Angry spectator on line one, Mr. Brand.A few years ago, the NCAA put in an attendance requirement for teams wishing to play Division I-A football. Any program that dipped below an average of 15,000 spectators per game, be they actual or "paid" (ie: fake) spectators, over a two-year period would get the boot.
Despite several schools falling below the prescribed minimums, no one has gotten the axe, and part of that is because of stunts like this:
Louisiana-Monroe, which entered into a five-game agreement with Arkansas in 2003, will be paid $500,000 for a game in Little Rock on Sept. 6. Part of Arkansas' deal with Louisiana-Monroe allows Louisiana-Monroe to be designated as the home team and use the crowd count for its home attendance figures.Google Maps reveals that Monroe, Louisiana is actually six miles closer to Little Rock than Fayetteville is, so there's not much the NCAA could do about this without kiboshing the ability to count "neutral site" games at which your school has six fans and the other school has sixty thousand entirely.
Which they should do, because what's the point of this rule if you're just going to let teams that are clearly not capable of living up to it skate?
(via the Wiz)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-06-2008 @ 9:47AM
Tara said...
That's an interesting piece of information about the AR-LAM game. I didn't realize it wasn't counted as a home game for Arkansas, considering LR's War Memorial Stadium is most definitely a home site for Arkansas. (Granted, the Hogs don't play half of their home games there anymore but they still play more than just this 1.) The AR schedule even shows this as a home game for Arkansas.
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8-25-2008 @ 4:37PM
CinnamonPixie said...
This is bizarre! I've got some friends in "Hog Heaven" (aka: the Little Rock area) and they had no idea that this wasn't a "home game" for their Razorbacks. Too weird...
Regardless of the distance, a team should NOT be considered a "road" team if the site is one that is either traditionally theirs in terms of fan base or if it is a site that's somehow significant or historically/traditionally tied to the team (such as Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium and the Razorbacks - who play two games (used to be three until a few years back I'm told) there every year in front 50,000+ very wild and extremely passionate Hogs fans).
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