DotComp: Banging the drum for more Michigan State games at Ford Field in the future
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 2023 game at Ford Field completely won me over, and today’s announcement that the 2025 Michigan State vs. Maryland football game will be played at Ford Field on Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend is a complete touchdown for Spartan football and Spartan fans. In 2023, I was stunned by the news that the Michigan State vs. Penn State game of that season had been moved to Ford Field. For a moment, I didn’t like it. Then I held a wait-and-see attitude about it. And then when I attended the game, I came away with a completely different viewpoint. My attitude changed as I walked toward the stadium on game night. The atmosphere was festive and electric. I didn’t have time to walk around the stadium and mix with Michigan State fans at tailgates and taverns, but I could sense the energy. The stadium was nearly full, despite Michigan State suffering through arguably the worst season in the history of the program. Michigan State fans were loud at the outset of the game, despite the Spartans eventually getting dominated in a game more helplessly than any I can remember in my lifetime. Michigan State had hit rock bottom from a football standpoint, but on the same night uncovered a jewel of a football opportunity for the future in taking the aggressive, creative step in scheduling a regular season Big Ten football game at Ford Field. Feedback on our Undergound Bunker message board at SpartanMag.com was nearly unanimously in favor of the fan experience at Ford Field. Last year, I wrote that I felt the 2024 season-ending game against Rutgers should have been moved to Ford Field, and Michigan State missed an opportunity by failing to do so. That’s how far I had come on this subject. I wasn’t in favor of it at first, and then I was critical of Michigan State for not doing it again! Great work and foresight by Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller for dreaming up this event. He took a ton of criticism from fans when the game was announced in 2023, and then was pleased to hear the positive feedback after the event was a success. Haller told me last summer that the Detroit Lions organization wanted to do it again. Roadblocks toward making this an annual or semi-annual game were few. Cooperation with the Michigan High School Athletic Association was a priority. In 2023, the MHSAA moved its annual state championship games to Saturday and Sunday in order for Ford Field to accommodate the Michigan State game on Friday of Thanksgiving weekend. This year, the MHSAA will hold its state championship games on Friday and Sunday. Combine that with the Detroit Lions’ annual game on Thanksgiving Day, and Michigan State has wrapped itself into a delicious football holiday weekend in The Motor City. A baker's dozen list of reasons why moving a late-season Michigan State home game to Ford Field makes so much sense and why 2025 shouldn't be the last time it happens: