Game on its way out at Cotton Bowl.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The clock is still ticking.
You can all but hear time running out on the Texas-Oklahoma football game, as we know it. And we knew it for 77 consecutive years as one of the top attractions in all of sports.
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Maybe, it will remain as such.
Probably not in Dallas.
"I think it's 80-20 that Texas will leave," said someone with connections to both Texas and the Cotton Bowl.
Personally, I take a real-estate agent's tack to this scenario. It's all about location, location, location. And I like it where it is.
And barring a change of heart by Texas — or firm, credible promises that the City of Dallas really will renovate the stadium with more than a Band-Aid and maybe even add a dozen luxury boxes — I believe sadly that the location will soon change.
Come 2009, I expect we will see the Texas-Oklahoma game for the last time at the broken-down Cotton Bowl. But that might not be the end of a marquee football matchup involving the Longhorns in the Metroplex.
Texas has had internal conversations about playing the Arkansas Razorbacks every year in Dallas, presumably at the Dallas Cowboys' new palace under construction in Arlington.
Texas officials will not confirm this, and it's only in the talking stage. Probably won't ever happen, but who thought Texas-OU would ever consider leaving Dallas?
This, however, will happen: Texas and Arkansas will soon announce another home-and-home series in 2008 and 2009, and if the games are anything like the ones in 2003-04, they'll be wildly entertaining.
Those who despise Arkansas adamantly oppose such games because they would enhance the Hogs' recruiting in Texas. That's true, but does anything short of scholarship limits hurt Mack Brown's recruiting? And if the renewed rivalry would help Arkansas, it might hurt OU, which desperately needs such a toehold in this state.
Dallas and the State Fair have eagerly pushed for a commitment from Texas — they already have one from OU — so they can put a $50 million bond proposal to renovate the Cotton Bowl on the November ballot. They need to know sooner, probably by early May.
It seems Texas is slow-playing the issue long enough so that the bond package may be removed for lack of any assurance from the Longhorns. An Oklahoma official said the Sooners would consider playing another team (not A&M) in Dallas if the Texas series there ends.
Texas doesn't want to be the villain in this episode, and it doesn't want to totally snub Dallas, a fertile recruiting area for the Horns.
DeLoss Dodds, Texas' athletic director, says, "We've got three more years left on the (Cotton Bowl) contract, and we're looking at all our options." He added that the school expects to take a final stance on the issue by the end of May.
"They really want to make it work," Dodds said Monday. "My guess is we're trying to make progress."
Getting anyone on the schedule is tough these days. Texas is talking to San Diego State about a future date and is visiting with Southern Methodist, Texas Christian, New Mexico State, Texas-El Paso and Central Florida about games. Texas could even play these teams on the road.
If they do move Texas-OU, I would endorse a regular non-conference series with Arkansas, although my preference as a replacement series would be an annual game with Notre Dame in the Metroplex. The two schools have tried to arrange future meetings, but Texas wants to play in September and Notre Dame wants to play later in the season, which would disrupt the Longhorns' Big 12 schedule.
Barring that, what would be wrong with substituting elite opponents for this neutral-site game? Rotate games with Arkansas, Notre Dame, Southern Cal, Miami, Florida, Tennessee and Penn State in Dallas. For television, it would be football nirvana.
Bottom line, I prefer that Texas-OU remain at a neutral site and hope the two schools would realize what they will lose and rectify it by at least shifting the game to the Cowboys' home.
Maybe the State Fair could accompany them. Of the four weekends the fairgrounds are open, the second week in October is clearly the most well-attended.
Without question, Texas-OU will lose some — if not most of its charm — if it relocates.
The rivalry will still be as intense. The animosity between the fans will be just as heated. Grandmas will still flip off the team buses. The play on the field will suffer no dropoff, assuming Adrian Peterson or his successors can drive down here in their test-drive Lexuses.
But by making this series a home-and-home affair and moving it to the respective campuses, the schools will irrevocably shatter one of most enduring and special athletic events. There'd be no split stadium. Tradition would take a hit. The individual ticket price for the Texas-OU game would skyrocket.
Why, just the other day, USA Today listed a seat on the 50-yard line at the Texas-OU game as one of its "10 great places for a hot-ticket view of sports."
It was.
Probably no more.
The blame should be spread around. The City of Dallas let one of the classic stadiums in all of college football fall into disrepair and totally took for granted Texas' and OU's undying devotion. Big mistake, that.
Texas shouldn't be the only fall guy. Truth be known, the Cotton Bowl game doesn't even want to stay in the stadium that is its namesake. It has to share the blame and has been noticeably quiet.
Almost assuredly, once it becomes obvious that the Longhorns and Sooners will no longer come to Dallas every October, the good Cotton Bowl folks will shrug their shoulders, follow suit and announce they will move their game west down I-30.
Dallas had better be careful. At this rate, the Mavs and Stars will be headed to Waxahachie.
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