Little Rock Game

[ricepig]

GuvHog you are saying it's good for recruits to go to a WMS game so they can just get an official visit on campus from there? If I'm a recruit not born and raised in central Arkansas, my first question is why in the world is a home game played there? Second, wouldn't it make more sense for a recruit to see a game on campus where they will actually be attending school? Third, do you think CBB actually uses WMS as a recruiting tool? It would seem to be a detriment to me.

Don't expect reasoning behind the posts.

[GTOWNHOG]

Things change. 

All of the issues that influenced the University of Arkansas to  play games in Little Rock have been resolved. 

Razorback Stadium now has 72,000 seats and 132 Suites.  Lights were installed so we can play at night. There are now plenty of hotel rooms in Northwest Arkansas so you can stay overnight if you want to.  I-49 has been completed since 1999 and fans no longer need to drive on US 71. Automobile travel from Little Rock is now ALL Interstate.

Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) can handle large jets and team charters from our opponents.  It is easier to get to northwest Arkansas than ever before.

The University of Arkansas now has an enrollment of over 26,000 students.   Things change.  Time marches on.  You either march with it, or you get left behind.   :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:

[Hogfaniam]

Things change. 

All of the issues that influenced the University of Arkansas to  play games in Little Rock have been resolved. 

Razorback Stadium now has 72,000 seats and 132 Suites.  Lights were installed so we can play at night. There are now plenty of hotel rooms in Northwest Arkansas so you can stay overnight if you want to.  I-49 has been completed since 1999 and fans no longer need to drive on US 71. Automobile travel from Little Rock is now ALL Interstate.

Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) can handle large jets and team charters from our opponents.  It is easier to get to northwest Arkansas than ever before.

The University of Arkansas now has an enrollment of over 26,000 students.   Things change.  Time marches on.  You either march with it, or you get left behind.   :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:

All the more reason for LR/NLR to prepare to be kicked off the teet.

[Inhogswetrust]

Tie it in with Hot Springs.
Get Oaklawn to open New Years weekend instead of two weeks later.  Would be an awesome trip for someone who has never been. 

Liberty Bowl impact.
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/27724499/annual-liberty-bowl-game-brings-20m-economic-boost-to-mid-south

I've worked intimately with the Liberty Bowl. I can assure you that they do not get a $20 million dollar impact in Memphis from that bowl game! I've been in the hospitality business a long time and every time I see those type numbers anywhere for one single football game with the exception of the five bigger bowls and Super bowl and now possibly the college payoff games I'd bet a years pay they are flawed. I've always been skeptical of those figures of how many times a dollar "turns over" from specific events.

[secfan30]

Nobody from Central Arkansas even talks about LR games anymore. Everybody knows it's over with. It's not a big deal. We'll just go to the games on campus or dallas. UGA was the last marquee game.

I'm noticing this as well. Granted now I live within 60 miles of the RRS, but I grew up in Little Rock going to the games in both places for years and I can't recall the last time someone in Central Arkansas brining up the GSD...

[opineonswine]

Unfortunately it's not enough just to be a Hog Fan. In some parts of the state there is an air of entitlement and the refusal to admit anything good could happen anywhere else in the state.

I can't tell if you mean LR or NWA.  LR has always had the firsts and the rest of the state got the leftovers.

This subject, though, has absolutely NOTHING to do with regional ego.  It's just dumb not to play at your home stadium where you make a ton more money and the players don't have to travel.  The debate, as it were, should have ended in 1871.

[jkstock04]

The only reasons left for playing games in Little Rock are selfish ones. I'm happy there will be no more conference games played there.

[jmb1973]

It just amazes me that Shreveport can do it and LR can't, with twice the metro area statistically.  Total lack of leadership.

I live in Shreveport/Bossier and can say wholeheartedly you should have picked a better example. The State of Arkansas wants nothing like that dumpster fire they call the Independence Bowl. It is an eye sore at best, in the middle of one of the worst ghettos in Shreveport. That area makes the neighborhood around WMS look like Chenal. Add on to the fact they cant get a decent game or fill the stands even with the local radio stations giving away 10 tickets an hour for the weeks leading up to the game. Even the locals around here hate that disaster and were humiliated at this years sponsorship.

