Jerry World To Host Hogs And Ags For $5 Million Each

NT80 · December 25, 2007

Texas A&M, Arkansas get lucrative deal at new Cowboys stadium

Series deal has bigger payout than for Texas-Oklahoma

03:40 AM CST on Monday, December 24, 2007

By BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News

brdavis@dallasnews.com

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Officials at the universities of Texas and Oklahoma swallowed hard in April and lengthened their contract at the Cotton Bowl. Now, they have some idea of what they missed out on in Arlington.

Texas A&M University and the University of Arkansas will each be guaranteed $5 million annually when they begin a nonconference series at the Cowboys' new stadium in 2009, A&M athletic director Bill Byrne said.

The schools are close to signing a six- to eight-year contract that will probably include a rollover clause. An official announcement isn't expected until January.

"Both schools are anxious to play the game," Mr. Byrne said. "It's going to be great. I think it's going to have a terrific impact, not only for our athletic program but for the entire university."

A&M has made no secret of its desire to play a game in North Texas. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is an Arkansas alum and major donor.

The schools haven't played since 1991, when they were members of the old Southwest Conference. The Razorbacks lead the all-time series, 38-24-3.

The A&M-Arkansas game could also compete with the Texas-OU series on the Midway. Byrne said the game will be played in late September each year so A&M and Arkansas fans can attend the State Fair of Texas at Fair Park.

The stadium seats will be split 50-50, as Texas and Oklahoma do at the Cotton Bowl, and the game probably will have a title sponsor. It's unclear whether a State Fair ticket will be attached to the game ticket. Those details have yet to be addressed, Mr. Byrne said.

Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles, who is retiring, said the school is working with the Southeastern Conference to get some league games rescheduled to accommodate A&M. That is proving a big snag because the SEC schedules are done years in advance.

When asked what this series will mean to Arkansas, Mr. Broyles said, "Huge. Huge.

"We've got a tremendous fan base there. We used to play four games every year in Texas with the Southwest Conference schedule. Our fans miss that. We hoping we get things worked out. We're anticipating getting things worked out."

UT and OU officials felt pressure to sign an extension at the Cotton Bowl. Neither team wanted to be the one that ended decades of tradition. Both schools receive $4.7 million under the current contract, which now runs through 2015.

A&M officials are practically giddy that they will get more money than Texas and play in a new, $1.1 billion stadium instead of the 76-year-old Cotton Bowl.

"The Cowboys do everything right," Mr. Byrne said. "We're excited to have a long-term relationship with the Dallas Cowboys and the Jones family in particular."

MeanGreenEagle · December 25, 2007

@ fAggs

BleedGreen64 · December 25, 2007

The down side is we can forget UA and A&M coming to play in our new stadium along with UT and OU.

We will have to shoot for OK State and TTech and maybe some SEC schools.

greenminer · December 25, 2007

I didn't know he was a Hog.

MCMLXXX · December 25, 2007

The down side is we can forget UA and A&M coming to play in our new stadium along with UT and OU.
We will have to shoot for OK State and TTech and maybe some SEC schools.

Same with SMU and TCU. All the more reason to play each other and try to generate local media interest by having two metroplex teams playing.

SilverEagle · December 25, 2007

God, I just hate reading "the rich get richer" stories.....especially in college football.

NT80 · December 25, 2007

We will have to shoot for OK State and TTech and maybe some SEC schools.

Jerry is still trying to get the Tech/OSU game also for his new stadium. Plus, Baylor is hosting Notre Dame there in like 2010.

untbowler · December 25, 2007

And we refused to play in Texas Stadium why?? or better yet would RV balk at the idea of playing at Jerry World?

Green Mean · December 25, 2007

And we refused to play in Texas Stadium why?? or better yet would RV balk at the idea of playing at Jerry World?

Unless NT plays a huge team that will generate 90% of the fans in that stadium for that game, NT has no business going to Jerry for anything at this point in time. Let the rich get richer....We just have to stick to our business and our game plan. Sure I would love to have NT play in Jerry World but realistically who would they play? I dont think this is a bigger story than what people are making this out to be. If we want to be like the big boys then frankly we need to act like one and do the things we need to do to get there.

adman · December 26, 2007

I didn't know he was a Hog.

He played on the National Championship team with Jimmy Johnson in 1964.

PlummMeanGreen · December 26, 2007

The Cowboys do everything right," Mr. Byrne said. "We're excited to have a long-term relationship with the Dallas Cowboys and the Jones family in particular."

Edited December 26, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

UNTFan23 · December 26, 2007

Still..........all we need to get a $75 million stadium jump-started would be the kind of money one Dallas Cowboy QB will be making the next few years; and, folks, $75 million is now what it will probably take for us to build a football stadium similar to the one on that virtual tour video of a few years ago shown on GMG.com, that is, once we finally get one started & completed. We can forget $40 million & even $60 million unless we are merely going to build a shell of the stadium shown in that virtural tour video.

