supporters to reconcile.

The controversy arrives at a particularly sensitive moment for FAMU athletics. FAMU like many mid and small level Division 1 athletic programs are navigating rising costs, increased competition for student-athletes, and the rapidly evolving economics of college sports shaped by name, image and likeness compensation, the transfer portal, and looming revenue-sharing agreements.

Against that backdrop, many alumni view every guaranteed dollar as essential.

"This wasn't just about football," one supporter wrote online. "It was about protecting the department."

The episode has also revived broader questions surrounding Davis's appointment.

His selection was viewed by many within the FAMU community as politically connected. Davis is a longtime Republican operative who previously served as the Republican Party of Florida's minority outreach coordinator before joining Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration.

Although university officials have maintained that Davis was based on merit, critics have long argued that his appointment reflected political influence more than traditional athletic administration experience. For some alumni, the Georgia buyout decision has become the first high-profile example of the risks they feared when he was hired.

The contract negotiated in 2020 anticipated the possibility that Georgia might someday cancel the game. It included a buyout provision intended to compensate FAMU if that happened.

When the moment arrived, Davis chose not to enforce it.

Until university officials explain why, many alumni are likely to view the decision not as an unavoidable business outcome, but as an expensive lesson in the value of experience.   This valuable lesson comes just as FAMU head coaches are gearing up to hit the road to visit alumni and supporters on a fundraising tour geared at raising $500,000.