Post by Aggie One on Nov 19, 2005 8:06:11 GMT -5
A&T will benefit from moving Classic
By Rob Daniels
Staff Writer
The term "Classic" and all that it connotes -- neutral site, ancillary atmosphere, even live TV coverage -- is thrown around in college football as often as a simple screen pass. But that's all about to change in the context of the N.C. A&T-South Carolina State series.
What is known as the Rivalry Classic and will be played in an antiquated stadium in Charlotte today will move back to campus next season. The weekend of the game will remain the same, but the Aggies expect to benefit financially from the switch.
And then there's that "Rivalry" thing. While the Aggies always want to beat their foes from Orangeburg, the series' status as a meeting of geographically bound institutions is likely to take a hit.
The Bulldogs were on the Aggies' first football schedule back in 1924, and the teams have played every year starting with 1968 -- three years before the MEAC kicked off its first football season. In the conference's first decade, A&T's proximate rival was N.C. Central, but its most meaningful games often were played against the Bulldogs, winners of 11 MEAC titles.
A&T's breakthrough was in 1975, when the Aggies overcame a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to claim a 15-14 victory and ultimately their first share of a MEAC title.
"People were leaving Memorial Stadium," said Wheeler Brown, now associate athletics director at A&T and then an Aggies player. "But then we recovered an onside kick.
"That was the only year we had an opportunity to beat them."
The rivalry got some fuel from one of the customs of the day, the postgame dinner for both teams in the same dining hall on the host's campus.
"A little tense in there," recalled A&T coach George Small, who also played for the Aggies in the mid- to late-1970s. "Some tired, hungry football players. But when you have food around, that seems to take the hostility out of all of us."
A decade ago, the NFL's Carolina Panthers took an interest in the game and hosted it briefly in what is now known as Bank of America Stadium. That gave the series a spark, but it didn't last. As each other's closest geographic rival, S.C. State and A&T wanted to play annually on the final weekend of the regular season. But the Panthers and the NFL couldn't accommodate a rigid scheduling structure, so the game was moved to Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.
But that wasn't going to last, either. A&T athletics director Dee Todd said in recent years when the Aggies have been the designated host school at Charlotte Memorial Stadium game, they have netted about $50,000. With more than 15,000 seats to sell at $20 apiece in some cases, revenue projections for a true home game in 2006 greatly exceed the $50,000 mark.
Todd anticipates six home games at Aggie Stadium next season and an end to neutrality against the Bulldogs.
"(Playing in Charlotte) doesn't make a lot of sense to me," she said.
And when the Rivalry Classic makes the move, it may not have the same feel. Winston-Salem State returns to the A&T schedule in 2006 as the Rams make a gradual transition to NCAA Division I-AA and ultimately join the MEAC. Central is likely to follow, giving the Aggies two in-state rivals who would geographically supersede the Bulldogs.
"For the fans, it would be behind a Winston-Salem State- or Central-type rivalry and definitely behind anybody we're playing for Homecoming in a given year," Brown said. "But that rivalry is unique unto itself because it becomes a state thing as opposed to local. It's something that has been going on since the 1970s when the MEAC was formed."
Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rdaniels@news-record.com
www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051119/NEWSREC0105/511190304/1021/NEWSREC0205
By Rob Daniels
Staff Writer
The term "Classic" and all that it connotes -- neutral site, ancillary atmosphere, even live TV coverage -- is thrown around in college football as often as a simple screen pass. But that's all about to change in the context of the N.C. A&T-South Carolina State series.
What is known as the Rivalry Classic and will be played in an antiquated stadium in Charlotte today will move back to campus next season. The weekend of the game will remain the same, but the Aggies expect to benefit financially from the switch.
And then there's that "Rivalry" thing. While the Aggies always want to beat their foes from Orangeburg, the series' status as a meeting of geographically bound institutions is likely to take a hit.
The Bulldogs were on the Aggies' first football schedule back in 1924, and the teams have played every year starting with 1968 -- three years before the MEAC kicked off its first football season. In the conference's first decade, A&T's proximate rival was N.C. Central, but its most meaningful games often were played against the Bulldogs, winners of 11 MEAC titles.
A&T's breakthrough was in 1975, when the Aggies overcame a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to claim a 15-14 victory and ultimately their first share of a MEAC title.
"People were leaving Memorial Stadium," said Wheeler Brown, now associate athletics director at A&T and then an Aggies player. "But then we recovered an onside kick.
"That was the only year we had an opportunity to beat them."
The rivalry got some fuel from one of the customs of the day, the postgame dinner for both teams in the same dining hall on the host's campus.
"A little tense in there," recalled A&T coach George Small, who also played for the Aggies in the mid- to late-1970s. "Some tired, hungry football players. But when you have food around, that seems to take the hostility out of all of us."
A decade ago, the NFL's Carolina Panthers took an interest in the game and hosted it briefly in what is now known as Bank of America Stadium. That gave the series a spark, but it didn't last. As each other's closest geographic rival, S.C. State and A&T wanted to play annually on the final weekend of the regular season. But the Panthers and the NFL couldn't accommodate a rigid scheduling structure, so the game was moved to Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.
But that wasn't going to last, either. A&T athletics director Dee Todd said in recent years when the Aggies have been the designated host school at Charlotte Memorial Stadium game, they have netted about $50,000. With more than 15,000 seats to sell at $20 apiece in some cases, revenue projections for a true home game in 2006 greatly exceed the $50,000 mark.
Todd anticipates six home games at Aggie Stadium next season and an end to neutrality against the Bulldogs.
"(Playing in Charlotte) doesn't make a lot of sense to me," she said.
And when the Rivalry Classic makes the move, it may not have the same feel. Winston-Salem State returns to the A&T schedule in 2006 as the Rams make a gradual transition to NCAA Division I-AA and ultimately join the MEAC. Central is likely to follow, giving the Aggies two in-state rivals who would geographically supersede the Bulldogs.
"For the fans, it would be behind a Winston-Salem State- or Central-type rivalry and definitely behind anybody we're playing for Homecoming in a given year," Brown said. "But that rivalry is unique unto itself because it becomes a state thing as opposed to local. It's something that has been going on since the 1970s when the MEAC was formed."
Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rdaniels@news-record.com
www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051119/NEWSREC0105/511190304/1021/NEWSREC0205
