Neutral Site FCS Games

[LehighU11]

With Lehigh and Lafayette playing #150 at Yankee Stadium this weekend, I was wondering what other regular season FCS games have been played at neutral sites.

Villanova and Delaware have their "Battle of the Blue" at PPL Park, home to MLS's Philadelphia Union. The SWAC has their bowl games. Who else plays/has played at a neutral venue? Anything in the works for 2015 and beyond?

[BisonFan02]

SFA and SHSU and a lot of SWACtion.

[Catbooster]

Cat/Griz was played in Butte, between Missoula and Bozeman, for quite a few years, but it was a long time ago.

[Twentysix]

NDSU and USD played in Sioux Falls a few years ago.

Everytime NDSU has played the Gophers it has been a nuetral crowd :p.

[BisonFan02]

NDSU and USD played in Sioux Falls a few years ago.

Everytime NDSU has played the Gophers it has been a nuetral crowd :p.

How is that considered neutral when the game is in SD only 60 miles away from vermilliooooooo wait....nevermind. xlolx

[LehighU11]

NDSU and USD played in Sioux Falls a few years ago.

Everytime NDSU has played the Gophers it has been a nuetral crowd :p.

I was going to make a comment that road Bizon games don't count as neutral sites, but I figured it wouldn't take long for an NDSU fan to make that claim anyways. xthumbsupx

[citdog]

The Citadel and v@gina military have played at the Oyster Bowl in Norfolk and in Charlotte.

[cpacmel]

Last season SEMO and Southern Illinois played at Busch Stadium in St. Louis

[thebootfitter]

FCS Neutral Site Games 2014



Week Team1 Score1Score2Team2
1 Alabama A&M 13 47 NC A&T
1 Prairie View 35 37 TX Southern
3 Jackson St 7 35 Tennessee St
4 Howard 35 38 Morgan St
5 Prairie View 20 26 Grambling
6 NC A&T 0 13 S Carolina St
9 Alabama St 36 37 Alabama A&M
10 Cent Arkansas 35 52 Abilene Chr
10 SF Austin 28 42 Sam Houston St

[BisonFan02]

FCS Neutral Site Games 2014



Week Team1 Score1Score2Team2
1 Alabama A&M 13 47 NC A&T
1 Prairie View 35 37 TX Southern
3 Jackson St 7 35 Tennessee St
4 Howard 35 38 Morgan St
5 Prairie View 20 26 Grambling
6 NC A&T 0 13 S Carolina St
9 Alabama St 36 37 Alabama A&M
10 Cent Arkansas 35 52 Abilene Chr
10 SF Austin 28 42 Sam Houston St



SWACtion!!! :D

[LehighU11]

Is SWACtion more or less entertaining than MACtion? Bad football but great bands, right?

[BisonFan02]

Is SWACtion more or less entertaining than MACtion? Bad football but great bands, right?

No comparison....bad FBS football is always better...right? :D

[HailSzczur]

With Lehigh and Lafayette playing #150 at Yankee Stadium this weekend, I was wondering what other regular season FCS games have been played at neutral sites.

Villanova and Delaware have their "Battle of the Blue" at PPL Park, home to MLS's Philadelphia Union. The SWAC has their bowl games. Who else plays/has played at a neutral venue? Anything in the works for 2015 and beyond?

PPL is a Nova home game, not neutral site, even though its 18 miles from Nova and 28 miles from Newark. We haven't played the Hens at Villanova Stadium since '09. Personally I'd like a 3 year rotation of Nova, PPL, Tub

[melloware13]

A few years ago, JMU played West Virginia in Landover, MD. I'm guessing that you're not asking about the national championship games, since they've been neutral since becoming something other than the Marshall Invitational. As per UD-Nova, while the meetings in Chester have been Nova home games, since it isn't on either campus, it's technically a neutral site. Where that match-up is played in 2015 is still a question though.

[HailSzczur]

A few years ago, JMU played West Virginia in Landover, MD. I'm guessing that you're not asking about the national championship games, since they've been neutral since becoming something other than the Marshall Invitational. As per UD-Nova, while the meetings in Chester have been Nova home games, since it isn't on either campus, it's technically a neutral site. Where that match-up is played in 2015 is still a question though.

It's going to be parents weekend, so its gonna be on campus. Between Delaware and Parents Weekend, we hopefully should be looking at a sell out

[Sader87]

Holy Cross has played at a lot of "neutral sites" ovah the years. Before being classified as 1-AA/FCS, they played BC many years during the 1920s-1950s at both Fenway Park and Braves Field. While technically in Boston it was considered a neutral site. They also played a lot of games in NYC back in the day: Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium, Triborough Stadium etc....I think some of those were neutral sites.

In the FCS era, BC-HC played a few times at Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium....we have also played Fordham in both Ireland and Bermuda.

[PAllen]

It's going to be parents weekend, so its gonna be on campus. Between Delaware and Parents Weekend, we hopefully should be looking at a sell out

Wait, what? Parents weekend is the last week of the season? Or is UD/VU being moved up in the schedule? I don't know which is worse.

[LehighU11]

Holy Cross has played at a lot of "neutral sites" ovah the years. Before being classified as 1-AA/FCS, they played BC many years during the 1920s-1950s at both Fenway Park and Braves Field. While technically in Boston it was considered a neutral site. They also played a lot of games in NYC back in the day: Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium, Triborough Stadium etc....I think some of those were neutral sites.

