umichgradfan
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FYI. . .
"Alabama and Michigan State were, at one time, scheduled to play a home-and-home series.
"The teams were set to face each other in Tuscaloosa (2016) and East Lansing (2017) before the Tide abruptly canceled those plans in 2013. . . .
"Initially, an Alabama spokesman blamed uncertainty with the SEC schedule — the conference was mulling a 9-game schedule at the time — but on Tuesday, coach Nick Saban gave a different explanation.
“'For business reasons, we have played neutral-site games to start the season,'” Saban said, according to the Lansing State Journal. 'And when you play a home-and-home – which we played Penn State home-and-home a few years ago — when you play at home you do really well (financially), when you play away you don’t do very well. When you play a neutral-site (game), you do very well every year.
“'We wanted to try to play the series, instead of home-and-home, at neutral sites. And we had other opportunities to play other teams at neutral sites. So from a business perspective, our administration chose to do that. It was certainly nothing personal. And not that it wouldn’t have been a great series, I think it would have been.'”
"Asked about the decision by Alabama, Michigan State linebacker Riley Bullough offered a diplomatic answer, contending that such choices are above his pay grade and that he’s only thinking about playing the Tide in Thursday night’s national semifinal.
"MSU athletic director Mark Hollis was a little more pointed last week: 'They wanted a neutral-site game and now they’ve got a neutral-site game.'”
Nick Saban explains why Alabama canceled series with Michigan State
So, for "business" reasons [the popularity of the Michigan/ND games], Michigan decided to cancel its contract with Arkansas. They will more than make up for the $2 million it cost them.
"Alabama and Michigan State were, at one time, scheduled to play a home-and-home series.
"The teams were set to face each other in Tuscaloosa (2016) and East Lansing (2017) before the Tide abruptly canceled those plans in 2013. . . .
"Initially, an Alabama spokesman blamed uncertainty with the SEC schedule — the conference was mulling a 9-game schedule at the time — but on Tuesday, coach Nick Saban gave a different explanation.
“'For business reasons, we have played neutral-site games to start the season,'” Saban said, according to the Lansing State Journal. 'And when you play a home-and-home – which we played Penn State home-and-home a few years ago — when you play at home you do really well (financially), when you play away you don’t do very well. When you play a neutral-site (game), you do very well every year.
“'We wanted to try to play the series, instead of home-and-home, at neutral sites. And we had other opportunities to play other teams at neutral sites. So from a business perspective, our administration chose to do that. It was certainly nothing personal. And not that it wouldn’t have been a great series, I think it would have been.'”
"Asked about the decision by Alabama, Michigan State linebacker Riley Bullough offered a diplomatic answer, contending that such choices are above his pay grade and that he’s only thinking about playing the Tide in Thursday night’s national semifinal.
"MSU athletic director Mark Hollis was a little more pointed last week: 'They wanted a neutral-site game and now they’ve got a neutral-site game.'”
Nick Saban explains why Alabama canceled series with Michigan State
So, for "business" reasons [the popularity of the Michigan/ND games], Michigan decided to cancel its contract with Arkansas. They will more than make up for the $2 million it cost them.
