Official now.

Quote:The Rice Owls will open their 2017 season facing the same opponent they met in the 2016 finale --but in a far more exotic locale--as Rice and Stanford inaugurate the 2017 college season by meeting in the second annual Sydney Cup in Sydney, Australia on August 26 (August 27 in Sydney).

http://www.riceowls.com/sports/m-footbl/...17aac.html

So the game time in Sydney is on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday afternoon?

(01-30-2017 02:22 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  So the game time in Sydney is on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday afternoon?

Yeah from the looks of it, it'll be 26th here when televised.

Already got my flight booked! thanks for the heads up

Looks like the game is at Allianz Stadium, which, at a 45K capacity, is half the size of ANZ Stadium, where Cal and Hawaii played before 60K last year. Guess they figured they wouldn't have as much demand, both domestically and internationally. At least Allianz is much closer to the Sydney CBD than ANZ.

(01-31-2017 09:27 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Looks like the game is at Allianz Stadium, which, at a 45K capacity, is half the size of ANZ Stadium, where Cal and Hawaii played before 60K last year. Guess they figured they wouldn't have as much demand, both domestically and internationally. At least Allianz is much closer to the Sydney CBD than ANZ.

That's great news! All of the stuff out in Homebush / Olympic Park is a fair trip out there, and isolated. Plenty of 'warm-up' pubs near Allianz

(01-31-2017 10:38 PM)Jacknife Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 09:27 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Looks like the game is at Allianz Stadium, which, at a 45K capacity, is half the size of ANZ Stadium, where Cal and Hawaii played before 60K last year. Guess they figured they wouldn't have as much demand, both domestically and internationally. At least Allianz is much closer to the Sydney CBD than ANZ.

That's great news! All of the stuff out in Homebush / Olympic Park is a fair trip out there, and isolated. Plenty of 'warm-up' pubs near Allianz

Agree.

Although I will say that seeing the Homebush/Olympic complex is a great way to appreciate just how much effort is involved in hosting the games.

(01-31-2017 10:38 PM)Jacknife Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 09:27 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Looks like the game is at Allianz Stadium, which, at a 45K capacity, is half the size of ANZ Stadium, where Cal and Hawaii played before 60K last year. Guess they figured they wouldn't have as much demand, both domestically and internationally. At least Allianz is much closer to the Sydney CBD than ANZ.

That's great news! All of the stuff out in Homebush / Olympic Park is a fair trip out there, and isolated. Plenty of 'warm-up' pubs near Allianz

But, the million dollar question is, will they be open Sunday morning??

(02-01-2017 09:21 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 10:38 PM)Jacknife Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 09:27 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Looks like the game is at Allianz Stadium, which, at a 45K capacity, is half the size of ANZ Stadium, where Cal and Hawaii played before 60K last year. Guess they figured they wouldn't have as much demand, both domestically and internationally. At least Allianz is much closer to the Sydney CBD than ANZ.

That's great news! All of the stuff out in Homebush / Olympic Park is a fair trip out there, and isolated. Plenty of 'warm-up' pubs near Allianz

But, the million dollar question is, will they be open Sunday morning??

Searching Google Maps for pubs near Allianz shows that The Light Brigade opens at 10 a.m. Several others nearby open at Noon.

(02-01-2017 03:25 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(02-01-2017 09:21 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 10:38 PM)Jacknife Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 09:27 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Looks like the game is at Allianz Stadium, which, at a 45K capacity, is half the size of ANZ Stadium, where Cal and Hawaii played before 60K last year. Guess they figured they wouldn't have as much demand, both domestically and internationally. At least Allianz is much closer to the Sydney CBD than ANZ.

That's great news! All of the stuff out in Homebush / Olympic Park is a fair trip out there, and isolated. Plenty of 'warm-up' pubs near Allianz

But, the million dollar question is, will they be open Sunday morning??

Searching Google Maps for pubs near Allianz shows that The Light Brigade opens at 10 a.m. Several others nearby open at Noon.

Ha, I did the same thing after I posted that...there are a few in CBD and Surry Hills that open at 9.

(12-21-2016 11:09 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-20-2016 10:47 PM)75src Wrote:  We play Army at home next year. They have been playing more than 120 years and it is not a "body bag" game.

That's why my proposed scheduling is two money bag games, plus UH, plus an academic school, which would include the service academies, Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Vandy, and any similar schools.

