Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
War Memorial not an easy sell
Rent issue for in-state teams
Kevin Crass is asked regularly about the future of the Arkansas Razorbacks football games at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Most of the questions presented to the chairman of the War Memorial Stadium Commission concern Arkansas’ game at the stadium in 2018, and if that will be its last in a series that dates to the stadium’s construction in 1948.
“I acknowledge that there are folks that see that as handwriting on the wall,” Crass said this week. “As chairman, I don’t accept that.”
What Crass accepts, though, is that the state-run commission will need to boost revenue now that the Razorbacks play only one game at the stadium instead of two each season, and that it will need to get creative to schedule additional games at a time when schools from all levels are finding more reasons to keep their teams on their own campuses.
When Arkansas plays No. 10 Georgia at 3 p.m. Saturday, thousands will descend upon War Memorial Park just like they have for decades. It used to happen four times every year, but in 2000 that was reduced to two games. Then, last November, the University of Arkansas and the stadium amended their contract. Instead of Arkansas playing twice there every year through 2016, it will play once each season through 2018.
Crass said the stadium’s financial situation will remain fine. As part of the amended agreement, Arkansas will pay the commission $400,000 annually through 2016 to make up for lost revenue by having one Arkansas game at the stadium instead of two. That should help the stadium pay off the remaining $2 million debt stemming from bonds taken out to build press box and club suites in 2010.
But Crass said if any additional capital improvements need to be made, then the commission will have to find additional sources of funding.
That’s where the state’s other schools come into the picture.
Little Rock Catholic High School plays its home games at War Memorial Stadium at a cost of about $4,500 per game, and North Little Rock is doing the same this year at the same charge. Benton and Bryant play their Salt Bowl game there each season, and the Arkansas Activities Association hosts its six state championship games there every December.
Arkansas Baptist Junior College plays there as well, and Crass said there are about two events held each week in the club suites.
Crass said there will be a push to get the state’s other 10 colleges with football programs back to the stadium.
In 2006, every Division I team — Arkansas, Arkan- sas State, the University of Central Arkansas and Arkansas-Pine Bluff — played at least one game there. But for a second consecutive year no Division I team other than Arkansas will play there this season, and the four remaining games Arkansas has on its contract are the only ones currently scheduled.
The biggest hurdle is the rent. The stadium charges Arkansas $75,000 and about $35,000 for most other college games. Schools have a difficult time paying those price tags when they already have their own stadiums.
“We’re very open to entertaining any offer, but for us to just go pay rent some place, that’s not going to happen,” ASU Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said. “It has to be financially beneficial to help strengthen our program.”
ASU and UAPB had an oral agreement to play its 2013 game there, but it was moved to Jonesboro so ASU could play its first game under then-Coach Bryan Harsin on campus. Mohajir and Crass haven’t talked about playing a future game in central Arkansas since.
In addition to rental concerns, ASU’s contract with Centennial Bank for naming rights to its on-campus stadium calls for a minimum of five games to be played there each season, and Mohajir prefers six home games. ASU generally makes at least $200,00 for each home game in Jonesboro, Mohajir said.
ASU also is eager to showcase its improved infrastructure, which includes an indoor practice facility scheduled to open in the spring and a west-side expansion that will include new suites and a renovated press box.
Mohajir said playing in Little Rock doesn’t provide ASU that much additional exposure either, considering all of its Sun Belt Conference games are shown live online on ESPN3.
“We have great supporters in central Arkansas, but we’re going to make our decisions on how it benefits Arkansas State and our athletic department,” Mohajir said.
UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague said the last time his school played at War Memorial in 2008 resulted in a “big financial loss.”
Teague said he would be willing to move the school’s 2016 game against ASU from Jonesboro to Little Rock, but Mohajir wants all of ASU’s home games against FCS opponents on campus. Teague said he wants at least six games on campus to showcase the school’s purple-andgray turf field for which it sold naming rights to First Security Bank.
Mohajir flirted this summer with the idea of moving next year’s home game against Missouri to Busch Stadium in St. Louis for what a source told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was between $1.5 million and $2 million, but eventually he chose to keep the game in Jonesboro.
Crass said the state-run commission does not have access to that type of cash.
“We have to balance the budget,” Crass said. “We take in and we spend.”
What War Memorial Stadium can do is work with the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau to help relieve costs. Crass said in the past the visitors bureau has offered to pay for the schools, but Mohajir, Teague and UAPB Athletic Director Lonza Hardy said that’s only a start.
UAPB last played there in 2012 in the last of the now defunct Delta Classic 4 Literacy, which was hosted by Arkansas Baptist. Hardy said a return to Little Rock is a “top priority” for UAPB, but that the cost is a hurdle for his program.
“Rent would be just a small part of what it would take to entice us to Little Rock,” Hardy said. “But right now we are operating under the belief that next season we will be playing a game in Little Rock.”
The stadium was considered by the Sun Belt Conference and the Mid-American Conference in the summer of 2013 to host a bowl game, but a group in Montgomery, Ala., was quicker to get sponsorship and a television contract. There are chances a bowl game could be reborn, but it’s not a guarantee.
Crass and the commission’s task continues to be attracting in-state schools at all levels to what was once Arkansas’ largest athletic venue.
“We need to figure out a way to make it more attractive, because the economics are real simple,” Crass said. “We can’t just say, ‘Pay us rent and give us the parking and concessions and have a good time.’ We have to figure out a partnership.
“I think the city of Little Rock has a role in that. The city is going to have to give folks an incentive to come play in the stadium.”