Why stop at 75 million PMG? How about we build a stadium for 100 million, which would be more then the university's endowment.

Edited December 26, 2007 by UNTFan23

PlummMeanGreen · December 26, 2007

Why stop at 75 million PMG? How about we build a stadium for 100 million, which would be more then the university's endowment.

I know you jest, UNTFan23, but by the time we get all this underway, it may be $100 million with the way construction costs & inflation plays a part in all this.

Said it on Day One when we knew we would move all football operations (including the need for a new football stadium) at Eagle Point Campus, but UNT will need its own mini-version of a T. Boone Pickens to get this done or (sadly) this just ain't going to get done in Denton. Interesting that FAU seems to have to sell only $8 million in bonds to get their $75 million stadium jump-started (if I read the article correctly).

At any rate, no one on GMG.com has everposted that any of this was going to be easy.

One fine morning, though, I still feel we will all wake up to some very big & important news on our new football stadium--just one helluva' gut feeling on that, too.

ADLER · December 26, 2007

Posted last week by Adler:
I think that many fans from both sides are overlooking another important aspect that affects the scheduling; Jerry Jones.
JJ has been busy courting several of the higher profile Big 12 teams and Arkansas to play annual neutral site games at his new stadium in Arlington. The metroplex colleges have hosted Texas Tech, OSU, A&M, Arkansas, and Oklahoma within the past decade; those games may soon become permanently unattainable.
What would SMU's attendance average have been like this decade if Tech and OSU games weren't played? Won't it be more difficult to sell season tickets without those programs on the schedule? The same situations affect us too, and will continue even when we complete the new stadium.
The metroplex schools may not particularly like each other, but they do need each other to be able to excel.

Hey, man, you don't talk to Adler. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll... uh... well, you'll say "hello" to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you. He won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say, "do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you"... I mean I'm no, I can't... I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's... he's a great man. I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas...

This paraphrases all that is written by the surprised individuals in this thread.

NT80 · December 26, 2007

It means OU, UT, A$M, Arkansas, and probably Tech and OSU will not want another game with UNT (in Denton) while playing yearly at JerryWorld in Arlington. It does mean more potential openings for us against Smut and TCU. Smut was going to host Texas Tech in 2009, and A$M in 2012; while TCU was to host Texas Tech in 2011, and Arkansas in 2012.

emmitt01 · December 26, 2007

The Cowboys do everything right," Mr. Byrne said. "We're excited to have a long-term relationship with the Dallas Cowboys and the Jones family in particular."
And the beat goes on...
Multi-millions of monies being thrown around here, there and everywhere in the North Texas Metroplex, but where is UNT's? $10 million paid out for one freakin' football game? Isn't that about 1/7'th of what would now build us the stadium we really need now in Denton for our future--no matter how some even on this forum try to even down-play it--expected growth and all?
Jerry Jones actually tried to get a similar thing going with U of North Texas during the Matt Simon Era, but it went the way of so many other dreams gone south up North Texas way.
We are way over-due in Denton for something very "un-North Texas-like" to happen but who the hell knows who in Denton will ever dream big enough? We have some even on this forum who think winning a few here and there while remaining dead-locked in the annual SBC/Bottom 25 level seems to be just hunky dory and what the doctor ordered. And if we already had the dreamer(s) on campus (which I think we do), who among our upper echelon officials would even approve such dreams to have a chance to happen?
Can we ever go outside the decades-long dye that seems to have been forever cast for our athletic program in Denton of which we've seen about 10 schools who were at a similar level with UNT pass us by? Who will be the next grouping of schools who pass us by while we stay the course, which is one practice we have perfected in Denton?
Still..........all we need to get a $75 million stadium jump-started would be the kind of money just one Dallas Cowboy QB will be making the next few years; and, folks, $75 million is now what it will probably take for us to build a football stadium similar to the one on that virtual tour video seen on GMG.com a few years ago, that is, once we finally get one started & completed. I think we can now forget such past "thrown out" figures as $40 million & even $60 million to build our new footballl stadium out at the Mean Green Villlage unless we are merely going to build a shell of the stadium shown in that virtural tour video.
We can now also ask FAU officials why they estimated the same amount, ie, $75 million, for their own campus stadium which will eventually play a big part of their being one of the first true "progressive thinking" SBC schools to steer their ship elsewhere & get them their eventual free ticket out of the Sun Belt Conference. Coach Howard Schnellenberger has made it no secret that that is on his own personal agenda and now that he has a bowl win (in FAU's first bowl game ever) under his belt, he will now have even more believers of what he wants to do with this program (as well has his eventual successor, too.
As we all now know in North Texas, those Florida universities don't fool around with their college football nor do any of them seem to have the same 100 year plan that we seem to have had in Denton (and that "100 year plan" no matter who our upper echelon UNT leaders have been the last 30 or so years, too). Hopefully, our present staff at UNT will break this long over-due southward bound cycle of staying the course of the dye that seems to have been long cast for our athletic program the last few generations in Denton, Texas, America.
YET............$5 million here, $5 million there, but none of it ever seemingly headed to our forever always "stay the course" school in Denton.
No matter how you slice all this with Cowboy Owner, ie, Jerry "Arkansas" Jones (as "early broadcast years" KTCK 1310 The Ticket use to call him) and with TAMU and Arkansas, they are all 3 still stealing our thunder right under our very noses and in our own very North Texas Metroplex backyard to boot. SMU & TCU can't be too happy about any of this either.

