Celebrate the State
In a ten year span, Spartans will play the Chippewas, Eagles and Broncos 4 times each, from 2011 to 2020. Each will have three games in Spartan Stadium, and one at their home stadium.
As a Spartan Fan and Alum, I think this is a GREAT idea. What better way to disentangle ourselves from any “Bigger than Thou” attitude... like the Wolverines have.
Also, a good way to extend the “Spartan Nation” outwards.
The State of Michigan has FOUR Top 50 teams this year… MSU, Uof M, Central Michigan , and Western Western .. Lets try to keep the Local Hype growing..
Other then the financial differences by playing in the smaller venues, I see no down side…
Capacity:
Spartan Stadium: 75,000
CMU Kelly Shorts Stadium: 30,200
WMU Waldo Stadium: 30,200
EMU Rynearson: 30,200
Great opportunity to see other local stadiums. This idea is a winner !
From MSU Press Release…
"The series provides an opportunity for competitive games, positive celebrations, and economic benefits. Coming off the 2009 NCAA Final Four in Detroit, Michigan State continues to provide positive economic stories for the state of Michigan.
"The state of Michigan is a great place to live," Hollis said. "In the spirit of `Pure Michigan', we strive to `Celebrate the State' with a football series that provides competition on the field while unifying people of our great state.
"Michigan State University and President (Lou Anna) Simon have made great strides to provide opportunities for the state of Michigan that provide economic and other benefits for our State. FRIB (Facility for Rare Isotope Beams), IBM, and our state wide medical school outreach are a few examples. It is with this spirit that we present the `Celebrate the State' series.
"The series provides an opportunity for competitive games, positive celebrations, and economic benefits. Coming off the 2009 NCAA Final Four in Detroit, Michigan State continues to provide positive economic stories for the state of Michigan.
"Competitively, the Big Ten Conferences enjoys its relationship with the Mid-American Conference in football and multiple other sports.
"The series also provides an opportunity for Michigan State fans to celebrate Spartan football at locations across our state (Mount Pleasant, Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti) while maintaining a seven-game home schedule at Spartan Stadium. “
Photos from College Grid Irons . Com
http://www.collegegridirons.com/
Count on SpartyMSU to be there !
Sparty ON !!!
I think the risk-reward is heavily tilted toward the negative: very little, if anything, can gained from winning (no matter how lop-sided the score, pollsters will say that a Big11Ten team should crush a MAC anyway), but there's potentially a huge downside from losing.
A loss to a team from a non-BCS conference -- specifially, a non-BCS conference that few people respect nationally, like the MAC -- would likely make it very hard from MSU to crack the top 25 and could severely downgrade State's bowl destination.
One possible drawback that is slightly minor is you lose a home game weekend for a visiting recruit here or there. It's not a huge drawback, but it is at least a minor nuance.
@ChiSpartan, MSU will be playing MAC teams anyway. Whether it is on the road or at home, that will remain constant. Not many teams are going to go out and play 4 major teams each year until the NCAA comes up with rules to stop it.
Both of you make good points…
I look at it this way.. kind of the what I believe the Don Canham approach to be. Win over the State, then win over the nation.
Sure UofM has a major media market in their back yard, and that’s hard to over come, but there is more the State of Michigan than Detroit. Heck, Chicago is Hugh Green and White city.. Being a Spartan seems to be in vogue now. . Lets keep it that way…
Back to the point…. Work with the other schools the state will bring you visibility and recruiting rewards in state. More kids see you and the staff, the more the kids want to part of the program, especially if they beat CMU / WMU…
Sure risk is a loss, but no risk, no reward. I still think the risk is not a show stopper.. But rather a way to get Spartan brand out in front of more parents, kids, coaches, and media.
I do think we need to play at least 2 – 3 teams that have been in the top 4 of their conf. for the last 10 years.. I wrote about that earlier, but putting top schools in the Non Conf. schedule.. this is a must.. but the plans for W – C - E Michigan universities is a good one.
Good discussion thanks for commenting !