Fresno State to play Alabama in 2017

Alabama is set to have an interesting schedule come 2017.

On the heels of news that the Crimson Tide will open the season against Florida State, Alabama will face Fresno State for the first time on Sept. 9, 2017, the school confirmed on Thursday.

The news was first reported by Fresno Bee's Robert Kuwada.

Alabama will reportedly pay the Bulldogs $1.4 million for the matchup, which will help with Fresno State's financial crunch. Previous non-conference games have been an important source of revenue, netting the Bulldogs an average of more than $1 million in guarantees.

However, games at Ole Miss and BYU will leave Fresno State out $10,000 for the 2015 season.

"We need to net $1 million a year and this year we're at zero," athletic director Jim Bartko explained. "You go from $1.2 million last year to zero this year - and when I say zero that means what we're getting paid to go to Ole Miss and BYU is the same amount we're paying Abilene Christian and Utah to come here.

"We can't have that. For our conference, we have to be around $1 million a year. If we can schedule the next 10 years out, where we know we're getting a $1-million a year net, then you can budget much easier."

As it stands, with there being a $1-million guarantee on Fresno State's matchup against Washington, 2017 is slated to be a profitable one for the Bulldogs.