I agree with every word you said...or at least I would if you could tell me how two teams who regulary draw 60,000 plus getting a big pay day has anything to do with us. I'm fairly sure Jerry Jones didn't court them to play in his new stadium because they "dream big"...hells bells, I'd be willing to bet Hayden Fry didn't even give him the idea.

Edited December 26, 2007 by emmitt01

PlummMeanGreen · December 26, 2007

It means OU, UT, A$M, Arkansas, and probably Tech and OSU will not want another game with UNT (in Denton) while playing yearly at JerryWorld in Arlington. It does mean more potential openings for us against Smut and TCU. Smut was going to host Texas Tech in 2009, and A$M in 2012; while TCU was to host Texas Tech in 2011, and Arkansas in 2012.

TWAS THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS...

Will UNT Be Pro-Active or Always Re-Active To Things That Can Make or Break Us Now & In The Future?

I fear SMU & TCU will only solidify their own relationships & still feel about UNT (the red-headed bastard step-child) the way they have forever. (SMU feeling this way toward us has really not hurt us in the broad scope of things, now has it)?

Yet...........no one on GMG.com or at UNT are going to change our 2 DFW neighboring school's attitude by merely wishing it were different, either. Hey all, TCU & SMU just don't see us as a neighborhood football rival and some of that on their part probably based on the fear that if they play us (especially as we grow 3-4X's their combined enrollments), that they could stand to lose more in future recruiting versus DodgeBall than they can gain)? After all, wasn't it large state universities in the state of Texas that put both of them out to non-BCS pastures as it is? :blink: :rolleyes:

So.................can we just move on beyond SMU & TCU, too, for our own future as a a legitimate NCAA D1-A player? AND...........as some of you already know, perception & politics in Texas are very, very, very slow things to change and TCU/SMU are apparently in no hurry to change what some of them most likely fear is their own (false) perceptions of the UNT System and moreso of that system's main campus in Denton. If you hang around the Lone Star State long enough, you, too, will understand all this perception & politics thing in Texas which we have to continually deal with at UNT. As has been stated ad nausem, perception is reality to way too many in our American society--past & present.

I understand how many can still feel this way with Jerry "Frat Boy' Jones now getting into the college football business to fill some dates in his new stadium but...................I still tend to disagree on how this could completely cripple our own upper echelon football plans in Denton, though. FWIW.............UNT (still) doesn't need to continue another practice we've become quite adept of basing our future on other gol' darned freakin' ex SWC schools based in Texas. :no: STOP ALL THIS ALREADY, OK?!?!

We've just have to be pro-active for a change concerning our future & not let anyone, specifically Jerry Jones play a part in controling any part of our future in Denton, Texas, America . For sure Jerry Jones may have thrown a slight monkey wrench into some of our future scheduling plans, but the kind of crowds we need to draw in a Denton/Denton County which will soon enough have 1,000,000 citizens will not depend any handful of schools, specifically UT, TAMU, Arkansas or Texas Tech.

Can we not use our most positive Denton-based location for our alma mater as an advantage for once and let it be such for the same reason some of these schools located in College Station, Lubbock and Fayetteville see an apparent need for each of their respective schools to annually lose "ONE HOME GAME" on their annual football schedules to play in the North Texas Metroplex? Hmmm? Must be something they see to do such that we haven't yet discovered (or won't get our heads out of the sand to see)?NOTE: Of course, I'm sure $5 million per team guarantees for TAMU & Arkansas has something to do with this, too. Just think, if we played in such a series for 10 consecutive years, we could have most of our new stadium's cost payed off with just those, uh, 10 games!

Gee-willakers, folks, think how many schools Jerry Jones won't have in his JerryDome that we can still sell a bunch of tickets on a Game Day at our school located in Greater Denton/Denton County and schools who would also travel many of their fans to Denton as well?

For a reminder to some, annual State Fair of Texas/Cotton Bowl Stadium visitor OU Sooners did come to Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth not so many years ago and last time I checked, Fort Worth is still only 30 or so miles west of Fair Park where they play Texas each year in the Cotton Bowl. We can still schedule some of these schools in our future new stadium because we are in Denton (and not...........Dallas, Fort Worth or Arlington).