If we want 6 home games a year, and CUSA provides 4, we need 2 non-conference home games per year, or 12 over a six-year period. If we did two-for-ones with, say LSU and aTm, and a home-and-home with UH, that would provide 7 home games in six years (3 UH plus 4 aTm/LSU). If we do home-and-home with other academic schools, that's 3 more, or only 10 home games per 6 years. But that is 13 games in Houston over that same period. Alternatively, we could play Sam/PV/TSU at heme every year to get 13 home games per 6 years.

As for the idea that "body bag" games kill our season, the last time we played 3 of them, we broke a 45-year bowl drought. The following year, we replaced one of them with an FCS school, and on the first play of that game, we lost one of our better defensive players for the season. People can get hurt playing anybody. The moneybag games at least bring money that we need in return. I hope we get to where we don't need to play those games as quickly as possible. When we get there, I hope we keep playing them.

If P5 is the goal, we'll be playing a bunch of those games every year. Go to SEC west and we play aTm, LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Miss St, Alabama, and Auburn every year. Go to XII and we play Texas, Baylor, TT, TCU, OU, Okie State, K-State every year. So we can play 2-3 a year.

Is this still a "money-bag game" now that we know we're making nominal money?

If it isn't more profitable than playing the game at Rice Stadium than IMO it's pointless at best.

(05-12-2017 12:12 AM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  If it isn't more profitable than playing the game at Rice Stadium than IMO it's pointless at best.

We're being told it's not! Defending this is mind blowing to me. We'll break even on a game halfway across the world, televised at a time most of this hemisphere isn't watching football games, instead of having the only game our fans cared to see played in our home stadium. This isn't a financial decision...which is the only thing this thread was ok with justifying. Its a what the heck are we doing decision.

(05-12-2017 12:22 AM)BufflOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:12 AM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  If it isn't more profitable than playing the game at Rice Stadium than IMO it's pointless at best.

We're being told it's not! Defending this is mind blowing to me. We'll break even on a game halfway across the world, televised at a time most of this hemisphere isn't watching football games, instead of having the only game our fans cared to see played in our home stadium. This isn't a financial decision...which is the only thing this thread was ok with justifying. Its a what the heck are we doing decision.

Maybe someone is actually thinking about the experience for the athletes.

Once in a lifetime chance for a bunch of Owls, or another crappy home game. Geez, wonder which I would choose.

(05-12-2017 07:04 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  Once in a lifetime chance for a bunch of Owls, or another crappy home game. Geez, wonder which I would choose.

It's sad that playing a top ranked team in your own digs is a crappy experience. Glad we have all these great international trips to give these kids memories since dawning the R in our own stadiums isn't good enough for them anymore.

(05-12-2017 07:14 AM)BufflOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 07:04 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  Once in a lifetime chance for a bunch of Owls, or another crappy home game. Geez, wonder which I would choose.

It's sad that playing a top ranked team in your own digs is a crappy experience. Glad we have all these great international trips to give these kids memories since dawning the R in our own stadiums isn't good enough for them anymore.

Exactly. I'm sure the players at Western Michigan last year felt like they were missing out on something.

(05-12-2017 02:02 AM)HawaiiOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:22 AM)BufflOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:12 AM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  If it isn't more profitable than playing the game at Rice Stadium than IMO it's pointless at best.

We're being told it's not! Defending this is mind blowing to me. We'll break even on a game halfway across the world, televised at a time most of this hemisphere isn't watching football games, instead of having the only game our fans cared to see played in our home stadium. This isn't a financial decision...which is the only thing this thread was ok with justifying. Its a what the heck are we doing decision.

Maybe someone is actually thinking about the experience for the athletes.

But obviously not the impact of starting off the semester with an unnecessarily long road trip on the players' academic requirements. How many will fall behind on their coursework because of this, and never catch up? Just seems like a boondoggle to me, especially if there's no economic benefit. Has the Patterson facility already lost its "experience" for the athletes?

(05-12-2017 09:42 AM)TJS_NYC Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 02:02 AM)HawaiiOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:22 AM)BufflOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:12 AM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  If it isn't more profitable than playing the game at Rice Stadium than IMO it's pointless at best.

We're being told it's not! Defending this is mind blowing to me. We'll break even on a game halfway across the world, televised at a time most of this hemisphere isn't watching football games, instead of having the only game our fans cared to see played in our home stadium. This isn't a financial decision...which is the only thing this thread was ok with justifying. Its a what the heck are we doing decision.

Maybe someone is actually thinking about the experience for the athletes.

