New UNLV Stadium To Host Pac-12 Championship? Pt II
By Josh Davis
The article draws out several other events that the Stadium would potentially host, two of which include a new college football Bowl game and a Mountain West Conference Championship game. In light of this, it’s appropriate to talk about the possibility of a Pac-12 Championship also moving to the venue somewhere down the road.
Looking objectively, I don’t particularly mind the setup of the Pac-12 Conference as it currently stands. The team with the best conference record earns their site as home field, just like the MWC, Sun Belt and other non-BCS conferences do. Simple, direct, really good for the team with more wins during the season. But as a fan at a smaller school at the BCS level and also a fan of the Pac-12 in general, I’m trying to think of the variables.
If we somehow win the North at some point and have to go on the road to play a championship game, we’ll not get more than 1,000 seats of invitation. We don’t get opportunities like that very often and to get a limited amount of fan support there for the event just seems wrong. I would contend this for any school’s fan base as well, leading to my next point.
Don’t get me wrong, if it went the other way and we ever get a Championship game at Martin, it would be capital “A” awesome and now with the renovation is actually a stadium worthy of that particular game. I would not for one second complain about the process and would do my darndest to be at the game to help the other team not be able to hear. I also think the noise level of a packed Martin rivals most of the conference because of the dynamics, so I’m not complaining there either.
But it still leaves someone in the cold as far as tickets are concerned and would quite literally leave anyone at the game “out in the cold” and at the mercy of the weather. I would chalk this all up to nice home field advantage for the Cougs, but this is why the major BCS conferences play at generally good weather or indoor venues, is it not? The point is to level the playing field on a fair surface so that the best team comes out victorious.
Not to mention the potential to double the seats just seems like the right thing to do, seeing as Martin is still the smallest venue in the conference, by far. I can’t really see heading to Vegas to watch the Cougs play in a championship game and take on the town for a night or two as a bad deal for the WSU fan base, or any other fan base. Especially when considering the possible venue in question, I’m actually kind of licking my chops for that opportunity at some point in time. Aren’t you?
Look forward to Pt III tomorrow. Meanwhile chip in with your thoughts in our comments on a potential championship game at home vs away if the Cougs (or insert your team here) were to make it to the Pac-12 Championship in the near future.