Greed is reaching new levels in college athletics these days. It seems like once a week a new press release comes out stating that another college football game has been moved to a professional stadium. Accepting buyouts to relocate home games to professional venues is a national trend, not an anomaly. This year alone there will be 10 college football games played in NFL stadiums. Syracuse has announced plans to play USC in 2012 and Notre Dame in 2014 and 2016 at the New York Giants' and New York Jets' new stadium in the Meadowlands. Washington State has played more than a half-dozen games in Seattle at Seahawks Stadium and will play Notre Dame in the Alamo Dome this October. BYU/Oklahoma, Texas A&M/Arkansas and Baylor/Texas Tech will all open an annual series at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington starting this season. Kansas, Missouri, Iowa State and Kansas State all have scheduled games in Arrowhead Stadium this year. It has also been announced recently Notre Dame will play a handful of games in the new Yankee stadium starting in 2010
For the college football traditionalist out there, this is a very disturbing trend. There is a reason college football is so popular, it’s not the NFL. The NFL has a great atmosphere, but hails no comparison to the pageantry and infusion of spirit on college campuses throughout the fall. Is there truly anything better than watching a college football game on Saturday afternoon as your favorite team rushes out of the tunnel to the tune of its fight song and the crowd going crazy? For those of you that disagree, book a trip to Dallas on the second Saturday in October and go to the Red River Rivalry, I promise you your perspective on college football will be changed forever. Just ask Will Muschamp.
I for one am a college football traditionalist so naturally I was very disappointed to hear that Texas will open the season in Houston next year, not on South Main at Rice University, like it was originally scheduled to be, but at Reliant Stadium instead. Yesterday afternoon, Rice’s athletic director, Chris Del Conte, announced that he had accepted a buyout from Lone Star Sports & Entertainment that Reliant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Houston Texans, will host the 92nd meeting between the Longhorns and Owls next September. In doing so, Rice University will receive an undisclosed sum (rumored to be over 7 figures), for relocating the non-conference contest. The exact figure has not been release but it is so sizable that it nearly doubles the Owls' total revenue from their six home games played at Rice Stadium in 2008. Both Universities will be on an all-out media blitz touting that this is a great experience for their players and fans that will enhance recruiting capabilities and promote their Universities on a national level.
However, I for one do not believe it one bit. This is purely about money. If Rice wants to be a big time player in college football again, I truly believe that they need to have these types of games on their campus. What’s more enticing to recruit, a half-empty Reliant stadium where fans show up 30 minutes before the game or a sold out Rice stadium where fans have been tailgating since Friday night? Recruits, especially those bound for Rice are students first, why not have the football program be the front porch and the gate to an exceptional University?
John, your last question actually sums it up pretty well. The stadium SHOULD be the front porch and gate to the university. Unfortunately, this porch is peeling paint, leaning to one side, and the gate is off its hinges. Can you imagine the disaster that will ensue when a likely near sellout crowd encounter parking meltdowns, poor and sparse concessions, insufficiently upgraded bathrooms, and huge lines for ticket purchase and pickup? The fans we are trying to lure back to Rice football will be lost.
ReplyDeleteI doubt there is one Rice fan that is happy with this decision, including the AD. This isn't greed but you are right to say that it's all about the money. The rest of that lip service, while truthful, is rationalization to make folks feel like there's a silver lining to this unhappy circumstance.
This move only makes sense if the money is used to make sure that Rice hosts future games of this magnitude. The AD is raising money right now to construct an endzone complex that is rumored to cost $50 million. I assume it will also include the infrastructure improvements required to host these larger games, but I have no idea if it will be completed before the beginning of next season (seems unlikely considering that the earliest they could start is after this season).
When Chris Del Conte arrived the stadium was a disaster. Wooden benches were splinter weapons, restrooms were ancient, the place just looked sad. Much of this has been improved but there is still work to be done. Del Conte has had to prioritize improvements and I think he's done a great job in the short time he's been here (see basketball's new Tudor Fieldhouse as the latest example). He deserves the benefit of the doubt when he says he doesn't want to do this but has to. I'm ok with that for now. On the other hand, if we find out that a $2 million fee for this game was simply used to pay bills, well, I won't be the only Owl yelling for someone's head.