Smaller stadium programs demanding a greater audience
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansasa City Star
This college football season is defying economic trends and testing my 50,000-seat stadium theory at the same time.
That is, a major football program that plays in a place with that kind of capacity — give or take a few thousand — cannot win a national championship.
Titles go to the 65,000-and-larger crowd, or at least all of them have since Colorado and Georgia Tech shared the top spot for the 1990 season.
The idea is simple. Bigger stadiums, mostly the domain of the traditional powers, mean more fan interest, deeper pockets and greater demand for performance.
Feeding the beast, some might say.
It’s not to suggest a Mississippi State, Indiana or Iowa State doesn’t want to win a national championship. But they react differently to 6-6 records than an Alabama, Penn State or Nebraska.
For instance, Mississippi State’s loss to Louisiana Tech earlier this season, as painful as it was in Starkville, didn’t crush coach Sylvester Croom to the point of making Pearl Harbor and 9/11 references as Alabama’s Nick Saban did after the Crimson Tide’s loss to Louisiana-Monroe last season.
Some would call this a healthier perspective. Others would say this craziness is why the massive-stadium programs wind up in places like Glendale, Ariz., and Miami in January.
The point is, the difference between 80,000 and 50,000 seats may not seem significant, but the proof has been in the record. In the Bowl Championship Series era (since 1998) less than a handful of the 41 major bowl winners were teams that play in smaller stadiums, and they make up about half of the BCS conference membership.
But the cozy capacity crowd is off to a terrific start this season. Of the 14 undefeated teams from BCS conferences, five play in some of the smallest stadiums in their leagues: Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Connecticut, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
The top-25 polls contribute a few more such as Kansas, Oregon and Wake Forest. Add to the list non-BCS programs Utah, Boise State and Fresno State, which schedule and perform like the majors, and a couple of others such as Oregon State and Mississippi, who have pulled off stunning upsets against major powers.
It’s all about a talent overflow and the big boys no longer able to hoard it because of scholarship limitations. Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said it best recently.
“If I have 20 scholarships, about 10 years ago we might have liked 60 guys for those spots,” he said. “Now it’s more like 120.”
The ones Oklahoma, Texas and the like don’t get spill over to smaller-stadium programs. In some cases has created such a bull market that it’s a wonder Warren Buffett hasn’t bought it all up.
Take the Big 12. Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech set season-ticket sales records in what might go down as the bleakest year in a generation for the nation’s economy.
The Jayhawks have played in front of the largest and fourth-largest crowds in school history this season, against Sam Houston State and Florida International. The Cowboys set an attendance record last weekend. Troy was the visitor.
Missouri athletic director Mike Alden, whose program also set a season-ticket record this year but doesn’t qualify for the small-stadium fraternity, says people are more willing to buy into the emotions that college football triggers.
“There’s an affinity people have for college sports,” Alden said. “I think that makes it a different feeling people have when it comes to college vs. professional sports.”
Oklahoma State has tapped into that feeling in a major way. Buoyed by the contributions of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, the Cowboys are putting the finishing touches on their facilities overhaul. Coach Mike Gundy said earlier this week that the final product will rival any in the nation.
The facelift includes a stadium expansion to 60,000, which in theory (mine) moves Oklahoma State closer to a national championship.
To reach Blair Kerkhoff, college sports reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4730 or send e-mail to bkerkhoff@kcstar.com
