The 18-second video begins with a voice saying, “Let me show y'all what a $100 million locker room looks like.”
The camera then passes over a floor with a large “A” etched into it and pans up two walls made to resemble national championship rings.
The quick tour of Alabama’s new football locker room ends in the arcade. Yes, the locker room has an arcade.
Not to be done outdone, though, a minute-long video tour of Arkansas’ new Fred W. Smith Football Center has appeared on YouTube.
While the clip doesn’t show an arcade — score one for Alabama — the Razorbacks have what’s believed to be the largest lockers in the country. A good-sized quarterback can stretch out inside one of them.
Of course, there’s a players lounge with large chairs, making it possible for the team to host a Movie Night. Anyone have a copy of “Sleepless in Seattle”?
Everything in the Southeastern Conference is competitive, including the size of a school’s locker room. Size matters. But let’s be honest, this is all about recruiting.
Everything in college football seems geared toward trying to sell recruits on a program, from the look of a media guide to the design of a uniform. Locker rooms have become larger, much more expensive recruiting tools.
And there’s nothing wrong with that as long as people acknowledge it.
When Alabama and Oregon each have waterfalls — yes, waterfalls — in their locker rooms, a competing school can no longer try to impress big-time recruits with a few nice dinners and a tour of the football stadium.
It’s all about keeping up with the Joneses, or rather big-time boosters like Phil Knight and T. Boone Pickens.
Arkansas saw last weekend the value of its new 80,000-square-foot football facility with a flurry of recruits committing to the Razorbacks after getting a tour of the place.
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said the team wanted recruits to be in town when the new locker room was unveiled to current players.
Afterward, Bielema said he had never experienced “a recruiting weekend like that.”
Of course, recruits who are accustomed to cramped high school locker rooms are impressed by what they see. And who wouldn’t be? These locker rooms weren’t built simply to give players a place to set their toiletry bags.
Millions were spent to blow them away with arcade games and first-rate amenities. Each video of a new locker room looks like a clip from MTV’s Cribs.
At one time, Oregon made headlines with its ridiculously flashy locker room. But with college football now huge business, other top 25 programs must build palaces as well.
And school officials won’t hesitate to spend millions on locker rooms as long as it pays off in highly touted recruiting classes.
Sure, current players at Alabama and Arkansas will enjoy their new surroundings. However, their locker rooms were built not so much for them than those players who have not yet signed.
Alex Abrams is the assistant sports editor for NWA Media. Email [email protected].