Colorado AD Rick George yesterday said that he has informed Colorado State that CU "will honor the current contract that runs through the 2020 game, but he has no intention of scheduling the Rams in football on a regular basis beyond that," according to Kyle Ringo of the Boulder DAILY CAMERA. The annual game is played at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, and George said that he "approached all parties involved ... about moving the game back to campus sites but one party refused." CSU interim AD John Morris admitted that CSU "likes the game played in Denver." He said that it gives the school "a chance to showcase the Rams in front of a large alumni base in the metro area." Ringo notes playing the game in Denver "has always been unpopular with many CU fans because they are not able to get the same seats in similar areas of the Denver stadium compared with where they sit in Folsom Field." Attendance at the Denver game has "suffered in recent years." The '14 game "attracted 63,363, the first year over the 60,000 mark" since '10. The '20 game is "scheduled to be played" at CSU's Hughes Stadium, but "all other games before then" will be contested in Denver (Boulder DAILY CAMERA, 2/5). George said, "After the current contract, playing the game in Denver is dead. And I'm not sure where our series with CSU goes after that either." In Denver, Tom Kensler notes athletic departments generally "depend on revenue from home football games to help fund nonrevenue or 'Olympic' sports." George said that that "requires a minimum of six home games." Every other year, CU will "play only four home conference games, so it can be difficult to schedule six home games and still play a representative schedule if one of the nonconference games is played in Denver against CSU" (DENVER POST, 2/5).
RAM TOUGH: In Colorado, Kevin Duggan cites an internal city memo as saying that Ft. Collins "could require CSU to go through a city planning review process before it starts building an on-campus stadium." If the city's planning and zoning board "did not approve stadium plans," CSU's BOG "could override the decision by a two-thirds vote, according to state law." City and CSU officials are "in the process of negotiating an intergovernmental agreement regarding the stadium and how its impacts -- such as traffic, parking and noise -- would be mitigated and at what cost." The 36,000-seat stadium would be "located in the southwest part of the campus" (Ft. Collins COLORADOAN, 2/5).
