Aerosmith777
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I found this on Chicagotribune.com. I think this is a great idea to get fans from all over the place into Notre Dame. Could help a bundle w/ recruiting in places like Texas, Florida, and Southern California, where all the talent is....
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Irish concoct far-flung plan
ND hopes to play football at neutral sites in new areas
By Avani Patel
Tribune staff reporter
February 15, 2005
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- If the NCAA decides in April to make a 12th regular-season game a permanent part of the college football schedule, as expected, Notre Dame hopes to play seven games at home, four in its opponents' stadiums and one at a neutral site starting in 2009.
Currently, the Irish usually play six home games and five or six road games per season.
"We're trying to get to seven home games as quick as we can," said senior associate athletic director John Heisler, who oversees scheduling.
"It could happen in 2006 if this thing is approved. In 2006 and 2007, we would try to add a seventh home game; 2008 is already a 12-game season, and that one is already set (six home, six away). [In] 2009 … that conceivably would be the first time we could look at the neutral-site option."
Though the Irish would consider playing neutral-site games in various cities, including Chicago, their initial focus would be regions in which the program only rarely plays road games, such as Florida and Texas.
The idea was hatched, Heisler said, several years ago when Notre Dame officials first began talking about the idea of trying to ensure seven home games each season.
"Then the question becomes, if you're going to go to 12 routinely, do we want to play eight at home, and the answer was no," Heisler said. "As much as a home game is important to us competitively and financially, these are very labor-intensive weekends for everybody."
Instead, university officials began exploring the idea of exploiting the football program's independent status to, in effect, take the mountain to its many fans.
Turning the barnstorm brainstorm into reality will not be an easy task, Heisler said. The university has kept NBC, whose contract to televise Notre Dame home games runs through the 2010 season, abreast of its plans. Officials expect that terms could be worked out with the network to televise the neutral-site game.
A neutral-site game isn't the only thing the university is working on. It is also considering having an agreement with the Big East Conference, in which most of its other athletic teams compete, to play at least three football games a year against Big East opponents. The university would hope to play at least one of those three games at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., a site that has hosted the Irish 11 times.
"The Big East has been interested in having us make more of a concrete consistent commitment," Heisler said. But because of schedules already in place, "we can't get to that until 2011."
Tickets for Notre Dame's home games are already accounted for, set aside mainly for alumni.
Adding a neutral-site game and an annual trip to East Rutherford would afford many more fans the opportunity to watch the team play in person.
Notre Dame's independent status is largely what gives it the freedom to explore such options. But that does not mean the Irish aren't locked into commitments.
The university expects to continue its annual matchups with its four most frequent rivals: Purdue, USC, Michigan State and Navy. Notre Dame also has an agreement, in principle, to play Michigan annually through 2013.
Though discussions about additions to the schedule are merely academic until the NCAA formally decides to make a 12th game permanent, Heisler said he expected approval.
"That extra game helps everybody pay the bills," he said, adding that in the last four years, Notre Dame had added 64 additional scholarships, enough to ensure that all 26 of its varsity sports are fully funded.
"That extra football game is going to help pay for somebody else's programs at every institution."
Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Irish concoct far-flung plan
ND hopes to play football at neutral sites in new areas
By Avani Patel
Tribune staff reporter
February 15, 2005
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- If the NCAA decides in April to make a 12th regular-season game a permanent part of the college football schedule, as expected, Notre Dame hopes to play seven games at home, four in its opponents' stadiums and one at a neutral site starting in 2009.
Currently, the Irish usually play six home games and five or six road games per season.
"We're trying to get to seven home games as quick as we can," said senior associate athletic director John Heisler, who oversees scheduling.
"It could happen in 2006 if this thing is approved. In 2006 and 2007, we would try to add a seventh home game; 2008 is already a 12-game season, and that one is already set (six home, six away). [In] 2009 … that conceivably would be the first time we could look at the neutral-site option."
Though the Irish would consider playing neutral-site games in various cities, including Chicago, their initial focus would be regions in which the program only rarely plays road games, such as Florida and Texas.
The idea was hatched, Heisler said, several years ago when Notre Dame officials first began talking about the idea of trying to ensure seven home games each season.
"Then the question becomes, if you're going to go to 12 routinely, do we want to play eight at home, and the answer was no," Heisler said. "As much as a home game is important to us competitively and financially, these are very labor-intensive weekends for everybody."
Instead, university officials began exploring the idea of exploiting the football program's independent status to, in effect, take the mountain to its many fans.
Turning the barnstorm brainstorm into reality will not be an easy task, Heisler said. The university has kept NBC, whose contract to televise Notre Dame home games runs through the 2010 season, abreast of its plans. Officials expect that terms could be worked out with the network to televise the neutral-site game.
A neutral-site game isn't the only thing the university is working on. It is also considering having an agreement with the Big East Conference, in which most of its other athletic teams compete, to play at least three football games a year against Big East opponents. The university would hope to play at least one of those three games at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., a site that has hosted the Irish 11 times.
"The Big East has been interested in having us make more of a concrete consistent commitment," Heisler said. But because of schedules already in place, "we can't get to that until 2011."
Tickets for Notre Dame's home games are already accounted for, set aside mainly for alumni.
Adding a neutral-site game and an annual trip to East Rutherford would afford many more fans the opportunity to watch the team play in person.
Notre Dame's independent status is largely what gives it the freedom to explore such options. But that does not mean the Irish aren't locked into commitments.
The university expects to continue its annual matchups with its four most frequent rivals: Purdue, USC, Michigan State and Navy. Notre Dame also has an agreement, in principle, to play Michigan annually through 2013.
Though discussions about additions to the schedule are merely academic until the NCAA formally decides to make a 12th game permanent, Heisler said he expected approval.
"That extra game helps everybody pay the bills," he said, adding that in the last four years, Notre Dame had added 64 additional scholarships, enough to ensure that all 26 of its varsity sports are fully funded.
"That extra football game is going to help pay for somebody else's programs at every institution."
Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune
