Awesome. Glad you are going. I like it for this reason. I’ve got family in NE Arkansas that it’s hard on to travel to Fayetteville, but they can bum a ride to LR and have for this game. Not this year, though.
Do you live to far to go to the game? There are seats available?
No sir. I have to work on Saturdays. Bummed I won’t be able to watch.
I tend to think the Razorbacks are OK with not having the games in North Little Rock televised because it drives demand for tickets if you want to watch it. Arkansas can’t keep an ESPN affiliate from showing the game, but by scheduling less-attractive opponents there, it more or less works out that it is not going to be on TV. Long gone are the days of playing Baylor, Oklahoma State, Illinois, etc. there.
It should be noted that Arkansas could independently stream the game if it wanted, but it would cost somewhere around $50,000 to do so. The same goes for the baseball game there in the spring.
I’m not sure how this would affect how tickets are distributed, but if the game was classified as a neutral-site game it would allow a third party (like Cox Sports TV) to televise the game.
Why does it appear less than neutral to me…most venues 150+ miles away are neutral…I’m not aware of any others like it.
It’s 142 road miles from Chapel Hill to Charlotte, but if you played UNC in Charlotte, it wouldn’t be a neutral site. Even farther from Raleigh for NC State.
In fact, I am pushing for a game in Pine Bluff to the new staff. I pushed the previous staff with no success. I think the AD turned that down, I am hoping the AD will allow Muss more freedom than he did to the previous staff. Let’s see.
Good luck with that. They say capacity at PBCC is 8400 for basketball; they got 7500 in for UNC in 1984 and I don’t think the fire marshal would have let them squeeze anyone else in (the UNC fight song is still burned in my brain because their pep band was approximately 18 inches behind me). That’s giving away 10K+ capacity to NLR and almost 12K to BWA. Which even if it’s a dead sellout is giving away up to $300,000 at $25 a pop. That’s a lot of money to leave on the table.
Yes, that is the response I got from the Athletic Department when Anderson was here. I expect the same now. But I thought I have nothing to lose by asking.
Swine is right. That venue is just too small. Besides, it’s not like a game in Pine Bluff can draw people who can’t get to LR. They’re only 45 mins apart. Back in 1984 when the PB Conv Center was nicer than Barton Coliseum, it was a legit venue. It can’t compete with Simmons/Verizon/Alltel Arena in any way at all. It’s more convenient for people in Pine Bluff & Dumas, but that’s about it. It’s not happening.
Oh well. I have tickets so I’ll be there but the drive to the hill isn’t too far to see games! I do like to record games when I go and watch because you can see a lot better on TV.
The folks that planed the construction of Simmons Bank Arena sure cant use it as a selling point to get another job!
It’s kind of simple to be in tune to the times with technology!
You do realize that it is about 20 years old don’t you? If it had top of the line technology back then, that is way out of date now. Bud Walton had to be updated to allow for games to be broadcast. There are just not enough games to justify updating the NLR arena,
Did anyone notice that our top five rated, for now, recruiting class is all Arkansas kids? Mostly central Arkansas? Yes, you need at least one game there where local young future Razorbacks can see them play.
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I didn’t think anybody did what I always do. In fact I have set all Razorbacks sports to record on DirecTV using the “season” option. Love to watch it again on TV after watching it from the stands, especially if we win.
With today’s DVR technology, it is amusing when someone says that I missed watching the game because I was doing something else. Even sports radio talk show hosts like Bo say that. What do they think DVR is for?
As far as Simmons Bank arena, I don’t know if Simmons has the same attitude as Verizon who owned the arena before. Verizon did not want to host sports events. They did Razorbacks out of past obligation and were not going to invest in anything regarding sports.
My understanding is that Verizon had nothing to do with that, it was arena management. He likes concerts, etc. They’re not going to bid for NCAA regionals for the same reason, and it won’t change now that Simmons’ name is on the building.
I thought the NCAA mandated the balcony front advertising scoreboards and that the arena management could not justify the multi-million dollar expense for one weekend a year. They hosted the women’s NCAA regional before that stipulation but could not compete for future men’s or women’s tournament events without the required scoreboards. I don’t know if the SECN has the same requirements.
Simmons just has naming rights. It is owned by the county if I recall (could be a combo of county and city of NLR, can’t remember for sure, but is owned by the public.)
You are correct about county ownership. The arena is owned and operated by the Multi-Purpose Civic Center Facilities Board for Pulaski County.
Yeah there was some extra spending required but Michael Marion was not going to push to get that spending done. If he really wanted it they could have found a way to do it with arena revenues.
How many NCAA tournament weekends would it take to pay for the initial purchase, upkeep, and future replacement for a million dollar scoreboard? Are these that big of a money maker or is it more for pumping up the local economy, like the 39 half filled bowl games?