What a hoot. UConn is all excited about nabbing BC’s slot with ND in 2011 when, thanks to strong-arm tactics from the Big East, the Irish early-terminate their contract with the Eagles. (We replaced them with USC.) Here is the classic lead-in from the AP:
HARTFORD, Conn. — State legislators announced a compromise Wednesday that will allow the University of Connecticut to play a six-game football series with Notre Dame, even though none of those games will be played in Connecticut.
Interesting definition of “series” huh? ND tried to pull this stunt with BC, but we told them we play home games at home. UConn is apparently [1] ok with sloppy seconds, [2] in the Big East now, so that made it all ok, and [3] willing to put a BIG asterisk next to the line in their media kit that currently reads “All home games will be played at Rentschler Field in East Hartford”. Leave it to the psudo-Irish marketing machine to invent the “off-premises home game”. Here is the rest of the story
UConn and Notre Dame had been negotiating a 10-game series. The Fighting Irish wanted five of those games played in South Bend Ind., and the five UConn “home” games played at sites in either Boston, [Perhaps no one noticed, but there are only two football stadia in Boston, Harvard's Soldier's Field and BC's Alumni Stadium. I guess they mean Foxboro] New York or New Jersey.
So the “compromise” was for UConn to only get 6 games with their beloved Irish, when they really wanted 10, but they still got none at home. Nice deal. Exactly where did the Irish “compromise” here? Legal mastermind Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal must have negotiated this one. It sounds like the same strategy that was at work behind those money-losing lawsuits against the ACC, BC, and Miami. ND might be losers on the gridiron these days but they are still winners at the negotiating table.
11 Comments until now
Great move by Connecticut.
Like BC before them, they realize their place in college football’s hierarchy and they do whatever it takes to get exposure and sell tickets.
And ND gets a layup win like every other major programs get. That is unless UConn continues to improve their program to be the best in New England.
Technically, I don’t believe Chestnut Hill is really a part of Boston in the same way that Allston is a part of the city. I think I’d consider it to be the ‘burbs, leaving only Hahhhvahd’s horseshoe as the sole Boston football stadium. Then again, I am only posting this to poke Bob.
Paraphrased quotes from Coach Weis addressing the Southeastern Notre Dame Alumni Club in Norfolk yesterday:
On scheduling: I have no control over future schedules, nor do I want to. Line them up, we’ll play them. I don’t want a bunch of pansies on the schedule. And to predict 10 years from now which teams will be good and which teams won’t is silly, so I just don’t even worry about it. That being said, I do have some input over in-season schedules, such as moving games around to fit a bye week in somewhere, etc. For example, the BC game this year . . . BC and ESPN wanted to try to move the game to earlier in the season. I said, OK, I’ll move the game earlier, but only if you move the game to Gillette Stadium and give us the extra 30,000 tickets that would open up! BC said there is no way they could get Gillette Stadium for the game, so I laughed and pulled out my cell phone “You want me to get Gillette Stadium for the game? I’ve got Mr. Kraft’s phone number right in here!” The BC folks looked at me for several seconds as if trying to decide if I was bluffing, and then decided to keep the game where it was.
Much like the FL schools (particularly FSU and Miami) play games from time to time in Jacksonville’s NFL-sized stadium (and like UT-OU play in Dallas, etc.), it makes A TON of sense to hold BC-ND in Gillette. Would be a HUGE money maker for BC. I really doubt they’d have to give ND 30K tickets, and it’s still very much a home game for the Eagles (despite Cruizer and Scott’s assertion that everyone outside of Chestnut Hill hates BC). BC is stoopid not to explore the idea. “We play home games at home” Waaaaaah! Talk about missing the forest for the trees….
I agree Borg, short-sighted and arogant by BC, as usual.
There is no way that game doesn’t sell out. Even the average southie who cares not about BC would go to root against ND, plus the throngs of rabig Irish fans who would devour every last ducket.
As a point of order, I don’t think Cruiser nor I said that everyone outside of Chestnut Hill HATES Boston College - you are confusing our Big East leanings with what we believe about the region’s sports fans, which is that the Eagles are barely associated in the minds of Boston sports fans as a “Boston” team (despite the name in the title). Boston is not a college sports town, and while the pro teams in all four sports have vast followings in New England, that is simply not the case with college sports.
New England is not a college sports hotbed, unless you talk about college hockey and then you’ll find Vermonters support UVM, Granite State splits along Dartmouth/UNH lines, Maine is all about it’s proud program, and Mass has a number of great teams to support in BC and BU and Harvard. But when it comes to the revenue sports of football and basketball, there’s no provincial leanings towards BC. It’s nothing against Boston College per se - I just don’t think people care all that much who don’t have specific ties to the institution. They root for their alma mater, or for whatever team they liked growing up (Michigan, Notre Dame, FSU, etc) as opposed to the one in the New England area.
If Boston College were ever able to somehow sieze upon being “New England’s” college football team, they’d really have something to hang their hat on. But it’s a steep uphill climb.
Agreed, not everyone in New Engalnd hates BC, just a lot.
No seriously, Scott is right, it isn’t so much hatred as it is ambivilence.
The average New Enaglander cares about, in order, the Red Sox, Red Sox, Red Sox, Red Sox, Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, Red Sox, Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins, their alma mater/local college basketball team, Red Sox, whichever college football team the grew up rooting for, and the Red Sox.
I find it entertaining that the announcement was made by “State legislators” and not the “University of Connecticut.”
I also still find this entire argument fascinating. I personally find it hard to criticize a program for going to get a big revenue game. I don’t recall anyone from University of Maryland or the MD state legislators complaining when UMD played ND at Giants Stadium in NJ. They probably didn’t have time to complain because they were laughing all the way to the bank… Oh, UMD was driving 200 miles past many big stadiums. Uconn is driving 84 pass no big stadiums. This seems like a no brainer for a school that knows their place in the world and is ready to take advantage of it.
On a separate note, I still fault ND for scheduling powder puff games as it really dilutes the argument for independence. Saying OSU, FSU and other do it doesn’t make it right, particularly when Notre Dame says they have higher standards.
David, I agree with you to an extent. ND is and should be better than O$U and F$U when it comes to standards, to include scheduling. They should also strive to have one of teh most challenging schedules in the nation every single year: that’s the benefit of being an independent.
I don’t believe, however, that we should be playing Holtz-era uber-difficult schedules (Michigan, Texas, Penn State, and Miami all in teh same year). And ND should “open up” their season with a warm-up game like every other National Championship competitor does.
Cruiser - your comments are very fair. ND always has the service academies, it would be great to open with one of them.
Oh, and my comment about “a school that knows their place in the world and is ready to take advantage of it” is by no means critical. My alma mater, University of Delaware, is in that position. I’m very excited to see the Fighting Blue Hens open the season at University of Maryland, who we’d never get to come to UD’s home field. Thats a pretty exciting start for a FCS team, brings great revenue into the program, and a nice upgrade in competition from our typical FBS-opponent Navy.
Chestnut Hill is an area, not a town. The Eastern half of Alumni Stadium is in Boston. The Western half is in Newton. The BC campus straddles the Boston, Brookline and Newton lines.
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