The Only Reason For Ole Miss And Vanderbilt Playing At LP Field

Earlier today, it was announced that the Ole Miss/Vanderbilt game on September 6 will be played at LP Field, site of where the Tennessee Volunteers almost won the Music City Bowl in 2010.  According to the official announcement, Vanderbilt athletic director Dave Williams referred to the decision to move the game off campus as “the Commodores do downtown”, which could also double as a name for a live album by the band of the same name.

While it seems odd that an SEC team would elect to move a conference home game to a “neutral” site, there is one reason Vanderbilt chose to do so.  If you think that reason is for program exposure or “letting the kids play in a big-time environment”, you’re a sweet kid, but terribly wrong.

The real reason for making the move downtown is the reason behind all decision-making in college football, which is MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.  And more money.

Administrators, coaches, and media types may list other reasons, but for the people who actually made this decision, there is no other reason.  Someone crunched the numbers, as numbers have a tendency to be crunched, and found that more money could be made if the game is played at LP Field rather than on campus.

Last year’s game, thanks to the optimism of Ole Miss fans, was sold out, with a crowd of just over 40,000.  The game in September, thanks to Ole Miss fans having months to recharge their supplies of optimism, will probably have an attendance of 50,000-60,000, assuming Ole Miss beats Boise State in the Georgia Dome the week before (A DANGEROUS THING TO ASSUME THOUGH).

That’s 10,000-20,000 more tickets at $50-ish a piece, and I assume Vanderbilt either takes all of that home, or has worked out a deal to split that with the city (who owns the stadium) and get a cut of concessions, which will include PRECIOUS ALCOHOL SALES since it’s not an on-campus game.  Given Ole Miss fans’ aggressive approach to alcohol at sporting events, that will bring in a wonderful pile of cash.

Whatever the financial arrangement, Vanderbilt believes there is extra money to be made and is willing to give up a true home-field advantage in exchange for being richer by the end of September 6.  The crowd at LP Field will be in favor of Ole Miss, as it was nearly even at last year’s game on campus, but Vanderbilt is okay with that.  It just means there will be more people to whom Vanderbilt can say, “Thanks for buying a ticket.  Now, how about another glass of alcohol, friend?”