[NU Sports] ND breakup with Michigan schools

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> That is kind of a strange story here in Orlando, as
> we soon have to vote on  
> refurbishing the Citrus bowl, a lot of money for a
> stadium that is used very  

Hmm, good question, though what would they do for the
Citrus Bowl if they let the current stadium stay as
is?

> giving the evil empire is a secret but the idea of
> teams getting payoffs to 
> play  home games 1000 miles from campus is
> disturbing.

Agreed. I had kind of forgotten this in the earlier
post because of my anger over the ND-Michigan rivalry
both being downplayed and stopped (remember, I grew up
a Maize and Blue fan:) ).

First off, does ND really need nationwide games to
"establish" a national base? They already have a
network - what difference will playing games in
Orlando and San Antonio make? Especially as opposed
to, say, doing a home-and-home series with Texas or
FSU instead of dragging Washington State to the middle
of Texas for a game.

Secondly, the payoff would have to be pretty big to
get other schools to agree to these games ... or at
least the bigger-name schools. Why give up a
home-and-home, or even a 2-for-1 with ND for a game in
the middle of Texas? Having Notre Dame in your
stadium, even once out of three games, is a huge boost
for ticket sales (some, like Stanford or BYU, even
make it by season ticket only - driving up those
sales). And the return game or games gives your team
and a small portion of your fans the chance to visit
Notre Dame Stadium, one of the great cathedrals of
this sport. The recruiting boost from playing in the
middle of Florida or Texas might be somewhat helpful,
but otherwise, why give all that up? Surely a national
TV game in Notre Dame stadium or an electric
atmosphere in your home stadium that you can invite
the recruits to is far preferable.

As for the Big East games, I wonder how many of those
will be against Louisville and West Virginia? They'll
probably do Rutgers with Giants Stadium and all, but I
can't see them facing the proven powers of the league
all too willingly. Too bad, because I know Louisville
would probably give them a 3-for-1 deal to get the
Irish in the Pizza Bowl for a prime time audience.

We'll see how it works out - but as a fan of college
football, I'd much rather see the great rivalry of
Michigan vs. Notre Dame or another Sparty stunner in
South Bend than Wazzu-Irish or UConn-Irish in San
Antonio or Orlando.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

PS - Of course, the game I'd most like to see is a
visit by the Evil Empire to Evanston. But until then,
all we can do is continue to relish that 17-15
victory. Which, thanks to someone named NUBears and
the magic of YouTube, I can now watch again and
again!:)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=m0KfjEdrcBc

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


       
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