Imagine my surprise when I was spinning the satellite (metaphorically speaking, of course) and spotted Nebraska and Northwestern playing football … in Dublin, Ireland! A week before I thought the 2022 college football season was to begin!
Yet, there were Wildcats’ coach Pat Fitzgerald and Cornhuskers’ coach Scott Frost patrolling their respective sidelines in Aviva Stadium (ordinarily home to the Irish rugby union team).
What gives?
Well, it seems there were supposed to have been two previous college games played in Dublin. In 2020 Navy-Notre Dame was to have been the first and last year Illinois-Nebraska was scheduled. Both were victims of the pandemic.
Certainly, there have been occasional regular-season college football games that are played at neutral sites (typically NFL stadiums), but this is the first I’ve heard of an international non-friendly. College basketball will be doing the same later this year when the University of Michigan plays the University of Kentucky in London, England (December 4th).
I’m all for higher education’s learning abroad programs. Heck, I’m even for the college athletic teams that take international tours during summer recess. That said, I’ve always believed something as unique to the American experience as college athletics should be contested on college campuses.
The game in Dublin was originally scheduled for Ryan Field in Evanston, IL, and was one of only four home B1G games scheduled on campus this fall. As a result of taking the game to Ireland, Northwestern got plenty of money (as a private institution it is not required to disclose this figure; read more about the makings of the game here) and uncontested media coverage (it was the only major conference game scheduled and was in FOX Sports’ marquee early afternoon timeslot), but in so doing the university deprived the vast majority of its student body from experiencing a Saturday at Ryan Field against not only a conference but also a B1G divisional foe.
I can appreciate Northwestern’s desire to capitalize on the free media and whatever truckload of money the Irish Bureau of Tourism and FOX Sports dumped at its doorstep. I also appreciate the fact that Northwestern’s fall term doesn’t begin until the third week of September and the Wildcats’ traveling party was lingering overseas all day Sunday before flying back Monday morning.
What I’m having a hard time reconciling, however, is the University of Nebraska’s complicity in the event. Per this USA Today article the Cornhuskers’ athletic department received $250,000 and its travel costs covered. Sure, it received the same unencumbered media spotlight (bet Coach Frost wants that dimmed now, doesn’t he), but at what cost? The team traveled out the first week of classes in Lincoln, left immediately after the game Saturday night, and has classes Monday morning, and a home game against the University of North Dakota this Saturday.
I’m not naive enough to think big-time college athletics is really about the college part, but this idea of travling nine-plus hours across six time zones during the first week of the academic year (in Nebraska’s case) to play a regular-season football game is terrible precedent. The same can be said for Michigan and Kentucky’s upcoming game which is scheduled one week before the fall term final exams begin.
If I’m a Wolverines or Wildcats’ student, I want this game on campus where I have a more realistic shot to be there. And, frankly, the same goes for all the made-for-TV pre-conference games that pit major powers against one another in NBA arenas across the country. If I’m a Gonzaga student, I sure would love to see some of the opponents the Bulldogs always seem to be zig-zagging the country to play (this year Michigan State in San Diego on an aircraft carrier and Baylor in Sioux Falls, SD).
Sure, these games are great for schlubs like me sitting in our well-worn living room recliner, but we really need to ensure the college campus experience remains the focal point of college athletics.