In the FCS era, BC-HC played a few times at Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium....we have also played Fordham in both Ireland and Bermuda.

Interesting stuff! ... You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Sader87 again.

[LehighU11]

A few years ago, JMU played West Virginia in Landover, MD.

I forgot about that! Those two huge schools managed to put 45,500 in FedEx Field, which is impressive, but it really puts Lehigh and Lafayette selling out Yankee Stadium immediately into perspective.

[HailSzczur]

Wait, what? Parents weekend is the last week of the season? Or is UD/VU being moved up in the schedule? I don't know which is worse.

Game is moved up. Typical parents weekend is Pope Weekend in Philly. Decided to move parents weekend up a week. Delaware was the only CAA team available that weekend

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/07/college-football-rivalry-switches-traditional-date-to-make-way-for-pope/

[Gordon Shumway]

UNH & UMass played the last two games in their rivalry at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro before UMass beat feet to FBS.

[LehighU11]

UNH & UMass played the last two games in their rivalry at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro before UMass beat feet to FBS.

Isn't that still UMass's home stadium? Who draws more: Temple at the Linc or UMass at Gillette?

[HailSzczur]

Isn't that still UMass's home stadium? Who draws more: Temple at the Linc or UMass at Gillette?

It wasn't, yet. They played on campus as a FCS team

And per 2013 NCAA stats: (game, total, per)
Massachusetts 6 94,981 15,830
Temple 6 134,836 22,473

[CHIP72]

I forgot about that! Those two huge schools managed to put 45,500 in FedEx Field, which is impressive, but it really puts Lehigh and Lafayette selling out Yankee Stadium immediately into perspective.

L-L 150 probably could have sold out MetLife Stadium or Lincoln Financial Field based on how fast tickets sold both times they were put on sale.


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[frozennorth]

Wouldn't be surprised to see some combo of ndsu, sdsu or uni in the new vikings stadium in the near future

[Sader87]

Not a huge fan of neutral-site games in general....I suppose an overseas trip/game is novel/interesting/educational etc or an historic game like L-L's 150th may merit one, but a big part of the allure of college football, for me anyway, is being on campus etc.

[Sitting Bull]

W&M played VMI at the Oyster Bowl in Norfolk several times in the 90s, also one game against Yale.

Before UR moved to their on campus stadium, the annual closing game at Richmond's City Stadium certainly felt neutral though was technically a home game for Richmond.

[Sycamore62]

Not a huge fan of neutral-site games in general....I suppose an overseas trip/game is novel/interesting/educational etc or an historic game like L-L's 150th may merit one, but a big part of the allure of college football, for me anyway, is being on campus etc.

I'd do one if they they thought you could draw a large gate for example, if ISUb played Ball State again maybe at Lucas Oil Stadium. No reason to do that for 8,000 people unless you wanted to make sure everybody had an empty seat beside them.

[Gordon Shumway]

I'd do one if they they thought you could draw a large gate for example, if ISUb played Ball State again maybe at Lucas Oil Stadium. No reason to do that for 8,000 people unless you wanted to make sure everybody had an empty seat beside them.

You need to do it with an an established rivalry team, or the risk of poor turnout is pretty large. When UNH & UMass did the Gillette Stadium deal, they had a guarantee from Robert Kraft to insulate them from risk as they were both giving up a home game, but they were also long time rivals. It worked out pretty well with 35K showing up the first year, and a little less the second year, but still over 30K as I recall.

[CHIP72]

I'd do one if they they thought you could draw a large gate for example, if ISUb played Ball State again maybe at Lucas Oil Stadium. No reason to do that for 8,000 people unless you wanted to make sure everybody had an empty seat beside them.

I think that is the argument used for the Battle of the Piney Woods (Sam Houston State/Stephen F Austin), which draws around 25K annually at NRG Stadium in Houston (i.e. the Houston Texans' home stadium).


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[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Isn't that still UMass's home stadium? Who draws more: Temple at the Linc or UMass at Gillette?

Temple at the Linc and it's not close. Our bad crowds are 15-18k. Umass's bad crowds are 4k. We'll also draw 25k-35k against a ECU, Navy, Maryland, Rutgers, Cincinnati etc....

[superman7515]

The first college football game played outside of the Western Hemisphere saw Grambling State (with quarterback Doug Williams) defeat Morgan State 42-16 in the Pioneer Bowl at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan in September 1977. While many of you are probably thinking initially that this would be a terrible game to watch, you have to remember that the HBCU teams at that time were incredibly strong teams. Grambling State alone had 10 future NFL players on their roster at the time. The game was a sellout, officially listed as 50k attendance for the game due to that being the stadiums limit, but any newspaper account from the time will tell you they greatly oversold the seating capacity to the point fans were standing in the aisles and concourses to watch the game.

The very next year, Grambling returned to Korakuen Stadium and defeated the Temple Owls 35-32 in the Mitsubishi Mirage Bowl in December, 1977. Then in 1984, Army defeated Montana in the next-to-last Mirage Bowl, this time played in National Olympic Stadium. This game is infamous for being the first time "The Wave" was ever done in Japan, so if you ever watch Japanese baseball and notice they do The Wave about twice a damn inning, you can blame Ursus.