Mickey wrote:At least if you are a college football fan, you can find satisfaction in the fact that college football is coming and will be here soon.
Hey, Mickey: college football IS already here in Dallas. It's called the SMU Mustangs!!! Be at Ford Stadium on Sept. 3. to watch SMU defeat Baylor (another Big 12 team).
And here's an article from today's Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper that says it would be a BAD IDEA for the Raiders to move the game to the Metroplex.
from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:
A variety of people have offered a variety of reasons why Texas Tech should or should not agree to move the Tech-Texas A&M football game to the Metroplex, but one point trumps all the rest: It really hurts Tech's chances of winning one of the most important games of the year.
On that basis alone, this is a bad idea. Maybe some people have become spoiled by 12 years without a losing season. That can change in a hurry. (See: Kansas State). Maybe some in the Tech community, after five consecutive home wins against A&M, are complacent enough to voice an anytime/anywhere attitude. Get real.
Sure, over the past 10 years, the Red Raiders are 7-3 in the series. Sounds like a decisive edge, right? But 10 of the last 11 Tech-A&M games went to the fourth quarter with the outcome in doubt. That being the case, it's foolish to voluntarily let go of any advantage - and home field every other year is no small consideration.
Especially when it's Tech's home field.
Have you been to Jones SBC Stadium lately? The place has been rockin' nearly every Tech home game for the past few seasons. Average home attendance last year hit 52,283 - right at capacity, and a record for the third time in five years. So let's get this straight. At a time when Tech is spending - and soliciting - millions to upgrade the stadium, then selling it out ... you want to ship your most colorful, competitive rivalry game six hours east?
Are you serious?
But let's go back for a moment to what's been developing on the field of late.
It's not just that the Aggies haven't won in Lubbock since 1993. Judging by the comments that emanate from College Station each time A&M ventures to Lubbock, it's as if the Aggies, in their heads, turn Jones SBC into a Bermuda Triangle. They don't just dread the trip. They dread it times 10.
Tech had best think long and hard before throwing that psychological edge away. And there are other risks, too. Lubbock merchants don't seem overjoyed at the thought of losing a big revenue weekend. Many of those same folks help out Tech by buying season tickets.
Why do those in favor want to see Tech move the game? For more money, presumably. And for the idea that Tech needs to cater, in a disproportionate way, to the Dallas-Fort Worth alumni base over grads in any other big city. And for some vague notion that moving the game to Dallas will result in more exposure.
OK, let's take those one at a time.
Tech probably could get more revenue from a game played at the Cotton Bowl, or at the proposed new Dallas Cowboys' stadium in Arlington - a $650 million jewel that might be under construction in 2006 and open in 2009.
Again, Tech's not so desperate for revenue that it should jeopardize its team's chances of winning.
Two, with so many games already lined up against SMU and TCU, the Red Raiders will play four times in the Metroplex between 2006 and 2011. That's plenty. And besides: Attendance at Tech games in the Metroplex has been mediocre to lousy. There's no guarantee that a Tech-A&M game in Dallas won't more resemble an Aggies home game than a neutral-site showdown.
As to the idea that moving the game to Dallas will somehow make it a bigger deal and more people will pay attention, don't count on it. The college game, the college atmosphere, easily gets lost in a pro-sports city - all the more so if one team happens to be in a down cycle. Conversely, the television networks will seek out a good game - one that's important to a conference race, one that has atmosphere - wherever it's played. There's nothing that Dallas can offer that's going to beat Jones SBC Stadium or Kyle Field when Tech and A&M get together.
I can't help but feel that a dose of UT-OU envy comes into play here. The Sooners and Longhorns have been playing in the Cotton Bowl for as long as most people can remember, and maybe those behind the Tech/A&M-to-Dallas push think the Raiders deserve the same stage.
Who wants it? Who needs it?
Most seasons, the most exciting game Tech plays all year is the A&M game. It didn't get good just 10 years ago. It's been that way for at least 40.
So let the Aggies keep their home game every two years.
And make sure the Red Raiders keep theirs.
http://www.redraiders.com/stories/06260 ... 5045.shtml