No More Orange Bowl

[unt88]

North Texas not coming to Miami for first game at Dolphin Stadium

August 23, 2007

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Miami needs a new opponent for its first home game at Dolphin Stadium.

North Texas has pulled out of the Aug. 30, 2008, matchup, the university said Thursday. The move is not surprising; when Miami announced it was leaving the Orange Bowl for Dolphin Stadium this week, athletic director Paul Dee said the Mean Green were not expected to be the opening-game opponent.

North Texas is scheduled to play what could be the final college game at the Orange Bowl Dec. 1 against Florida International. North Texas will open next season at LSU.

[UNTflyer]

I still say this makes no sense. Why would we want to pull out of a game against Miami Hurricans opening in Joe Robbie stadium?

[Harry]

I like this move - this is a no win game in my opinion.

[H-towngreen]

I still say this makes no sense. Why would we want to pull out of a game against Miami Hurricans opening in Joe Robbie stadium?

money..money..money..money.........money

[jimbojimjim]

I may be off on the numbers, but as I recall, the last time we played LSU, we got $500,000. Miami was going to pay us $450,000. I'm not sure, but I thought it was Miami that wanted us out of that game so that they could make a bigger deal out of playing their first game in Dolphin Stadium.

[UNTflyer]

money..money..money..money.........money

Not when we have to pay money to get out of the game.

[UNTLifer]

Not when we have to pay money to get out of the game.

Where does it state that we paid Miami?

[PHSCoach]

Not when we have to pay money to get out of the game.

and who said we had to pay money

[UNTflyer]

Where does it state that we paid Miami?

A fair question, but it is part of this confusion... which school is cancelling the game?

If WE are pulling out, then most likely we will have to pay some sort of settlement.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

--- I am betting that we did not pay money to get out of this game.. I am guessing they wanted a bigger name opponent and agreed to leave provided we could find another opponent with a similiar payout...which we did, and then followed through with leaving. Don't be surprized if we show up on the Miami schedule a couple years later. We are not getting the entire facts here, at least not yet. Technically we may have left this game but there will be more to it than what is currently being reported I would think.

[Mean Green 93-98]

and who said we had to pay money

Not sure how reliable this is, but here.

[JayDub]

I was under the impression that they wanted a bigger name opponent...yet I love how they make it look like we pussied out.

[H-towngreen]

I highly doubt that NT would pull out of this game. One of two things probably happened:

1) We came to a mutual agreement with The U to drop out of the game. Therefore a bigger name opponent for them and we can play a game closer to home.

2) They are paying us a fee to drop the game from our schedule.

There is no way NT would pay up to drop a game like that.

[MeanMag]

I highly doubt that NT would pull out of this game. One of two things probably happened:

1) We came to a mutual agreement with The U to drop out of the game. Therefore a bigger name opponent for them and we can play a game closer to home.

2) They are paying us a fee to drop the game from our schedule.

There is no way NT would pay up to drop a game like that.

Well, we would have to if they already paid us the money. That is the only way it makes sense.

[foutsrouts]

I like this move - this is a no win game in my opinion.

And Death Valley is? I'm not happy that it was cancelled. My girlfriend is from down there, and I was hoping to catch the game and spend a long Labor Day weekend in Florida next year.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

I like this move - this is a no win game in my opinion.

I like it too. In the past when the larger school wanted out of the game they had, they ended up having to pay some money to "get out" of the contract. Maybe in this case, we took the money in exchange for it looking like we wanted out. If that is the case, that helps us because we said we wanted less "money" games anyways, we still make money, and it gives us the ability to either add a home game or find another not to big opponent. I think this is a good thing - because as Harry says, this was a no win game.

[Mean Green 93-98]

I like it too. In the past when the larger school wanted out of the game they had, they ended up having to pay some money to "get out" of the contract. Maybe in this case, we took the money in exchange for it looking like we wanted out. If that is the case, that helps us because we said we wanted less "money" games anyways, we still make money, and it gives us the ability to either add a home game or find another not to big opponent. I think this is a good thing - because as Harry says, this was a no win game.

This game was replaced with LSU. Is that an easier W?

[GreenN'walinsVet]

Its a shame that we/they pulled out, How cool would it be to be involved with the last college game played at the orange bowl, and the first "full time home game" for a college at Joe Robbie Stadium.

Quick question - Why are we playing FAU at the Orange Bowl?

[PHSCoach]

That is where they are playing homes games until their stadium is comp[lete

[GoMeanGreen1999]

This game was replaced with LSU. Is that an easier W?

Well for one, I didn't realize that and two, I was speculating. But if we did get money from them for getting out of the game, and now we get another payday from LSU, I think we came out on top.

[risinggreen]

I would of loved to have played Miami. Excellent national exposure in Miami's first game at Joe Robbie. No telling how well our new offense will be functioning a year from now. Could of been a winnable game with some possible Florida recruiting ramifications. Plenty of WR talent running around that state.

[foutsrouts]

I would of loved to have played Miami. Excellent national exposure in Miami's first game at Joe Robbie. No telling how well our new offense will be functioning a year from now. Could of been a winnable game with some possible Florida recruiting ramifications. Plenty of WR talent running around that state.

Yeah, and if anyone thinks it would be a guaranteed loss I disagree. Miami lost six games last year and beat a pretty good U of H team (10-4) 14-13, beat a terrible Duke team (0-12) 20-15, and lost to an average Virginia team (5-7) 17-7. A victory in Miami next year would not have been TOTALLY out of the question.

[greenminer]

I completely agree with everything stated. Now we can throw oranges at opposing teams for our new tradition.

The tortilla debate = closed.

[gangrene]

North Texas not coming to Miami for first game at Dolphin Stadium

August 23, 2007

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Miami needs a new opponent for its first home game at Dolphin Stadium.

North Texas has pulled out of the Aug. 30, 2008, matchup, the university said Thursday. The move is not surprising; when Miami announced it was leaving the Orange Bowl for Dolphin Stadium this week, athletic director Paul Dee said the Mean Green were not expected to be the opening-game opponent.

North Texas is scheduled to play what could be the final college game at the Orange Bowl Dec. 1 against Florida International. North Texas will open next season at LSU.

My take on this is that Miami first announced they didn't want to play North Texas because they wanted a "higher profile" team for their opening game in Dolphin Stadium. It's a fact that statement was issued by U of Miami personnel. North Texas officials were probably then contacted by Miami (or vice versa) to begin discussions of a buyout. Then Miami, full of arrogance and in true U of Miami fashion, tries to publicly turn the tables and make it look like we didn't want to play them anyway. We should issue a statement about how Miami was afraid of Dodgeball and the real possibility of losing to an SBC team in their opening game at Dolphin Stadium...and explain how that must be the reason why they didn't want to play us.

I truly hate those bastards. My hate list is: #1 OU; #2 A&M; #3 Miami; #4 Texas Tech; #5 SMU

[trud1966]

I highly doubt that NT would pull out of this game. One of two things probably happened:

1) We came to a mutual agreement with The U to drop out of the game. Therefore a bigger name opponent for them and we can play a game closer to home.

2) They are paying us a fee to drop the game from our schedule.

There is no way NT would pay up to drop a game like that.

Im sure it's a matter of business. Those games are contractually bound. Im sure since it's way in the future, no money really changes hand until the game is played. But there very likely could be something like a penalty clause in the contract that states after the contract is signed, and one team wants out of the contract, then they have to pay fixed dollar amount the other. If that's the case, and they wanted a bigger opponent, then they probably had to pay that penalty, Allbeit probably not very much.