OPINION - Editorial

The great compromise

A deal as good as could be expected

It didn't have to play out this way. Many thought it wouldn't. But thanks to leadership at the state and UofA levels, this week brought a mini-Era of Good Feelings to Arkansas.

Little Rock will keep a Razorback football game. Every other year for the next few, the piggies will play Missouri on Thanksgiving weekend at War Memorial. And in off years, central Arkansas will/might/could get the spring game. This deal is about as good as could be expected for Little Rock.

The difference in revenue between playing a game in Fayetteville and Little Rock isn't small. It's several million dollars. So keeping an SEC game in Little Rock wasn't a money call. It was a tradition call.

We had a friend who, on first stepping inside War Memorial Stadium, noted that there wasn't a bad seat in the house. Which is a nice way of saying it isn't Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge or Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. That is, there isn't a multi-level, Lego-stacked, wind-blown, cheap-seat section high in the sky. Why people pay to get those nose-bleed seats is anybody's guess. Some of us feel safer only 100 stories up.

War Memorial is small for an SEC venue. But it's also home. The Razorbacks have been playing games there since before the Razorbacks were in the SEC. And around here, tradition is important. (See Toad Suck Daze, coon suppers at Gillett, and calling the hogs.) It's a pleasure to note that the new leadership at the UofA and the seasoned leadership at state HQ understand that. And have backed up their many words over the last few years with action.

Mizzou will travel to War Memorial in 2019, 2021 and 2023. And if the SEC approves, the spring game will be played here on even years. The contract was signed by state Parks and Tourism director Kane Webb, Razorback AD Hunter Yurachek and UofA Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz. (We hope we spelled the Parks director's name correctly.) The contract does require certain amount of tickets to be sold at the games.

Which shouldn't be a problem, given the Missouri match-up. It's Thanksgiving weekend, when the kids are home. Thanksgiving is deep into fall, so we feel confident nobody is going to broil that time of year. This game sure beats playing Florida A&M in August. Little Rock should be able to get 47,000 people to a real game in the real fall. (NB, for a game against Alcorn State two years ago, 46,988 people showed up.)

And if it's not 33 degrees with blowing wind and freezing rain and occasional snow and a flu epidemic still going around, fans might watch a spring game, too.

Who said compromise is a dirty word? This deal is a good one.

Or at least the best that could've been expected.

Editorial on 05/19/2018

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