LITTLE ROCK — Far down Hunter Yurachek’s lengthy to-do list is a review of Arkansas and Texas A&M playing annually in Jerry Jones’ stadium in Arlington, Texas.
There is no rush for Arkansas’s new athletics director and that’s a good thing considering more immediate priorities such as learning Razorback culture, shaking hands around the state, keeping tabs on 19 athletic programs and discussing Razorback football games in Little Rock.
Sooner or later, Yurachek will get around to the current contract, which is good through 2024.
Long before then, he will know whether Chad Morris has succeeded in stocking the roster with a good number of Texas athletes — a must for Arkansas to become a consistent winner in the SEC. If Morris is successful, his numerous connections to high school coaches in Texas and his commitment to an in-vogue offense will have proven far more valuable recruiting the talent-laden state than playing A&M in Arlington.
Ever since the Razorbacks vs. Aggies series began as an out-of-conference matchup in 2009, Arkansas enthusiasm for playing in Arlington included the belief that the site would expand exposure of the Razorback product and improve recruiting in Texas. The number of players who signed with Arkansas because they saw the Razorbacks play in Arlington was always in doubt — the 2017 UA media guide listed only 15 athletes from the Lone Star State — and Arkansas’ best sales pitch was negated when A&M joined the SEC in 2012. Until then, Arkansas could tell a Texas athlete who wanted to compete in the best league in the country, that he should be a Razorback.
Once the SEC took in the Aggies and Missouri, A&M could tout the league affiliation to players and provide the kicker — proximity to parents.
Unavoidably, money is part of any A&M-Arkansas calculus.
Whether home or visitor, most of Arkansas’ payday in Arlington is from ticket revenue, which averages $2.5 million annually, partly because fans pay $85 for seats in the nosebleed section and $300 for lower-level seats. Ticket revenue in Fayetteville averaged $4.1 million per game for five years, but that figure is expected to reach $5.1 million in 2018 when a stadium expansion is completed.
Of course, Arkansas would only net that revenue every other year if the A&M game is on a home-and-home basis.
After a $484 million stadium renovation and expansion of Kyle Field to a capacity of almost 103,000 was completed prior to the 2015 season, the Aggies’ ticket sales totaled almost $42 million for seven games and then-athletics director Eric Hyman said he was constantly re-evaluating the Arkansas contract. When hired in January 2016, his successor, Scott Woodward, said he was still gathering information on the game in Arlington, adding “ … just off the top of my head; I wish were playing it at Kyle Field.”
Best I can tell, Woodward has not publicly addressed the issue since, but it is easy to believe the Aggies in charge would prefer to play the Razorbacks in College Station.
In a recent interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Yurachek said he had not had any discussion about the series with Morris or University of Arkansas Chancellor Joe Steinmetz.
“Obviously that’s an important game and where it’s played with Mr. Jones and his family,” Yurachek said. “I think that’s probably a big piece of that puzzle for the University of Arkansas. I think there’s some things I’m going to have to take some time and gather more information and talk to Coach Morris before there’s any kind of preconceived opinions on the value of that game or where it’s played, whether it’s played there in Arlington or on a campus site.”
Such info is part of the learning curve for Yuracheck and considering Jones’ strong support of the UA program, it is difficult to imagine Arkansas trying to opt out of the contract.
After 2024, home-and-home is much in play.