Carrier Classic Execs Claim To Have Solved Condensation Problem, Plan To Return In '13

Carrier Classic officials claim "they have an 'engineering solution' to the condensation problem" that wiped out the Ohio State-Marquette game Friday night on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, according to Jeff Hartsell of the Charleston POST & COURIER. Event promoter Mike Whalen yesterday said that the solution “should prevent similar problems when the Carrier Classic returns to the Yorktown on Nov. 8, 2013.” But with “copycat carrier games springing up around the country, Whalen wants to keep the solution secret.” Whalen and Patriots Point Exec Dir Mac Burdette said that they are “discussing a three-year deal to keep the Carrier Classic at the Yorktown.” Whalen said that he “plans to bring the Carrier Classic back to the Yorktown next year, pending approval by the Patriots Point Development Authority Board.” He plans for “another doubleheader, with men’s and women’s games.” In addition, Whalen said that "playing both games during daylight is not feasible because of TV requirements.” NBC Sports Network was to televise this year’s Carrier Classic, and Whalen said that he is “in negotiations for TV rights to next year’s event.” He also said that he has “heard from about 15 teams interested in playing next year, including six men’s teams currently ranked in the Top 25.” Whalen said that about 90% of tickets "were given away this year,” and a refund policy for tickets sold “is still being determined” (Charleston POST & COURIER, 11/13).

ALL IN FAVOR: ESPN.com’s Andy Katz wrote the UConn-Michigan State men’s basketball game at Ramstein Air Base in Germany last Friday “was a huge success.” The “USO-style tour is now in Year 1 of 5 (the plan is for ESPN and the Department of Defense to coordinate games at sites related to the four other branches -- Army, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy), and it works.” The two games on the aircraft carriers that were canceled Friday “were poorly timed.” The games “should never have been played on the East Coast and at night.” Playing on a base “ensures the game won't be interrupted by weather and guarantees a unique environment.” Katz: “You can squawk that the games on ships are gimmicks. And maybe there were too many of them, considering two were canceled (with one shut down at halftime). But the military was genuinely overwhelmed that there was this much interest and commitment from two programs to fly to Europe” (ESPN.com, 11/12).

ALL OPPOSED: SPORTS ON EARTH’s Mike Tanier wrote, “Next Veterans Day, we should honor America’s military personnel by not trying to play basketball on aircraft carriers.” Aircraft carrier games on paper “combine the best elements of Army-Navy football and the NHL’s Winter Classic: quality sporting events in a unique venue with a healthy dose of patriotic pageantry.” But these events on deck “challenge the principles of meteorology and thermodynamics -- and they lose badly.” Tanier: “Bad luck aside, a canceled Veterans Day tribute is worse than no tribute. The cancelations gave the impression of unpreparedness. The U.S. Navy, in an effort to accommodate the NCAA, television networks and sponsors, looked incapable of coping with dew. It was exactly the wrong message” (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 11/12).