Official: Gameday coming to Charlotte
- Thread starter 18IsTheMan
- Start date
What a waste. I hate these neutral site games. The whole allure of Gameday is to showcase your campus, your stadium, your environment. I don't know why they show up to any neutral site games.
Shouldn't be played on a neutral site. It's not a big time matchup and both schools are a couple of hours apart from each other. Could have been an opportunity to have them in Cola.
Agree, I hate the Charlotte games. But it's better than having them go to Knoxville for VA vs TN.
Our strong finish last year and the Beamer draw have a lot to do with it.
If gamecock fans don't sell out the Charlotte stadium, it's only about an hour and a half from campus, they should be ashamed. National tv, College Gameday present, first game of the season, a supposedly energized fan base and a game against a traditional rival, what more should it take to fill the place with gamecock fans?
Doesn't this end the series in Charlotte? We don't play a neutral site next year. We have VT first game in Atl in '25.
Texas/Oklahoma and Florida/Georgia are the only neutral site games that are consistently compelling now that AU/Alabama left Birmingham. All of those involved perennial renewals, not intermittent ones.
As for this game, Gameday doesn't make it any bigger. We HAVE to win it. Odds are we won't even have a winning season if we lose this one. It would be imperative to win it if it were played in an empty stadium and only broadcast on the radio.
I don't know of many annual neutral site games, though there are probably more than I know. In the immediate context, I was speaking to season-opening neutral site games that have increased in popularity. LSU/FSU in Orlando this year will be a big draw. Oregon/UGA was a big draw last year. I am not saying I prefer neutral site games to games played in home stadiums, but for some matchups, they work.
They are always about money. Both teams make more than if the game were played at one team's home stadium and the neutral site eliminates the issue of a return trip for the home team to the away team's stadium which can be tough to schedule. Georgia/Florida in Jacksonville nets both teams almost twice what they would make if the game were home and home. The old Iron Bowl in Birmingham was played there because Legion Field was considerably larger than either Auburn or Bama's stadium and both teams made more in the long run than playing home and home.
I think one with this much history ought to be home and home. More passion and bigger crowds. But I'm not saying it ought to be annual. Our schedule is loaded enough and it's about to become more loaded.
Notwithstanding the money, I still hate the idea of playing UNC in Charlotte. The made-for-TV neutral site games work for those once-in-a-generation matchups between teams that haven't played each other all that often (LSU v FSU, UGA v Oregon, Michigan v Florida, etc). For two teams 3 hours apart, who have played each other many times through the years, as a fan, I'd rather just do a 2-game series. SC/NC fits that category, as does UGA/Clemson.
Oh, well, yeah, no doubt they are 100% about money. Such is the state of college football.
Yep. All other factors aside, what makes these opening season neutral site games compelling is that it gives matchups you'd never ordinarily see.
While our game against UNC is absolutely crucial to the success of our season, it's not a compelling matchup.
I don't disagree. As noted in the posts above, neutral site games are compelling when they give you matchups you would never ordinarily see. We've played UNC close to 60 times, or something like that. It's a game of regional interest. Frankly, for me, we're so far removed from our ACC days, I don't see the game as anything like a rivalry like many in our fan base do. I'd be fine if we never played them again. There are far more interesting non-conference games I'd like to see.
The QB matchup probably is a big factor as well.
We open with the heels in CH in 2028 and they play in Cola in 2029 for our opener.
It will be interested to see if those happen once both or either of the teams undertake nine-game conference schedules.
Does it matter where GameDay is? This board often discusses how that show has gone downhill, or how watching ESPN outside of the actual game is a waste.
I can honestly say that I'll tune in at kickoff and not before.
I guess it just doesn't seem like the big deal it used to be.
I can honestly say that I'll tune in at kickoff and not before.
I guess it just doesn't seem like the big deal it used to be.
It will be a nice occurrence when it's in Columbia and we are playing a game with SECCG implications, or maybe CFP implications. Even then, it will only be about what having it here late in the season signifies, not the show itself.
As for this occasion. ESPN doesn't have anything better to do that day. We and UNC are the beneficiaries. The big game that weekend is LSU vs. Florida State - the next day.
The tarholes and Drake Maye are being hyped as playoff contenders. ESPN will likely be pushing that angle, ad nauseam.
Remember the last time we played them in Charlotte (Belk Bowl), Dak took Mack Brown to the woodshed.
Remember the last time we played them in Charlotte (Belk Bowl), Dak took Mack Brown to the woodshed.
He needs to do it again. Lose this game and our season will be stillborn.
I cannot see them.as serious playoff contenders at all.
UNC and NCState are two of the most consistently overrated preseason teams every year. Both go on to lose at least 4 games and go to a middling bowl game.