Originally Posted by
grayghost06
The Big 10 teams that do 2 for 1s w/ MAC teams fall into one of three categories- at least in the last ten years or so.
1) They are almost exclusively the bottom dwellers in terms of Big10 attendance- ie: IU, NW, and Minnesota-occasionally a Purdue or Illinois. Those schools average between 36-47k. Virginia Tech sells out 66k every game and hasn't played a game in a stadium as small as Foreman Field since a game at Richmond in the mid 80s.
2) They play the MAC home game at a NFL stadium. NIU playing Iowa at Soldier Field or WMU playing Illinois at Ford Field. Again, it allows the Big10 school to get their fans into an "away" game in a big city.
3) On the rare occasion a good drawing Big10 team does a 2 for 1 deal w/ a MAC school, it's usually at a place that has a 30k stadium that they fill up with their own fans. Central Michigan played a home game against Michigan State this year. That game set the CMU stadium record crowd of 35k. It beat capacity by 2k and their average attendance by 20k. Foreman Field seats 20 thousand w/ no room for temporary seats. They sell out all their games. Tech fans, who travel well regionally, will not be able to attend in their usual numbers.
I give ODU mad props for getting this done and I do believe they will fast track a new stadium or expansion. But stadiums take time to fund, plan and construct. They need to move quickly. Even more props for publically saying that Va Tech is the only school they would do a 2 for 1 with. I just happen to think that if there is not a larger stadium in place by 2018, either the game will be pushed back a bit OR it will be played at FedEx.
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