But obviously not the impact of starting off the semester with an unnecessarily long road trip on the players' academic requirements. How many will fall behind on their coursework because of this, and never catch up? Just seems like a boondoggle to me, especially if there's no economic benefit. Has the Patterson facility already lost its "experience" for the athletes?

Reminds me of the way the Hawaii trip was touted by the athletic department as plus for recruiting. Of course, this is voluntary, not forced.

I don't know if there is "no" economic benefit. I think there is some. I think there are other benefits, too. do the pluses outweigh the minuses, some of which you have listed? I don't know. I really have no idea what I would say if JK called me for my opinion. Maybe if he explained the pluses and minuses in more detail, that would help me to a decision. I am sure there must be some pluses, as i don't JK would make the deal if there were only minuses.

(05-12-2017 10:17 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 09:42 AM)TJS_NYC Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 02:02 AM)HawaiiOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:22 AM)BufflOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:12 AM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  If it isn't more profitable than playing the game at Rice Stadium than IMO it's pointless at best.

We're being told it's not! Defending this is mind blowing to me. We'll break even on a game halfway across the world, televised at a time most of this hemisphere isn't watching football games, instead of having the only game our fans cared to see played in our home stadium. This isn't a financial decision...which is the only thing this thread was ok with justifying. Its a what the heck are we doing decision.

Maybe someone is actually thinking about the experience for the athletes.

But obviously not the impact of starting off the semester with an unnecessarily long road trip on the players' academic requirements. How many will fall behind on their coursework because of this, and never catch up? Just seems like a boondoggle to me, especially if there's no economic benefit. Has the Patterson facility already lost its "experience" for the athletes?

Reminds me of the way the Hawaii trip was touted by the athletic department as plus for recruiting. Of course, this is voluntary, not forced.

I don't know if there is "no" economic benefit. I think there is some. I think there are other benefits, too. do the pluses outweigh the minuses, some of which you have listed? I don't know. I really have no idea what I would say if JK called me for my opinion. Maybe if he explained the pluses and minuses in more detail, that would help me to a decision. I am sure there must be some pluses, as i don't JK would make the deal if there were only minuses.

1. National TV exposure (which wouldn't have happened if at home)
2. At least some incremental revenue (above covering ALL costs)
3. Student-athlete experience (Dr. K has stated one of his goals is to give all our student-athletes one such opportunity during their time at Rice)
4. Dr. K indicated that had we not accepted the invitation we would never get another such opportunity again.

As for the concern of falling behind on academics-- you're kidding, right? They'll be out for just the first week of classes, and a short week at that since it's Labor Day weekend. What's more, they'll have 14+ hours of travel time each way to get a head start on reading course books.

(05-12-2017 10:17 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 09:42 AM)TJS_NYC Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 02:02 AM)HawaiiOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:22 AM)BufflOwl Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 12:12 AM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  If it isn't more profitable than playing the game at Rice Stadium than IMO it's pointless at best.

We're being told it's not! Defending this is mind blowing to me. We'll break even on a game halfway across the world, televised at a time most of this hemisphere isn't watching football games, instead of having the only game our fans cared to see played in our home stadium. This isn't a financial decision...which is the only thing this thread was ok with justifying. Its a what the heck are we doing decision.

Maybe someone is actually thinking about the experience for the athletes.

But obviously not the impact of starting off the semester with an unnecessarily long road trip on the players' academic requirements. How many will fall behind on their coursework because of this, and never catch up? Just seems like a boondoggle to me, especially if there's no economic benefit. Has the Patterson facility already lost its "experience" for the athletes?

Reminds me of the way the Hawaii trip was touted by the athletic department as plus for recruiting. Of course, this is voluntary, not forced.

I don't know if there is "no" economic benefit. I think there is some. I think there are other benefits, too. do the pluses outweigh the minuses, some of which you have listed? I don't know. I really have no idea what I would say if JK called me for my opinion. Maybe if he explained the pluses and minuses in more detail, that would help me to a decision. I am sure there must be some pluses, as i don't JK would make the deal if there were only minuses.

If they dont start fielding a team that someone actually cares to watch, the positives will be limited to the players experiencing a bowl game atmosphere downunder. How many college kids get a free trip like that? Of course it is a strain on them in the classroom, but better at the start than closer to exams. Patterson just puts us back in the game, not a step ahead of our competitors. If we dont start winning. any other benefits will be transient in terms of recruiting, positive name recognition, etc