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| | Home game loophole may close
Wednesday, Feb 11, 2004 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Before this home game travesty turns into a traveling road show, the NCAA must do something. Otherwise, we could see Division I-A football schools playing "home games" in all sorts of oddball locations just to meet NCAA-mandated attendance requirements. Imagine, Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Mississippi State in Jackson, Miss., or Middle Tennessee vs. Auburn in Mobile, Ala., and the out-of-state teams getting credit for the crowd. Fans of the "home team" will travel hundreds of miles and be outnumbered 20-to-1. That's where this mess is headed. When a school is struggling to average the 15,000 per home game necessary to remain in Division I-A and can get a quick 50,000 by going out of state, nobody can blame them for taking advantage of the rules. It is a good strategy, but people recognize it for what it is - a road game. Louisiana-Monroe kicked off this little debate by signing a five-year deal to play Arkansas in Little Rock, a so-called neutral site. Monroe gets a guarantee and, more importantly, counts the attendance. In the NCAA handbook, the loophole falls under 20.9.6.2 which says Division I-A schools will play at least five regular-season home games against other Division I-A schools. The rule defines a home stadium and then adds the out: "In addition, an institution may use one home contest against a Division I-A member conducted at a neutral site to satisfy the five home game requirement." Monroe athletic director Bruce Hanks said that in the past 18 months, he had talked with several schools about playing at neutral sites and creating a situation that works for both schools. He already had a contract with Arkansas for some games and both sides were trying to find a way to extend the arrangement, he said. For certain, other Sun Belt Conference schools are on the prowl for such arrangements. According to the NCAA, North Texas, Arkansas State University and New Mexico State were the only Sun Belt members that met the attendance criteria in 2003. Utah State was close at 14,921, still No. 107 among the 117 Division I-A schools. Louisiana-Lafayette, Idaho, Monroe and Middle Tennessee State were from 109 through 115. Troy State, which joins the league this fall, would have been best in the league with its average of 21,091 that included 26,000 when Marshall visited. "What you want to do, in my mind, is find a neutral location that the local population has an interest in the teams playing," Hanks said. "While Little Rock makes a lot of sense to us, it wouldn't make near as much sense for us to play the University of Georgia in Little Rock." Years ago, games at neutral sites were a big deal. Auburn and Alabama used to get together in Birmingham, but that was in the days when Legion Field was bigger and better than anything at Auburn or Tuscaloosa. Alabama still has two games left on a contract with Birmingham, one in 2005 against Middle Tennessee and one in 2008, supposedly against Northern Illinois. Otherwise, home games are in Tuscaloosa. Alabama is not worried about attendance minimums, but, like other big schools, the Crimson Tide is worried about keeping the Middle Tennessees and Monroes around as viable punching bags. With that in mind, Alabama might hand off the attendance to Middle Tennessee. For the sake of absurdity, a crowd of 75,000 would mean that Middle Tennessee could go without putting a person in the stands for four home games and still meet the attendance minimum. Arkansas' neutral site situation is unique since the Razorbacks are committed to playing at least two games per year in Little Rock. In 1996, Mississippi crossed the state line to play a home game in Memphis against Tennessee. The Rebels did it for a $1 million guarantee, understandable in the days before their on-campus stadium was expanded to more than 60,000. Monroe is leaving its home state just to remain in Division I-A and others will follow suit as long as the neutral site loophole is available. ----- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media Group's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
