The first championship game in college football’s new four-team playoff is going to be played in Arlington, Texas, because it’s a site imbued with so much tradition Jerry Jones is willing to outbid one and all for the privilege of playing host. (“Because Cowboys Stadium, which hosts the AT&T Cotton Bowl, is such an overwhelming favorite for the inaugural championship, several communities opted not to bid, sources said.”)
When it comes to college football, money is the only tradition that matters these days. I give the whole farce of a bid process five years before they decide to make Arlington the permanent home of the title game. On the bright side, that’ll give Bill Hancock another opportunity to assure us about how high quality the whole thing is.
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What’s the big deal here? Bar none it’s the best stadium in the nation. If it was based on tradition we’d get to hear Brent Musberger talk out of his ass for hours about the Rose Bowl (which is barely a step above the Cotton Bowl in terms of a nice stadium).
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Yeah, but I’d rather go to Pasadena.
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Dallas is one of the locations I feel should be in the running as the permanent home for a NC game. It is close to the middle of the country so reasonable for any fanbase to travel to, and it is “weather proof” which is important for that time of year. A case can be made for Indy, St. Louis, Detroit, San Antonio, and Houston. I like San Antonio best as an area/weather for fans but you have to look at Dallas as the one to beat. The Big Whatever fans will whine about any game played south of Omaha but what else is new? I do think at least 20K tickets should be set aside for each of the two particiapating schools. If they don’t take them within the first week, then sell them locally. (The SEC Championship game should take back thousands of renewable tickets for the same reason. Fans are held hostage annually by those scalping tickets for the Dome.)
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Well, weatherproof because of the dome. But Dallas in winter is freezing. Remember the mess with the Super Bowl a few years ago due to the ice storm?
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Agreed, the fans’ ability to mingle and enjoy is why I prefer San Antonio or Houston but Dallas has easier flight schedules and is “the name” for football versus those other options. I am more concerned about the quality of the game so any of those are acceptable but Big D does have some rough winter weather that time of year. When I traveled there regularly the January weather seemed as bad as anywhere in the country because of the wind chill factor. My preference would be to have a permanent home for the title game, similar to college baseball.
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Besides, the Mexi-food in San’tonio is aces better. The Riverwalk alone can verify that. While their food was more authentic in 1963 than now, it still remains tastier than most due to the local Hispanic influence.
I’m still angry at my son for naming my Grandson. After naming his daughter “Trinity” ( for the Trinity River and his mother’s University in San Antonio) he named his son “Austin” instead of “UGA” like I wanted for equal consideration. Kids and their ideas are really worrisome nowadays.
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“On the bright side, that’ll give Bill Hancock* another opportunity to assure us about how high quality the whole thing is.” He’s no Les Miles
http://thinkexist.com/quotes/bill_hancock/
* As some journalism major once wrote, “There are few people in sports as beloved as Bill Hancock,…. He’s a believer. “I love college football,” says Hancock, who returned my phone call after attending a Thanksgiving potluck at his grandson’s grade school. “I believe in the BCS because a playoff would be equally contentious. For example, if you had a four-team playoff today, which two undefeated teams would you leave out? What eight teams would you put in a playoff? Which one-loss or two-loss teams would you leave out?”
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1941662,00.html
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The top 8 in the rankings. It would mean that a conscensus between the diff of #8 and #9 teams would be more forthcoming more often than a conscensus betwen #s 4 and 5.
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Despite my lack of affection for both Jerry Jones and the current lords of college football, and its lack of any discernible ties to the past, that is an amazing place to watch a football game. I got to go to the Bama-Michigan game last year and the atmosphere and the experience is pretty much everything you could ask for. There are worse places they could put the game.
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Sounds good to me.
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Having toured the facility and been on the field, I can say it is a truly remarkable venue worthy all the accolades.
Having said that…..As much as I am against the public funding of the Domed facility in Atlanta, I do think that stadium will give us a fighting chance against Jerry World. We will just need to find the sponsors to make it happen. It will take pockets deeper than Chick-Fil-A.
By the time the new GA Dome opens in 2017, Jerry’s place will be 8 years old. The newness will have worn off and our facility (while not as feature rich) will be able to square off with it in a way that the new NY facility won’t due to weather and other issues.
Jerry world opened in 2009.
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If Blank doesn’t draw, Vegas will
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/jan/19/ray-brewer-unlv-now-question-and-answer/
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correction — I haven’t seen a firm # for attendance at Jerry World. If the #s of 65k-75k are accurate, then there is NO CHANCE that the new ATL Dome will host the MNC game when Jerry World expands to 100k.
Furthermore, if we’re building a stadium smaller than the one we currently have and trying to spin that we’re working to lure events like the Super Bowl, BCS Title game and other big events…then the folks involved with this process are even dumber than I thought.
Anyone know the real capacity? I’m pretty sure that Wikipedia’s #s are out of date.
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For those concerned about ‘bracket creep”….
My daughter’s school sends out a newsletter every day with a “this day in history” blurb. Today’s was:
“(1939): March Madness is born. The University of Oregon defeats Ohio State University 46-33 on this day in 1939 to win the first-ever NCAA men’s basketball tournament. For the first 12 years of the men’s tournament, only eight teams were invited to participate. That number grew steadily until a 65-team tournament format was unveiled in 2001. The NCAA held its first women’s basketball tournament in 1982.”
It took 12 years to grow beyond 8 teams. Odds on how many years it’s going to take CFB to get to an 8 team playoff?
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Needs to happen ASAP, IMHO.
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Major Conference champs, best 3 at large after that. First round on campus of the top 4.
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And a big “amen” from me. That is all it would have taken to get me on the anti-expansion side.
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It took 16 years (1998 to 2014) to go from 2 to 4, so I’ll say about half that, 8 more years, to get to 8. So my answer for you is 24. 24 years to get to an 8 team playoff.
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It may be the only championship won in Cowboys Stadium any time soon. But…at least Jerry finally gets some glory hole…
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