Texas A&M, Arkansas Reach New Deal To Return To Cowboys Stadium Through '24

Texas A&M and Arkansas yesterday “reached an agreement to return the teams’ annual football game to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, beginning with the 2014 season,” according to Jimmy Burch of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. The agreement “extends through the 2024 season.” The two schools met “three times at the facility (2009, 2010, 2011) under a 10-year agreement to compete as non-conference opponents before” A&M joined the SEC for the ‘12 season. With the Aggies’ move to the new conference, the teams’ game “in College Station this season -- as well as the 2013 game at Arkansas -- were shifted to campus sites” (STAR-TELEGRAM.com, 8/29). In Arkansas, Robbie Neiswanger noted the new agreement “amends the current contract, which stretched to 2018.” Arkansas AD Jeff Long has “been a proponent of playing the game in Arlington, Texas, and hoped it would return even though the on-campus sites were announced earlier this year” (ARKANSASNEWS.com, 8/29). A&M President R. Bowen Loftin yesterday said that the agreement to return to Cowboys Stadium “following the two seasons away was hammered out" between former AD Bill Byrne and Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, and the school is "honoring it.” In San Antonio, Brent Zwerneman notes a source “assured the deal was in place long before" current AD Eric Hyman came onboard in July, so "love or hate the idea of playing in Cowboys Stadium, he wasn't part of that equation.” The source added that based on the new deal, Arkansas officials are "willing to give up their regular season-ending contest with LSU so the Aggies and Tigers can meet on Thanksgiving weekend in coming years -- although that's not a done deal” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 8/30).

NEBRASKA LOOKING TO NEW ORLEANS: Nebraska Associate AD/Football Operations Jeff Jamrog yesterday said that “all signs point to the 2013 Nebraska-Southern Mississippi game being played in New Orleans.” He added that it would “be a night game at the Superdome on Sept. 7.” In Omaha, Kaipust & McKewon note the schools “have been working on an agreement for several months to move the game from Hattiesburg.” It is part of “a three-game agreement between the Huskers and Golden Eagles that will bring Southern Miss to Lincoln on Saturday and again in 2015.” Southern Miss AD Jeff Hammond said that moving the game “could mean between $1.2 million and $1.5 million in revenue for his school.” The Eagles “reportedly cleared $400,000 when they hosted the Huskers in 2003” (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 8/30).