| NEWS Report: Alabama is working toward a deal to play Florida State at a neutral site in 2025. - 247Sports

Granted the recent trend has been to buyout the entire series and when or if it happens it doesn't get much ink. I don't even know how to research it. I may be wrong.

FWIW, I remember Alabama buying out of a game. Bama played SMU in B'ham in 1976 and was supposed to play there in '77. That game was bought out with Coach Bryant saying, "I'm not taking my team to play in front of 28K people".

Bama visited Miami in the middle 70's and the crowd was near 30K or so. He made a statement to the point of never again.
 
Granted the recent trend has been to buyout the entire series and when or if it happens it doesn't get much ink. I don't even know how to research it. I may be wrong.

FWIW, I remember Alabama buying out of a game. Bama played SMU in B'ham in 1976 and was supposed to play there in '77. That game was bought out with Coach Bryant saying, "I'm not taking my team to play in front of 28K people".


I remember something about that. Sadly, that didn't mean it wasn't going to be a sellout, that was just all the stadium could hold. Coach Bryant should have negotiated the rematch in the Astrodome.
 
Orange Bowl had a capacity at the time of 80,045. It's one thing to go fill up an opponents stadium, it's another when the stadium doesn't reach 50% capacity.

Coach Bryant recruited a so called SuperStar from the Miami area back in the later 60's Jessie Causey. That guy could run faster than a speeding bullet and he could also drop kick a coconut 65 yards into a stiff breeze. The guy got into more sh*t at Bama and Coach Bryant sent him packing. The kid never played a meaningful down. …...but in the later years Coach restarted signing kids from the Miami area and Bama had much better luck with some solid players.
 
An interesting thought. I've never looked at the agreement Arkansas and A&M have in Arlington. I've seen details around things like recruiting visits, etc.

How many millions would the Mercedes Dome have to cough up to grab a home game away from one of the SEC schools? In Bama's case, I'd think we'd be looking at six million plus.

Remember that this is an economic endeavor where the city makes the money on taxes from dining, hotels, rental cars and retail sales taxes. In the early years, cities would create a bowl game to generate revenue. These start-of-the-season matchups are basically bowl games to generate revenue for the city.

Schools may consider these efforts because whatever revenue they get, they have minimal expenses (no police, fire, security, stadium staff, etc.). The net-net is a profit.
 
I'm kinda over the neutral site games anyway. I mean its pretty much Atlanta, Dallas, Atlanta, Dallas, Atlanta with Orlando or something maybe thrown in every now and then. Lets just do home and home and call it a day.
 
I would like to see the every odd year neutral site game. Every four years in Atlanta and every four years in Dallas. Forget Orlando. That is the only way Bama is ever going to get 2 OOC P5 games scheduled in one year.
 
I would like to see the every odd year neutral site game. Every four years in Atlanta and every four years in Dallas. Forget Orlando. That is the only way Bama is ever going to get 2 OOC P5 games scheduled in one year.

A day outside in Orlando at the end of August is not fun. Atlanta and Dallas being indoors makes it tolerable.
 
The day Bama plays 2 OOC power 5 teams will be the day coach Saban has completely reinvented the scheduling wheel. He will have plenty to say about tougher SOS going forward, but he ain't going first.

And 2010 was an aberration. Neither scheduled on coach Saban's watch.
 
He will have plenty to say about tougher SOS going forward, but he ain't going first.
And just who is it that's standing in front of the line encouraging sweeping changes in how college football is scheduled? The same guy you said wouldn't be first, but already is first.
 
And just who is it that's standing in front of the line encouraging sweeping changes in how college football is scheduled? The same guy you said wouldn't be first, but already is first.
To be fair, Gus is standing right behind Saban as he's come out and also been in support of changing the SEC scheduling.
 
Aren't we making the OOC schedule for 2033?
Yes, and no, right?

Depending on where 2024's season starts there's still an open date on 8/31 (I believe that works out...have to double check to be sure.) Bama is locked up on OOC until then with the exception of the OOC game before Auburn in '22.
 
I'm all for home and home. The Dallas/Atlanta openings were getting long in the tooth.

Why should Dallas and Atlanta make all the money off travel. Honestly, there isn't shit to see in either city that hasn't been seen 1000 times already. The tailgating is terrible in both.
 

Nick Saban wants to see Power 5 schools play a minimum of 10 games a year against other Power 5 opponents. And according to ESPN, Alabama is working to make that happen in the future.

The Crimson Tide’s plan would be to play one Power 5 non-conference game as part of a home-and-home series each year, as well as another at a neutral site. That will remain the plan as long as the Southeastern Conference with just eight conference games per season.

“I’ve always said, ‘Let’s play all Power 5 games,’” Saban told ESPN. “I was in the NFL where we played all the games against NFL teams. But let’s play at least 10 Power 5 games. It would be better for the players, better for the fans, and I think you wouldn’t have to worry that if you lost a game that you wouldn’t have as much of a chance to still be in (the College Football Playoff). They talk about strength of schedule now, but how do you really evaluate that?”

Saban has long been in favor of player nine SEC games and only Power 5 opponents, and Alabama has been known for scheduling -- and dominating -- neutral-site games to open the season. But from 2022 to 2033, the Crimson Tide has shifted its focus to home-and-home matchups. UA has future series scheduled with Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

But as ESPN is reporting, neutral-site games aren’t going away. Alabama will open the 2019 season against Duke in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium and will kick off the next two seasons against USC and Miami in Arlington, Texas, and Atlanta, respectively. According to Chris Low, the Tide is in the process of trying to finalist a neutral-site game with Florida State in Atlanta in 2025.

That would be the first season where Alabama has two Power 5 teams on its non-conference slate, as UA is scheduled to host the Wisconsin Badgers in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025.

“We’re almost all home-and-home games from here on out and trying to get another one,” Saban said. “You’ve got to make them match up because if you’re playing an away home-and-home game and a neutral-site game in the same season, you don’t have enough home games.”
 
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