London Vol
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- Sep 27, 2015
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SPRING TOURNAMENT
Historically the breakdown of a football season is 8 SEC games (the meat of the season), 3 cupcake games (staging glorified scrimmages and to re-distribute monies to minor Universities) and an out-of -conference game (to allow games against other Power 5 opponents that are not in the SEC). Common consensus at present is that going forward we will have a 9th SEC game replacing a cupcake or the out-of-conference game This article is to suggest that Tennessee should host an annual 3 team tournament, held during Spring. This would consist of a Round Robin event with all games at the General Neyland Stadium.
THE TOURNAMENT
THE CHICK-FIL-A SPRING CLASSIC
This would be a tournament between three teams, Tennessee and two invited teams. They would play a round robin tournament as follows:
Saturday 15 April 2023 Tennessee v Team A @ The General Neyland Stadium
Tuesday 18 April 2023 Team A v Team B @ The General Neyland Stadium
Saturday 22 April 2023 Tennessee v Team B @ The General Neyland Stadium
The two invitees can be chosen annually pending the level of competition Tennessee deem best.
Example 1) Middle Tennessee & Chattanooga, example 2) NC State & North Carolina, example 3) Penn State & Clemson. The tournament winner would be declared by wins, or in the case of all teams having one win, then by points differential. The winners could receive a trophy named i.e The Trey Smith Trophy. The games schedule would mean that unless Team A wins games 1 & 2, the last game will be relevant (but even in that case scenario Tennessee would still be playing).
COSTINGS
Ticket Prices – You will only be able to purchase a ticket which will cover all three games (there will be no opportunity to purchase tickets for single games only). A suggestion would be that the tickets will cost between $80 and $100 pending on location of seat. but the ticket price is reflective of demand and therefore one would expect at least 80,000 tickets sold.
Teams – Each team will receive a suitable fee for participating.
Winner – The winning team will receive an additional fee, this should ensure that each match is of a competitive nature. This prize must be large enough to ensure that the matches are taken seriously.
Venue - Tennessee University,
Matchday Income – Food & drink concessions, programme income and any other matchday revenue streams will be the property of the University of Tennessee.
NAMING RIGHTS AND TV RIGHTS
Naming Rights - I used Chick-Fil-A as an example, but this could also be sold to any national name such as State Farm, or a local name like Calhoun’s or an individual name such as The Peyton Manning Classic. The objective of this is to maximise revenue.
TV Rights – With ‘March Madness’ finished there is a natural lull in TV opportunities for the likes of ESPN etc so this event would, no doubt, be welcomed by the TV companies and Tennessee University would be the beneficiary of this.
THE ADVANTAGES FOR THE FOOTBALL TEAM
The three matches will be held after the completion of the Spring Training Camp allowing Josh Heupel to assess how players have developed during the camp. Look how Jalin Hyatt and Aaron Beasley, who were only squad players last Spring, became two of our best players during the season. Also, a year ago it looked like Joe Milton would never take another snap at Knoxville and now he is our projected starter next season.
Coach Heupel would also be able to evaluate in gametime conditions which of the Early Enrolees could make a push for playing time in the fall, for example Nathan Leacock, Daevin Hobbs and, of course, the much-heralded, Nico Iamaleava. The coach may also choose not to expose some senior players such as GoBigOmari Thomas to injury, beyond say, one series.
Some might say, “what about injuries?” Well, players can get injured during practice or more accurately, every time they don the pads and unless it’s a long term injury like an ACL, they would still have over four months to get healed up
.
SUMMARY
The main driver for me for such an annual event is that, quite frankly, the season is simply too short. The distance from a new Years Day game to the opening game of the next season is 8 months and this event would break up those long months. The College Football business model has changed substantially in the last two years with NIL, The Transfer Portal and the realignment of the Power Five conferences, so is it time to also have some meaningful Spring Football as well?
I very much look forward to your comments or counter arguments.
