In Praise of Neutrality

It was the end of the week, so Terry and I adjourned to Turn Ten (that condiment beyond centerfield, overlooking the swerve on the Grand Prix course) to catch up.  It was packed with soccer coaches from all over the country. Judging from the accents, I'm guessing many were from beyond our borders.

Terry has been meeting with his soccer buddies since Wednesday, and they are greatly impressed with Baltimore as a convention site. In fact, attendance may even top the 8,500 record set last year in Philly (and that's without counting the throngs who dropped in for SuperDraft.)

Terry ticked off all the positives Baltimore has to offer as reason for this success -- interstate access, proximity and on-site transportation to the airport and Amtrak, variety of hotel options and prices, free shuttle circulating among hotels and meeting places, central population location and hotbed of local interest.

In short, Terry observed, all the reasons why Maryland is a hot ticket for neutral-site football, and why both M&T and FedEx are picking up a lot of the action.

Neutral-site collegiate football has spread far beyond Army-Navy and post season bowl games of late. There are a number of reasons: the opportunity to expand the brand, expose college programs to a different geographic regions for recruiting purposes, better television deals, means to engage more alumni, etc.

Another part of the neutral venue appeal is the large NFL stadiums. They come with more seats, better media facilities and top of the line audio visual displays. In the case of our two in Maryland, they also come with lots of college graduates located in the greater metropolitan area and all the transportation/access advantages noted above.

But the bottom line is . . . the bottom line. There is a lot of $$$$$ to be made in the neutrality biz. The Swiss -- those professional sideline sitters -- figured this out years ago. Football is just catching on.

FedEx hosted two of these nationally televised match-ups -- Boise State and Virginia Tech at the beginning of the season; Penn State-Indiana at the end. Both drew more fans here than they could have at home.

M&T hosted Maryland-Navy -- the Crab Bowl Classic (also nationally televised) that filled the stadium on Labor Day. Again, better crowds than either campus could have accommodated. In this case it was more like two home teams than two visitors. That created its own internecine dynamic. Even Navy's head coach has a Terp in his family. But this good natured rivalry was a perfect fit for Baltimore and a lot of people (MSA's chairman included) would like to see it scheduled regularly.

FedEx will be hosting Army-Navy this year; M&T will have it in 2014 and 2016. That rivalry has to be among the most lucrative neutral siters because it lasts all weekend and features so many alumni reunions in the package.

But that's not all. Ohio State-Navy will also take place in M&T in 2014 and there are certain to be other match-ups on the horizon. Now that the Ravens have installed a new field at M&T, changing out the surface graphics is as easy as hosing off one logo and air-brushing in another. Certainly makes it easier to host those lacrosse matches, too.

So the versitility of our Maryland stadiums extends beyond using them for different sports and entertainment activities. The collegiate neutral-site circuit is calling, and you can bet we're stepping up to bring our citizens more of the excitement.