Id hate a move to legion field or montegomery
Wouldnt mind the FCS championship moving to the Hams new stadium.
I expressed my "hard no" about Legion Field to Omar Borja, and he asked how we'd feel about Protective Stadium instead.
I told him that while I had a **CLEAR** preference for keeping the UNA-JSU game on the home fields, I would at least be open to Protective.
For anyone out there who didn't read the article, he isn't suggesting making UNA-JSU a "kickoff game" but, rather, moving it to one of the "Rivalry Week" dates in November. He figured a neutral site location in a larger city might make the game even bigger. That's the part that at least has me weighing pros and cons and not rejecting it outright.
Hypothetically, if this were to have started this season, there would be three possible dates for the game: Nov. 6, Nov. 13, or Nov. 20. Our current schedule has Abilene, Lamar, and EKU lined up for those dates. Let's knock off the first two, since we probably won't be playing them again, and let's move EKU to the 6th. It's a big game; just not *as* big. That would free up Nov. 13 and Nov. 20. Moving UNA to the 20th would put it one week before the Iron Bowl. (Bama plays Arkansas that day; Auburn plays South Carolina. Not exactly two marquee games for our in-state competition.)
From a national perspective, we'd be up against one of the biggest FCS rivalries around -- the Brawl of the Wild -- but that's OK. We'd be pulling in a completely different set of eyeballs.
Now, you could do this much and keep the game rotating between Braly Stadium and Burgess-Snow. And it could be huge over time, especially if the Lions get their act together and start playing ball.
But if the game were moved to Protective Stadium (UAB is in San Antonio that week), and we got the City of Birmingham involved in promoting it, and we successfully hyped the everlovin' heck outta this game to our students, alumni, and the general public...
Well, it could be something special.
Protective seats 47,000, about twice the capacity of the Snow, and three times the capacity of Braly. The location works well as a neutral site -- 75 miles from JSU and 115 miles from UNA, compared to 150 miles between JSU and UNA -- and there are gobs of alumni of both schools in and around the Birmingham area. Beyond those "local" fans, Birmingham's location is central to pretty much the entire state -- 250 miles from Mobile, 200 miles from Dothan, about 100 miles from Huntsville and Montgomery -- which means the game would be convenient to alumni across the state, plus the Atlanta area (~150 miles).
The negative?
It's a short list...
1) Losing the campus atmosphere. This could be overcome, somewhat, by solid gameday planning, with official alumni tailgating activities, etc., plus insuring the bands would be incorporated into pregame and halftime. (Perhaps even postgame.) But you do lose something, and this can't be overstated. Just picture this game NOT being played in the Snow on an ongoing basis, with the leaves turning on the Choccolocco Mountains behind the east end zone. It's kind of depressing to think about.
2) Marketing, marketing, marketing. And planning. Not necessarily in that order. If the game were just moved to the neutral site with no real plan for promotions and gameday activities, it would be an unmitigated disaster. You might still pull in 20,000 fans, but that would mean a half-full stadium, and the lack of activities and promotions would really suck the atmosphere out of the stadium. It'd be ... just ... OK. And a huge letdown from an standard on-campus game. But if the marketing and promotions really took off and the game developed a life of its own, you'd potentially run into another problem: having the game move away from a "college gameday" vibe to something more sterile and "corporate." The people in charge would absolutely, positively have to find a balance, or they'd kill it, even if the game turned into a financial and ratings bonanza.
Honorable Mention: This isn't so much a negative as a potential complication. JSU's game with EKU is already a minor rivalry. UNA, once they catch up competitively, should recapture some of the heat of that historical rivalry. And then there's the new kid on the block, Kennesaw State. That's three rivals. You wouldn't want to put all three on consecutive weeks. So somebody would have to be moved to October.
As far as KSU goes, that's the game that's begging for a neutral site, only because KSU plays in such an undersized stadium. But there's not a "Protective Stadium" equidistant between Kennesaw and Jacksonville, as there is with JSU-UNA. That really complicates things. Meh... it's a new rivalry. Maybe by the time it really fires up, the Owls will have expanded their home capacity.
Anyways... I'm just laying this out for discussion. Curious what everyone else feels about it. As I said at the beginning of all this, I much prefer home-and-home. But I can see the value of a neutral site in a larger stadium and larger city, if it's done right. Your thoughts?