GO VOLS
Historically the breakdown of a football season is 8 SEC games (the meat of the season), 3 cupcake games (staging glorified scrimmages and to re-distribute monies to minor Universities) and an out-of -conference game (to allow games against other Power 5 opponents that are not in the SEC). Common consensus at present is that going forward we will have a 9th SEC game replacing a cupcake or the out-of-conference game This article is to suggest that Tennessee should host an annual 3 team tournament, held during Spring. This would consist of a Round Robin event with all games at the General Neyland Stadium.
THE TOURNAMENT
THE CHICK-FIL-A SPRING CLASSIC
This would be a tournament between three teams, Tennessee and two invited teams. They would play a round robin tournament as follows:
Saturday 15 April 2023 Tennessee v Team A @ The General Neyland Stadium
Tuesday 18 April 2023 Team A v Team B @ The General Neyland Stadium
Saturday 22 April 2023 Tennessee v Team B @ The General Neyland Stadium
The two invitees can be chosen annually pending the level of competition Tennessee deem best.
Example 1) Middle Tennessee & Chattanooga, example 2) NC State & North Carolina, example 3) Penn State & Clemson. The tournament winner would be declared by wins, or in the case of all teams having one win, then by points differential. The winners could receive a trophy named i.e The Trey Smith Trophy. The games schedule would mean that unless Team A wins games 1 & 2, the last game will be relevant (but even in that case scenario Tennessee would still be playing).
COSTINGS
Ticket Prices – You will only be able to purchase a ticket which will cover all three games (there will be no opportunity to purchase tickets for single games only). A suggestion would be that the tickets will cost between $80 and $100 pending on location of seat. but the ticket price is reflective of demand and therefore one would expect at least 80,000 tickets sold.
Teams – Each team will receive a suitable fee for participating.
Winner – The winning team will receive an additional fee, this should ensure that each match is of a competitive nature. This prize must be large enough to ensure that the matches are taken seriously.
Venue - Tennessee University,
Matchday Income – Food & drink concessions, programme income and any other matchday revenue streams will be the property of the University of Tennessee.
NAMING RIGHTS AND TV RIGHTS
Naming Rights - I used Chick-Fil-A as an example, but this could also be sold to any national name such as State Farm, or a local name like Calhoun’s or an individual name such as The Peyton Manning Classic. The objective of this is to maximise revenue.
TV Rights – With ‘March Madness’ finished there is a natural lull in TV opportunities for the likes of ESPN etc so this event would, no doubt, be welcomed by the TV companies and Tennessee University would be the beneficiary of this.
THE ADVANTAGES FOR THE FOOTBALL TEAM
The three matches will be held after the completion of the Spring Training Camp allowing Josh Heupel to assess how players have developed during the camp. Look how Jalin Hyatt and Aaron Beasley, who were only squad players last Spring, became two of our best players during the season. Also, a year ago it looked like Joe Milton would never take another snap at Knoxville and now he is our projected starter next season.
Coach Heupel would also be able to evaluate in gametime conditions which of the Early Enrolees could make a push for playing time in the fall, for example Nathan Leacock, Daevin Hobbs and, of course, the much-heralded, Nico Iamaleava. The coach may also choose not to expose some senior players such as GoBigOmari Thomas to injury, beyond say, one series.
Some might say, “what about injuries?” Well, players can get injured during practice or more accurately, every time they don the pads and unless it’s a long term injury like an ACL, they would still have over four months to get healed up
.
SUMMARY
The main driver for me for such an annual event is that, quite frankly, the season is simply too short. The distance from a new Years Day game to the opening game of the next season is 8 months and this event would break up those long months. The College Football business model has changed substantially in the last two years with NIL, The Transfer Portal and the realignment of the Power Five conferences, so is it time to also have some meaningful Spring Football as well?
I very much look forward to your comments or counter arguments.
GO VOLS
