The University of Central Arkansas and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have competed against each other in multiple sports for many years, but now the rivalry has a name.
The Governor's I-40 Showdown will feature the two schools competing against each other in 10 events in 2018-2019, with women's basketball added to the rivalry in 2019-2020.
In a news conference held at the state Capitol on Thursday afternoon, Gov. Asa Hutchinson welcomed the formation of the series. A Governor's Trophy will be presented at the final event between the two schools, which is scheduled to be the schools' baseball game at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
"When UCA and Little Rock came to me and said they would like to have some competition between them, I embraced it rather quickly," said Hutchinson, who was flanked by athletic directors Brad Teague of UCA and Chasse Conque of UALR . "I think this will encourage students to see what these institutions offer both academically as well as athletically."
As part of the Governor's I-40 Showdown, the Bears and Trojans will meet annually in baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's soccer, volleyball, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's cross country and men's and women's golf.
The Showdown will start tonight in Conway when the schools meet in a women's soccer game at the Bill Stephens Complex.
"There are some other Division I programs in other states that do something similar." Teague said. "We have modeled it after them and we think it just makes sense. In-state competition makes sense. Why not? Why wouldn't we want to do this? This is big time and we're proud of it."
Teague credited Conque with coming up with the idea of a rivalry series.
"Dr. Teague and I have been talking about this for a couple of years," Conque said. "We've got our staffs together and created this idea. It's really taken off and our coaches have embraced it, our administrations have embraced it and for that we're really grateful."
Each head-to-head competition will have a pre-determined point value for the winning team. The university that accumulates the most points during the athletic season will have its name engraved on the Governor's Trophy -- a traveling trophy that will reside on the reigning champion's campus the following year.
Sports on 08/17/2018