Bret Bielema Contract Buyout actually only $5.9 million, not $15.4 mil

According to legal analysts at Arkansas Democrat Gazette, finite language in the contract puts the number at around $5.9 million instead of the widely thought $15.4 million if Bert is fired after the season.

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The buyout has been reported widely as $15.4 million, but that number is used only as the basis to calculate the actual buyout figure. The amount used to calculate Bielema’s buyout on Jan. 1 drops to $11.7 million.

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville officials declined comment for this story, and UA legal counsel could not be reached to confirm the calculations.
Bielema’s actual buyout is determined by a formula included within the language of his original deal, which was made effective Dec. 4, 2012, and signed the next August.

It uses the $15.4 million figure as a numerator and divides that by the total number of months (97) in the full term of his contract. That figure of $158,762.88, called the “monthly value of the total guaranty payment,” would then be multiplied by the remaining number of months on the contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2020.

Based on that equation, Arkansas would owe Bielema about $5.874 million to terminate his contract after the season concludes Nov. 24, plus a prorated amount for any partial months of employment.

That figure would be offset by the gross amount of any salary earned by Bielema through December 2020 — including for consulting or administrative jobs in college football or the NFL — or any work outside of coaching, such as a side business.

The buyout money owed to Bielema would be paid on a monthly basis as a guaranty of The Razorback Foundation, the fundraising arm of the UA athletics department, or a financially responsible third party arranged by the university, per the contract.

Bielema’s salary this season is $4.2 million based on the amended contract from February 2015. He has athletic- and academic-based incentives that could total up to $1 million each year, although the maximum amount he could earn this year is likely $250,000, mostly for players’ classroom achievements that are reflected in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate and Graduation Success Rate.

Bielema would earn a minimum bonus of $50,000 if Arkansas makes a bowl game.

In addition to Bielema’s buyout, each of Arkansas’ nine full-time assistant coaches have buyouts, according to standard language located in each of those contracts. Assistants are promised up to six months’ pay if they are unable to find employment after a head coach is fired, which would total up to $1,972,500 based on the most recent signed contracts.

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Dear sweet little football diety... Let this all be accurate