By Nate Dougherty
You may not have heard, but Rutgers University football dealt the University of Notre Dame a loss this spring. It wasn’t exactly on the football field, however. The two schools had been in discussion for a six game home-and-home series, and Notre Dame proposed for Rutgers to give up its home games to play in the yet-to-be-named new NFL stadium for the Jets and Giants. But Rutgers, which is in the process of expanding its current 41,500-seat stadium, didn’t like the idea of moving home games an hour north and ended the talks.
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Though the decision was a setback for the Fighting Irish—filling a 70,000-seat stadium is a lot more appealing than receiving 5,000 tickets to sell as visitors—it’s being more than made up for through a series of other off-campus games. Some, like proposed games in San Antonio and Dallas, are Notre Dame "home" contests the school has strategically moved off campus to reach fan bases in areas the team rarely plays in. Others, like a six-game home-and-home series with the University of Connecticut, bring the Irish to bigger venues as the visiting team. In the latter case, UConn’s home games will be split between Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., and the new Jets/Giants Stadium.
John Heisler, Senior Associate Athletic Director at Notre Dame, says the trend of taking both home and away games to off-campus sites is gaining steam. "There are dozens of those sorts of sidebar scheduling conversations that go on between schools," he says. "Everyone today is throwing out different ideas when it comes to playing home-and-home series or taking some games to different sites. There’s been a lot more creativity on the part of many scheduling people in recent years who are beginning to think a little more outside the box.
"The decision Rutgers made was not unusual, it’s just how scheduling goes," Heisler continues. "We throw out ideas and proposals all the time when we’re scheduling games. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, and when they don’t we just move on to the next stop."
And according to Notre Dame Athletic Director Kevin White, the school moved on quickly after the Rutgers proposal failed. "We love Rutgers," White told the South Bend Tribune. "We’re really close to them. It doesn’t make sense for them. It makes sense for others. So we just moved on. I think we had somebody else in 10 seconds. We had an instant verbal, as they say in the business, a euphoric verbal."
Other teams are finding off-campus games work for them, too, and not always for the same reasons. Last year, Florida State University inked a deal with Orlando’s Citrus Bowl to host a non-conference opponent there in 2012 or 2013. Texas A&M University and the University of Arkansas also formed a deal to play a 10-year series at the new NFL Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, alternating as host team each year.
Unlike Notre Dame, which plans to use one-time off-site games to reach its widespread fan base, the A&M-Arkansas game is intended to rebuild a rivalry between the schools and bring one road game closer to both campuses. "I anticipate that the inaugural game scheduled for 2009 will be the first step in establishing a very competitive border rivalry which will become a fan favorite as two tradition-rich universities go head-to-head early in the season," said Aggies Head Coach Mike Sherman in a statement released by the school. "It will be a great barometer for our team before we embark on Big 12 action.
"Because of the proximity of this road game, it will allow our current and future players’ parents a chance to see their sons play still another game in the state of Texas, thus minimizing most travel concerns," Sherman added. "Anytime we can get our players’ parents and relatives in the stands to watch our players play, it only enhances the family football experience."
For more on the off-site trend, click on the article: "Not At Home,", which appears in the June/July issue of Athletic Management.
Nate Dougherty is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.