[dynastyhog]

Texas Tech & AZ, my point exactly. Do we want them to be our new benchmark? BTW just for the record, Arizona is pretty darn close to meeting BOTH of those requirements. They are 10 miles over the 100 mark to Phoenix and the Tucson metro is 20k short of 1 mil. Bama, UT, and Florida are all either 100 miles from capital or under an hour drive from a mil +metro so that is inaccurate...

Which mil plus cities are under an hour drive to Gainesville and Knoxville? 

[opineonswine]

Which mil plus cities are under an hour drive to Gainesville and Knoxville?

I was going to ask the same thing but saw no sense in continuing a nonsense thought.

[Hogfaniam]

Which mil plus cities are under an hour drive to Gainesville and Knoxville? 

Northern orlando metro, but not the whole metro area.

Knoxville is part of a kmsa of 1.3mil

[dynastyhog]

I was going to ask the same thing but saw no sense in continuing a nonsense thought.

You're probably right.  Next it will be state capital, hour drive to a million plus population, AND the university needs to be in a dry county.

[ricepig]

You're probably right.  Next it will be state capital, hour drive to a million plus population, AND the university needs to be in a dry county.

Craighead County........

[dynastyhog]

Northern orlando metro, but not the whole metro area.

Knoxville is part of a kmsa of 1.3mil

I looked it up and it said the metro population of K'ville was 852 K.  I guess if you wanted to make a stretch armstrong reach out of Orlando into N. Orlando then you could make it to Gainesville in an hour or less. 

[dynastyhog]

I looked it up and it said the metro population of K'ville was 852 K.  I guess if you wanted to make a stretch armstrong reach out of Orlando into N. Orlando then you could make it to Gainesville in an hour or less.

Edit:  Scratch that.  You'd have to be hauling major ass to make it to G'ville from any part of N. Orlando in an hour.  So much so that I don't think you could do it.  You could make a better argument for Jacksonville to G'ville in an hour but I've driven it and I typically drive 10 mph over and didn't make it in an hour.

[Inhogswetrust]

Northern orlando metro, but not the whole metro area.

Knoxville is part of a kmsa of 1.3mil

OOPS.......

The Knoxville metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on Knoxville, Tennessee, the third largest city in Tennessee and the largest city in East Tennessee. In 2013, the KMSA had an estimated population of 852,715.

[IBleedRazorbackRed]

The only reasons left for playing games in Little Rock are selfish ones. I'm happy there will be no more conference games played there.

Except for the part where there will be another conference game played there.

[geauxhawgs]

Knoxville has over a mil in metro. Got me on UF though. However, they're an 1hr 10 from Jacksonville wich has 850k and under 2 hours from 7 mil lol. SLIGHLTY, just SLIGHTLY different than our 3 mil in the entire state and nearly 2/3 of those people being OVER 2 hours from the UA. Moral of the story...BY FAR MOST of the elite programs in the country have the common denominator of large metros in or within 100 miles and MOST of those aren't to far from their state capital. BTW  ALL pro teams have 1mil + metros.  You're ignorant to not to believe that there's a damn good reason why.

P.S. Why do you think we're locked up in Dallas for such a long time? It ain't because we love Texas that's for damn sure.

Y'all can say what you want about LR and its disadvantages, all I'm saying is there are several in NWA as well. To each there own, but I think we need at least 1 big game in LR each year or with time we'll start losing younger fans to other schools and large sections of the state will have good chunks of the population that are disengaged with the hogs. Looks like we about to find out though.

LSU Bleauxs. Woo Pig.

[Hogfaniam]

OOPS.......

The Knoxville metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on Knoxville, Tennessee, the third largest city in Tennessee and the largest city in East Tennessee. In 2013, the KMSA had an estimated population of 852,715.

Keep reading.  It is itself part of a kmsa of 1.3 mil.

[geauxhawgs]

OOPS.......

The Knoxville metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on Knoxville, Tennessee, the third largest city in Tennessee and the largest city in East Tennessee. In 2013, the KMSA had an estimated population of 852,715.

