From annarbor.com comes Eastern Michigan University to host Michigan State in football and basketball. Here are the opening paragraphs:
Rynearson Stadium has never hosted a Big Ten opponent.
Thanks to an agreement between Michigan State and the state’s three Mid-American Conference schools, that will soon change.
Well, maybe not that soon. But in time.
Eastern Michigan will host the Spartans during either the 2018 or 2020 season as part of The “Celebrate The State” football series that was announced Thursday in East Lansing.
Michigan State made its last trip to Ypsilanti in 1899 when Eastern Michigan was known as Michigan State Normal College.
When a football game is being planned nine to eleven years in the future, I think that has to be accompanied by the word “maybe.” Besides the fact that that is a long way off, I have a feeling that EMU will host a home game against MSU at Ford Field in Detroit.
Much more likely and realistic is that MSU will play basketball at EMU in the 2011-12 season.
Guess there’s something to be said for home field advantage. Still when it comes down to divvying up the gate, it’s difficult to believe that this would turn out to be such a good deal for EMU financially.
I dunno what the monetary agreement was when they last played in Ann Arbor–I heard 60/40, and then again 50/50 after the bills were paid. Regardless, even 30 percent of those big stadiums that consistently sell out would amount to a pretty hefty chunk of change, seems to me. I’m not sure that Rynearson could match it.
I don’t think this one is about the money… we will do just fine this year at Michigan, Northwestern and Arkansas in terms of our take at the gate. This game is about FILLING Rynearson, that will be a site to see!
If MSU plays at EMU, Rynearson may sell out — which I believe has never happened, or even come close to happening, before. But if they’re planning for as far out as 2018, it is unlikely that the deal being arranged is on favorable terms. My sports advisors all say that the further out these contractual, pay a weaker team to play a powerhouse, games are the less likely that the fee paid in the season that the game is actually played is close to the current “market” value of such games.
Sports at EMU costs the university ten million or so above revenue every year. EMU football is the most heavily subsidized form of entertainment in the county, probably in the whole of SE Michigan!
Due to the increase in travel costs, we will see more “larger” football schools make arrangements to play nonconference games closer to home. Also, both UM and Arkansas give EMU a larger percentage than normal due to the connections each school has with our A.D. Last, I would predict that MSU football costs more each year than EMU, based on size of program, money spent, bowl game attended (and $ lost due to attending that bowl game).