Tonight’s traditional opening of the Rocky Mountain college football season — the 81st meeting between Colorado and Colorado State — will be the last edition of the in-state rivalry played in Boulder for at least a decade.
Some CU fans are unhappy about this. They think college football belongs in college stadiums on college campuses, particularly theirs. And generally speaking, they’re right, although not in this case.
In fact, word of the landmark 10-year deal to play the game at Invesco Field in Denver starting next year had some of them calling the CU athletic department in a panic.
“I’ve had some people call and say, ‘Hey, is it true we’ve moved the Nebraska game?’ ” CU athletic director Mike Bohn reported. “The answer is no, absolutely not. We’re committed to all the other six games in Boulder, regardless of who we’re playing. So when we host Georgia in ’10 and Cal in ’11 and Washington in ’15, those games will be in Boulder.”
Imagine how CSU feels. The last time this game was played in Fort Collins, Rick Neuheisel was the CU coach. CSU has turned its home games into Denver games since 1996. The calculation was pretty easy. More than doubling the capacity of Sonny Lubick Field improved everything from the profile of the game to the pay day.
CU was always the harder sell, in part because it made certain promises when it sold high-end amenities at Folsom Field. Among them was a minimum of six home games.
Bohn’s predecessor, Dick Tharp, needed the CSU game in Boulder in 2004 and 2005 to satisfy that commitment. Bohn needed this year’s there for the same reason. Those are the only three out of the last 12 not played in Denver.
That wasn’t fair competitively — CU played only home and neutral site games while CSU played only road and neutral site games — but CU would not be moved. Not until Denver leaders, including Mayor John Hickenlooper and sports commission officials Steve McConahey and KieAnn Brownell, got involved.
“It just seemed like an opportunity that was kind of slipping away,” Hickenlooper said. “You know when you were in high school they talked about potential energy? A boulder could be on the side of the hill and just a little bit of a nudge, once it gets going, all hell breaks loose. Well, in a very positive way, I think that’s what a lot of us are hopeful that this game could be.”
A lot of us in Denver have argued for years that making CU-CSU a showcase event in the state capital elevates the schools, the rivalry and college football itself, which can have a tough time finding oxygen in this pro-dominated sports market. But we don’t answer to alumni associations, as Bohn and CSU athletic director Paul Kowalczyk do. Hickenlooper tried to raise the stakes on the conversation above the parochial concerns that had created the stalemate.
“It is one of the more high-profile things that CU and CSU are engaged in — for better or for worse; you can love or hate it,” the mayor said. “But sports often becomes this symbol of something bigger. That’s why people are so attracted to sports; certainly one reason.
“By having the game on neutral turf where the vast majority of the alumni live, it allows both schools to have an emotional investment in the game and that translates into an emotional investment, or a reinvestment, into the universities.
“The alumni are where you get the critical mass, but then everyone gets swept along. And I think that in a way this is a golden opportunity for people to really kind of step up and begin to appreciate the magnitude of the contribution of CU and CSU.”
We know it went to the top of the university administration because Hickenlooper credits CU president Bruce Benson for seeing the big picture.
“I think he clearly saw a larger vision there that this game could be more than just sports,” the mayor said. “It could be an avenue for the whole region to support our state universities. I think Benson deserves a lot of credit for that.”
The pressure now falls on Bohn to find nonconference opponents willing to play at Folsom without a reciprocal visit from CU. With the CSU game in Denver for the next decade, two of CU’s three remaining nonconference games each year must be at Folsom to satisfy the six home game guarantee.
“The commitment to ensure that six games are always in Boulder on our regular schedule, coupled with the game in Denver, created a seven-game home scenario for us for the next 10 years, which is really unprecedented in our history,” Bohn said. “We believe that makes a lot of sense for us economically, but also competitively.”
Who says nobody ever puts aside parochial interests for the greater good? Showcasing this game in Denver each year is a no-brainer. If Hickenlooper can break this stalemate, maybe he should sit down with Josh McDaniels and Brandon Marshall.
Dave Krieger: 303-954-5297 or dkrieger@denverpost.com
