FAYETTEVILLE — Texas A&M athletics director Ross Bjork said he might request the annual Southwest Classic game against Arkansas be moved to the Aggies’ home stadium, Kyle Field, this season.
Speaking Wednesday on the “Studio 12” podcast, Bjork said the Arkansas game “should be on campus anyway,” and not played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Razorbacks and Aggies are under contract to play annually in Arlington through 2024.
This year's game is scheduled for Sept. 26.
Bjork’s comment about the game came after he was asked about how a potential conference-only schedule might affect the Aggies. Texas A&M has already lost a scheduled nonconference home game against Colorado because the Pac-12 won’t permit its members to play teams from outside the conference.
“If something were to happen this year, we would do everything we can to move that (Arkansas) game to our campus, because this year it’s our home game,” Bjork said. “We’re designated as the home team.
“That dialogue has already started with (Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek) and because things are so fluid you don’t have to make any decisions right now. You put things on the table and you talk about what-if scenarios.”
During a Zoom conference with reporters Thursday, Yurachek said if the game is moved to Texas A&M’s campus in College Station this year, it would be fair to expect the 2021 game to be played in Fayetteville.
“I wouldn’t want to see Texas A&M get a home game this year and for us not to get that return game next year,” Yurachek said, and added SEC commissioner Greg Sankey would act as an arbitrator for any disagreements related to scheduling of the series.
Arkansas and Texas A&M have played at the Dallas Cowboys’ home stadium in Arlington most years since 2009 when the series began as a nonconference game while the Aggies were a member of the Big 12. Their first game in the series was the second college game ever played at the stadium.
The game has been hailed as a way for both teams to play close to large alumni bases in the Dallas area. The Razorbacks also have extensive ties to the Cowboys, whose owner/general manager Jerry Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones played for the Razorbacks, and John Stephen Jones — Stephen’s son — is a redshirt sophomore quarterback on Arkansas’ roster this year.
“We obviously have a relationship with the Jones family here,” Yurachek said. “They’re very supportive of that game and they own that venue. (Their) feelings on that might be slightly different than mine.”
The series was moved to the teams’ campuses for two seasons after Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012, and has been played in Arlington each year since 2014.
By playing at a neutral site, Arkansas and Texas A&M give up a game at their home stadium every other year. That leaves Texas A&M with three on-campus conference games in even-numbered years. Arkansas plays two on-campus conference games during odd-numbered years because it is also under contract to play Missouri every other year at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
The Razorbacks’ contract with War Memorial Stadium is set to expire in 2024, the same year as the contract at AT&T Stadium. Yurachek has said that will allow the UA to assess the best way to move forward with both venues.
“Every other year we have a challenge in our schedule,” Yurachek said last month. “This past season we only had two true SEC home games in Fayetteville, and that will happen to us again next year.
“It’s important as we spend significant dollars to renovate and expand our stadiums and the premium areas we have in our stadiums, to have as many premium home games — and Texas A&M is a premium home game — so I think there would be a desire to potentially move that game back to campus.”
Both teams have made significant renovations to their stadiums since the Aggies moved to the SEC. Texas A&M spent $450 million to overhaul Kyle Field in a renovation that was finished in 2015, and Arkansas unveiled a $160 million renovation to Reynolds Razorback Stadium two years ago.
Bjork and former Texas A&M athletics director Eric Hyman have have been critical of the neutral-site game with Arkansas that was agreed to in 2008 when Bill Byrne led the Aggies’ athletics department. Scott Woodward, who left Texas A&M for the athletics director role at LSU last year, expressed support for the neutral-site setting of the game.
The Texas A&M game is one of two Arkansas is scheduled to play this year at an NFL stadium. The Razorbacks are also scheduled to finish the season with a game against Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Nov. 28. That is a home game for the Tigers.
“In talking to Missouri’s AD, they still plan to play that game in Arrowhead Stadium,” Yurachek said.