Hayes: Neutral territory true test of team

Column photo

By Kelsey Hayes

Friday, November 9, 2007

Capacity of Memorial Stadium: 50,071.

Capacity of Arrowhead Stadium: 79,400.

Where would you rather see the Border Showdown played?

The Nov. 24 game between Kansas and Missouri is going to be epic. Provided both teams win out before then, it will decide the Big 12 North champion. Said champion will meet likely meet Oklahoma to determine the conference champ, and the Big 12 winner could very well go on to the national championship.

There’s much more at stake here than the usual rivalry. The Big 12 has three teams in the top 10 of all three major polls, and this could be the year that the conference has a national title contender whose name is not Oklahoma or Texas.

KU and Mizzou have both garnered significantly more national attention as the season has progressed. Their games now have prime real estate on the major networks’ Saturday lineup, and both are legitimate threats against teams from the vaunted Big 10 and Southeastern Conference.

A game of this magnitude deserves all the attention that it can get. ESPN has suggested that if both teams win out, the GameDay crew will come to Arrowhead. It’s a perfect showcase for the plucky Big 12’s talent.

Will a win have the same impact, though, if it occurs in Kansas City, and not Lawrence?

At best, Arrowhead is neutral territory. There shouldn’t be any advantage for either team, and hopefully the crowd will be fairly evenly split.

29,400 extra seats or not, though, you’d still see more blue if the game was in Lawrence. Technically it’s our turn to host, with last year’s game being played in Coumbia. Now, with a neutral field, whichever team wins, it will beg the questions, “Could they have won at home? Could they have won on the road?”

However, the neutral ground should determine which team is better, since a home advantage or a road disadvantage can’t be claimed. Arrowhead makes the two teams display raw talent in a way that playing in Lawrence or Columbia couldn’t.

Local companies have expressed concern that playing the game at Arrowhead will hurt their business that weekend. However, business has only really spiked since the football team began winning consistently. Businesses survived before, and they can survive now. Besides, with the game sold out, not everyone will be able to get to Kansas City to see it. Even with Thanksgiving Break, there should be plenty of people left in Lawrence to set up shop in local bars.

To be honest, business complaints smack of fair-weather fandom. No one complained about the KU game being at Arrowhead until the team started making a national title run. Now, when excitement and optimism are high, businesses want to cash in on the team’s success.

Memorial Stadium is a beautiful complex, but it doesn’t exactly inspire the same awe as, say, Michigan’s Big House. It doesn’t (yet) have the history or prestige of the Phog. With eyes across the country focused on this match-up, the venue needs to be spectacular. Two great teams deserve to slug it out in a great stadium, and if playing at Arrowhead allows 29,400 more people to be able to see the game, that’s great, too.

This game would be one for the ages if it were played in wheat field. If KU has the charmed team that I hope it does, it shouldn’t matter where the team plays, but this year, in these circumstances, Arrowhead has never looked better.

Hayes is a Lenexa junior in journalism, political science and international studies. She is Kansan opinion editor.

Comments

Brandon_Minster (anonymous) says...

My arguments are, like, totally better than yours! So THERE!

November 9, 2007 at 3:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Joubiku (anonymous) says...

Apparently you haven't paid much attention to local news. Local businesses have been complaining about the move out of town since it was announced at least a year ago, and this was long before the game was anything more than just the next chapter in the rivalry. That the game means even more now, just adds more fuel to their argument.

November 11, 2007 at 8:02 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

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