OOPS.....

Sorry, you're wrong. They have 1.3 mil+

[Inhogswetrust]

OOPS.....

Sorry, you're wrong. They have 1.3 mil+

Where are you getting that data.

[Inhogswetrust]

OOPS.....

Sorry, you're wrong. They have 1.3 mil+

I pulled that right off a respected website...................city-data.com:

Here's the detail:
Knoxville, TN - 852,715
-Knox, TN - 444,622
-Blount, TN - 125,099
-Anderson, TN - 75,542
-Roane, TN - 53,047
-Loudon, TN - 50,448
-Campbell, TN - 40,238
-Grainger, TN - 22,702
-Morgan, TN - 21,915
-Union, TN - 19,102


Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/2080834-2013-tennessee-metro-population-estimates-memphis.html#ixzz3PBdwb3MJ

Interesting that you originally posted specifically about being close to a state capital and NOT population. Then after three posts on that you suddenly said Bama is close to Birmingham...........Yet Birmingham isn't the state capital of Alabama, Montgomery is. Then I brought out that population is important and you ran with that. Then you never said specifically what a "striking distance" was. You vacillated on it. The deal is population base matters......state capitals don't. Even so driving a few hours to a campus for games is NO big deal to good fans and YES that means as far as Central Arkansas, East Arkansas, Memphis, etc. to NWA. Heck it's not like we have a 101,000 seat stadium to fill. I guess in your mind since the Memphis MSA does indeed have over 1 million people then tiger high should sell out their barely over 60,000 seat stadium all the time.

Population base matters for recruiting purposes and potential fan base numbers. But those things don't always every year make the difference. The reason is there are a lot of other factors.......One of the biggest is the limited number of scholarships. Also ability for recruits to get to it easily, mobility of the population in general, emotional attachment to the local team. But in my opinion the biggest is who the heck is the head coach and how good is he at a lot of different things. That's always been true.

The dynamics of the situation in Arkansas has changed. No longer does LR have a monopoly on population, money, influence, good roads, good airport, etc. As others have said there are now only selfish reasons for some people wanting games in LR. That isn't necessarily the best for the program overall now as it was in past generations I believe and I think most most people now do as well. 

[geauxhawgs]

As far as being within the whole 100 mile radius from the capital thing goes. I was just  trying to find out how many major programs weren't within that radius. It seems to me that it's a VERY low percentage. Do I think big time universities (especially STATE universities) that are centrally located in or near their state capital have a litany of long term advantages vs. those in extreme corners of their state? Absolutely, I do. In addition to that to that, I've always felt that demographics played a significant role in a programs long term success. So, when you mentioned that, I thought it was a very valid point and  I'm still curious as to how many of the elites programs can say no to one or both of those questions?

Again, it SEEMS like a A VERY, VERY, VERY low %.

LSU BLEAUXS. WOO PIG.

[Inhogswetrust]

As far as being within the whole 100 mile radius from the capital thing goes. I was just  trying to find out how many major programs weren't within that radius. It seems to me that it's a VERY low percentage. Do I think big time universities (especially STATE universities) that are centrally located in or near their state capital have a litany of long term advantages vs. those in extreme corners of their state? Absolutely, I do. In addition to that to that, I've always felt that demographics played a significant role in a programs long term success. So, when you mentioned that, I thought it was a very valid point and  I'm still curious as to how many of the elites programs can say no to one or both of those questions?

Again, it SEEMS like a A VERY, VERY, VERY low %.

LSU BLEAUXS. WOO PIG.

Most State Capitals are centrally located within their states respectively but not all of them and certainly not all are metro areas. Reasons for state capitals being located where they are vary. There has always been a stabilizing factor for those cities and it is government jobs. There are numerous capitals that are not centrally located and/or historically were not that huge population wise. As far as "major" programs is defined I think ANY that is in a P5 conference should be considered that as well as ND and BYU. However I'll concede that only those that historically have been good is what some people will consider "major". I think that's what you believe. Besides in the past 100 miles WAS considered a long way away. Now not so much.