| Were We Robbed of the Razorbacks? | |
| UA announces that more games will be played in Fayetteville |
By Amanda Galiano
Dateline: 2/15/00
For those of you who have been living under a rock, the decision has been made about where the Hogs will play. The board decided on a 15 year arrangement. 4 of the 15 years the Razorbacks will play 3 games in Little Rock. The other 11 they will only play 2. This year will be one of the 3 game years, which makes it nice for business who need to get used to the idea.
Was the decision a compromise or a polite send off to the hogs? Personally, I think it was a nice consolation prize to the losers, Little Rock. The decision was U of A's nice way of saying "Hey Little Rock, it's been nice playing with you guys but we're going to go. Since you've been kind enough to host us, we'll give this nice a gift of a few more games." I think we'll be lucky if we do indeed get the 4 years of 3 games and after 15 years, the hogs will probably be playing all of the games in Fayetteville.
Most fans are taking this in stride. Most of the fans don't really care where they see the hogs as long as they see them. After all, the Razorbacks are Fayetteville's team aren't they? Yes, they are and no they're not. Little Rock buisness owners, hotel chains, even the stadium have depended on the Hogs for income for a very long time and suddenly the University decides to stake it's claim to the Arkansas Razorbacks. With the of U of A decision, these businesses have a year to find a new source of income or rebudget. War Memorial Stadium will probably never be renovated now. They will lose a large amount of income and without the hogs, why even bother renovating? Perhaps it was wrong to depend on the income generated by Razorback games, but it has consistently been generated for decades and now, in a few short years, it's going to be gone.
Everyone in Arkansas takes great pride in the Razorbacks (win or lose, everyone in Arkansas cheers them on) not just Fayetteville. Little Rock is always in the front row. While I do agree that Fayetteville deserves the share the wealth I don't agree with the "compromise". It seems more a consolation prize to Little Rock than a true compromise. It's the beginning of the end of an era and the beginning of end of a great Razorback tradition. Regardless of where they play, the Razorback fans (even those from Little Rock and even those who have been hurt by the U of A decision) will keep supporting the team but it won't be the same in Fayetteville.
