KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Cincinnati will be playing a home game in Nebraska’s own backyard Thursday night. The crowd, most of which will be making a relatively short drive south to Arrowhead Stadium, will be almost entirely behind the Huskers.
So, why did the Bearcats agree to play in Kansas City, Missouri?
Money, for one thing, and that's no small thing in an era of NIL deals and revenue-sharing in college athletics.
The game between the Big 12 and Big Ten schools originally was slated for Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, about a two-hour drive from Cincinnati and hundreds of miles away from Lincoln, Nebraska. But it was put on the back-burner by the pandemic, and when it was resurrected, the landscape had shifted as money began to funnel straight to college athletes.
On the periphery of these changes was Mark Donovan, the visionary president of the Kansas City Chiefs. They've hosted college games at Arrowhead Stadium for decades, but less so in recent years, as TV began to dictate the when and where.
“Now they're all back on the table because of NIL,” Donovan said of college games, “so it's sort of opened the playing field.”
Donovan went to his production team and said, “Let's try to create something cool.”
Not just a game but an event.
“We went to Nebraska and said, ‘Whose deal is this?’ And they’re like, ‘Well, the home team is Cincinnati,'” Donovan recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. "So we went to Cincinnati and were like, ‘OK, well, what if we paid you more?’
Because make no mistake: While college football has always been a business, it has never been been more true.
“So we have a deal where we said, ‘OK, we’ll take more risk because we have to guarantee you a bigger amount, but we think we can make it work from a business perspective.’ This is an investment risk. That's what it is," Donovan said.
"But if we can make this happen, and it works, we can create our own experience around this, and it becomes a platform.”
So far, the risk has been worth the reward. Nebraska fans eager to see their season opener have snapped up tickets quickly, and new equipment and apparel company Battle Sports has become the title sponsor of the Kansas City Classic.
“If it's a home game, I'd rather be playing here in Nippert, for sure, in your own stadium, with your people,” Bearcats coach Scott Satterfield admitted. “They're three-and-a half hours away. We're about eight hours away, so they're a bit closer.”
Satterfield isn't complaining, just pointing out the facts.
“We're both going to be in hotels. We're both going to be having to deal with that. In that respect, it's the same,” he said. “There is no advantage either way. It comes down to who's going to come out with the best game plan. Who's going to execute?”
Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby understands all of that. But the venue nonetheless is a big reason why the Huskers, who are continuing to build in coach Matt Rhule's third season, are 6 1/2-point favorites, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
“We feel like we can go in there and compete with anybody,” Sorsby said. “It’s our job to go in there and prove ourselves right, and go in there and find a way to win a game. We’re not paying too much attention to it, but definitely use it as motivation."
There is ample motivation for the Chiefs to put on a Thursday night spectacle, too.
Besides the bottom line that comes with hosting this game, the Chiefs are endeavoring to create an event that resonates far beyond Nebraska-Cincinnati. The NFL franchise is in the midst of deciding whether to renovate aging Arrowhead Stadium or to build anew — possibly even a domed stadium — and what that could mean for business going forward.
“It's something to consider,” Donovan said. “If you get a dome, that puts you in the game for big events. And we have to have a brand in place, because we're going to be competing. A dome, most likely that's getting us a Super Bowl. We're on the list for a Final Four. But we've got to go to work. That's a competitive bid. So all this factors into that.”
When the Chiefs landed World Cup games for next summer, they put together a presentation that highlighted their success in hosting the AFC title game and NFL draft, and the neighboring Royals having hosted the World Series and All-Star Game.
The game between Nebraska and Cincinnati is another example that they can put forward.
“We blew the doors off with tickets. We're profitable. It makes sense for both teams,” Donovan said. “Now we're going to go crazy on the experience, crazy with influencers and social media, and highlight everything else. We're going to have a platform that people are going to look and see, you know, three months from now when we're talking to other teams about playing here, we can point and say, ‘Look at what we did.’ And hopefully we do it on an annual basis.”
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