greg.w.h said:
After the agreement that allowed home and home when we joined the SEC it was supposed to run through the 2024 game. It's anyone's guess whether the covid-driven moves to home and home will extend that schedule to 2026. And when I say anyone, I'm guessing some have specific information, but I haven't been able to dig up specifics.
The game hasn't had a sellout or rather never looked like it did on TV. I think the Jones family imagined it as a potential equivalent eventually to the Red River matchup. And when A&M wasn't in the same conference it was a bruiser of a game with us featuring offensive-first play a la the BDF while they were more SEC like. But the move to the SEC and both teams playing annually in the West actually seemed to limit its appeal rather than supporting growth of the game as an event.
I hope a way is found to end it now. But Jerry is shrewd. I'll note the SMU games at Texas Stadium prior to their death penalty were more alive though also rarely sold out, either. And felt like Texas A&M home games due to being overwhelmingly Maroon and White.
A&M wants to end it, but will play the contract out rather than pay a $5 million buyout, if Jerry holds them to the terms of the deal as revised after A&M joined the SEC.
Jerry isn't in it for the money; for him, it's about Arkansas and his ego, in that order. If the school tells him that it's in their best interest to go back to campus, Jerry won't stand in the way. Things were certainly headed that way before covid and Arkansas's resurgence under Pittman (I'm not saying they are back to being truly competitive, just not the laughinstock that they were).
The financial angle has always been that the schools make more money by playing a neutral site game every year than they would hosting a home game every other year, essentially by forcing season ticket holder to buy an extra ticket every year rather than having it in their season ticket package (or having non-season ticket holders take up the slack by purchasing these tickets). Ticket sales (especially for Arkansas) have dropped to the point where the math for playing the game in Arlington is less certain. So, if the Arkansas leadership decides they don't want to go back, we won't--Jerry will let us out of the deal. If they decide to play it out, then I guess we'll play there through 2024 or whenever the current contract ends (I don't expect them to tack on any games on for the two that will be missed, as covid will be treated as a force majeure).