Lest we forget, since former UNT AD/HFC Hayden Fry first scheduled UT with (then) UT AD Darrell Royal, the Longhorns of Austin have been very "schedule-friendly" with North Texas most times we've actually approached them for future games. None of the ex SWC schools who will play in the JerryDome are going to approach us in this new era of the BCS Championship Series Bowls, etc, etc, etc--yet they didn't in the era preceeding this as I recall.

Many of you on this forum would have to admit that in UNT AD Rick Villarreal we do have an AD who will go to any of the above schools for a future game in a legit NCAA D1-A football stadium once completed in the Mean Green Village no matter what Jerry Jones is doing in Arlington. AND..............with the elevation of our recruiting in Mean Green Country (and the fact that we are even aggressively recruiting Dallas/Fort Worth high schools again), we could have some future Mean Green football teams that would actually be competitive against many of the aforementioned ex SWC schools and now Big 12 schools (excepting SEC member Arkansas).

So lets not give up again in Denton & start waving the white flag :surrender: or even stumble all over Jerry Jones because of his own plans to market his new stadium and make some buck$ doing it or............we will only set our school back yet another giant step in our future planning & upward bound endeavors, too. We need to start acting like we are no longer a school with the scope of merely a normal college as our's was established to be its #1 mission in 1890. Such thinking will only cause us to see other schools pass us by in NCAA D1-A while we stay the course of whatever you want to call what we've been staying the course for all these years.

Why is it so difficult for a hardy handful to see bright things for the future "2'nd Largest University in the Entire Sovereign State of Texas" and such a school located in a Denton County population center that is still booming in growth & already larger than the city of New Orlean's was even before Hurricane Katrina tragically hit their fine city?

Edited December 26, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 26, 2007

I didn't know he was a Hog.

And he gives a TON of money to the Razorback Foundation. He was the one who offerred the 6 million to buyout Tuberville, but the President shot that idea down.

PerryG2480 · December 26, 2007

On the bright side, it gives Hog fans in the Metroplex a game to attend locally. If North Texas happens to have a bye that weekend, I'll be at Jerry World for sure.

BeanCounterGrad'03 · December 26, 2007

Why stop at 75 million PMG? How about we build a stadium for 100 million, which would be more then the university's endowment.

As a side note, the jump from $67M to $91M (a 36% increase in a year?) is pretty impressive (especially by UNT standards). Great news to hear!

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 26, 2007

On the bright side, it gives Hog fans in the Metroplex a game to attend locally. If North Texas happens to have a bye that weekend, I'll be at Jerry World for sure.

You and me both - the Cotton Bowl this year should give people a good example of what will happen with the Hogs playing in Dallas. I guess OU and UT are wishing they had signed with Jerry World.

Green Mean · December 26, 2007

Why does NT need to conform?? Lets be our own school and set our own standards and destiny. Let all these schools play in Jerry World.....TO HECK WITH ALL OF THEM! If RV approached Jerry for something like this right now it would be a shame although I would give him a few points for atleast trying. To gain something you must lose something....We need to start breaking the banks for our athletic programs...especially football and basketball which generates the most money. We need to become whores and thieves like every other major university out there....okay maybe not exactly what I just said you know what I mean. We need to worry about whats going on in our home rather than focusing on others. As of right now both TCU and SMU are miles ahead of NT because they have all the resources, facilities and budget to make things happen. Say what you want to say but TD's salary is chump change for many coordinators in BCS schools. This isnt an indictment on Dodge but its more of a reality on what the University is only willing to pay for a coach. People on this board always dog SMU by saying "why would anybody want to take the SMU coaching job?" Well why not?? Its a great university with nice facilities, great resources, in a hotbed state of football talent and the University that is now realizing they need to increase their budget and standards if they want to reach a certain level of sucess and prominence. FORGET WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE DEATH PENALTY DAYS!! Those days are long gone and its time to move on. Lets create huge buzz and lets get NT where it needs to be!!!

Eagle1855 · December 26, 2007

I dont really care what happens to A&M or Arkansas. Both could go 0-fer for the rest of eternity and I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep. I think this is a great deal for both programs, but it'll never be the RRS (which includes 2 other teams that could go 0-fer for the rest of eternity and I still wouldn't lose any sleep).

As for all this crap about UNT and playing in Jerry's World- aint' gonna happen. They want to fill the place, not just a couple sections. Get our stadium built, start winning games. People will notice.

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 27, 2007

Meanwhile, the University Presidents can't seem to figure out a playoff system while bugets do nothing but skyrocket - you would think that when regular season games like this for two teams this year that are not even ranked get this much money, that they would jump on board, but oh well.