At Media Days, Harbaugh says announcement of game on foreign soil is coming.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jim Harbaugh says Michigan is close to announcing a game on foreign soil. Says he won't give away the details yet.</p>— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/_ZachShaw/status/1152227671524302848?ref_src=twsrc%…">July 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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And people were mad about playing at MSG.
The UW stadium is really pretty fantastic. I can't imagine Vancouver having a better football stadium.
I don't hate the idea but I would hate having to give up a home game or one of our upcoming marquee home and homes to make this work. Hopefully it's scheduled for 2028 or something once the series with Washington, UCLA, Texas and Oklahoma are finished.
Hate this idea. Don’t care who we play or where we play them.
How does Warde still have a job
/s
Jim Harbaugh vs. North Korea
Live on pay per view
Only $129.99
From Pyongyang
This Sunday Sunday Sunday
Does Harbaugh get help from any other former players of Da Bears? At least give him a mini-Ditka!
okay. harbaugh, who played for da bears, and he is coached by ditka. who you got, harbaugh and ditka, or the little tinpot nuclear weirdo?
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da bears, two, tree-fiddy to nuddin.
tree-fiddy?
ya well, I think dat weirdo will quit after da first quarter, ya know?
oh, ya, ok. Coz if it was the whole game... I mean, dat's diff'rent.
Actually, I think this would be a neat thing to do. I realize not everyone is a fan of it, and many of us might not go to the game purely based on distance alone should it be too far, but it would be cool to see Michigan play outside the US.
EDIT: I don't want a foreign game for a variety of reasons: 1) hard enough to win on the road; 2) takes away a potential home game; 3) I'll have to wake up really early or stay up really late to watch it; 4) overseas sports team travel screws everyone up for about three weeks.
ANOTHER EDIT: I'm guessing Japan, China or Australia/NZ. Because Jim has taken team trips to Europe and Africa.
I also do not want a game on foreign soil. What's the point of that, exactly? I know I'm cranky as fuck but I just don't get the point of this....college athletics have gotten out of control and there's no coming back.
Is this to drum up interest so we can sell more TV rights so the AD can make even more money......to NOT pay players with? WTF? If this happens, just make them officially a minor league sport so these guys can get paid once and for all....this feels so far away from my experiences and associations as a student.
Also, I pay license fees to miss one of the games because we're "expanding the brand" or some bullshit?
It's not a new concept. College football has been playing in Japan, Canada and Ireland for years. I don't care if Michigan plays a game in Ireland or something as long as we don't have to give up a home game. Those years we have 5 B1G home games we are already either playing road games or neutral site.
If we end up with 6 home games the year of the international game or cancel one of our upcoming series with UCLA, Oklahoma, Washington or Texas in favor of this I'll be pissed.
vs The Vatican at The Colliseum in Rome
I'm all for cool, fun, bonus, exciting events and exposure after the team has accomplished something meaningful on the field by doing boring, repetitive work.
Foreign games are a bit gimmicky. The only scenario I can think of that would be cool, would be to play Army or Air Force in Germany first game of the season near one of our bases. Solidify our German recruiting pipeline and be a cool thing for the armed services at the same time. I'd want a bye week or cupcake team the week after though. Probably want a bye and then a cupcake. It should be an away game for us and a home game for Army.
This would be cool, no doubt. But for the love of god, stop scheduling the military schools!
How about a home game in Windsor? Lots of "other stuff" to do there.
That would be funny and get us mocked. We'll build hype for a foreign soil game for a year and then announce a game in Windsor against Eastern Michigan.
Attending several performances of the Windsor Ballet is high up on the bucket list of any red-blooded young man in SE Michigan. It's a cultural experience that's part of the Michigan Difference.
It's clearly a non-conference game, since Harbaugh said Michigan would announce it soon. The Big Ten would make the announcement if it were a conference game.
It's not a novel idea, just new for Michigan. I guess I'll wait to learn the details before making a judgment. This sounds like one of Jim's ideas, not Warde's.
Michigan-UCLA in Mexico City.
Take another game away from the fans. Awesome.
First it’s the NYC game for MBB and now this.
As of the moment, there's no evidence this would come at the expense of an AA game.
U-M has 2 OOC home games and an open spot in 2022. That's a year where the East plays 5 home games.
They can add a neutral-site OOC game over Labor Day weekend, and move the Colorado State game currently scheduled for Labor Day Saturday to some other week. That's would be a 7-home game schedule, including UCLA, Nebraska & PSU. Seems like a good AA slate to me.
Thanks sir! Leave it to a PSU fan to come in here with logic and reason...for all we know it could be taking a home game away from an opponent and putting it in a venue more favorable for us! The faux outrage on this board today is head-scratching.
I am going on the record with the game being Michigan vs. ND in Ireland in 2022. This will be a home game for ND. Michigan makes up for the manipulative 2 home games in a row by ND. Am I blinded by fanatical optimism? Almost certainly...
Hackett said when the ND deal was being made, UM would get consecutive home games since ND got 2 in a row in 2014 and 2018.
I hope they aren't bending over to ND yet again.
???????
After the 2019 season, Notre Dame won't be on the schedule again for AT LEAST a decade.
Unless this is sarcasm and the heat is making me too dumb to notice.
You really think they won't take off a game like with Arkansas and make the ND / Michigan rivalry happen again? I bet they play by 2024.
There is a an open date in the 2022 season - not sure why you are making the emphatic decade statement?
This was my first guess as well. Canada does seem cool enough for Harbaugh.
If any of the other Big Ten schools wants to give up a home game to play Michigan at Wembley Stadium in London, or Allianz Arena in Munich, or Olympiastadion in Berlin, or Aviva Stadium in Dublin, or BC Place in Vancouver, or Rogers Centre in Toronto in the week before a bye week, or if an SEC school wants to give up a home game to play Michigan at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg or Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires at night in August when temperatures drop into the 40's, then that might be okay.
Otherwise,
Michigan vs. B1G opponent in Dublin
I agree with Dublin --- in fact, I'd say it's 80% likely that's the spot.
Whether it's a B1G opponent --- I don't know. Maybe. I'm not sure who the logical B1G opponent is. Penn State would make the most sense but I doubt either school would willingly want to give up a home game in that series.
Also, it's most logical to do this in the 1st game of the season. Labor Day weekend. Folks can more easily travel and make a longer-trip out of it. A mid-season game could really throw a team's momentum out-of-whack.
But if it comes to be, I'd highly recommend every U-M fan make an effort to go an overseas game. A once-in-a-generation unique experience.
Gotta build that brand!
Seems the reactions are mixed. I personally do not like the idea at all. There are only 7 to 8 homes games per year and those are sacred days. I would hate to give one up for a game in a foreign country. I already do not like the neutral site games.
My bet is in Canada, to get recruit exposure. Maybe play in Windsor or Toronto, vs a team like Central Michigan (McElwain). He won't do it during the summer trips, and it has to be a relatively close drive.
What we need to do is add a New Jersey school to the big ten so we can get that yummy NY TV market. Good for the student athlete!
Windsor, ON?
Or why not Sault Ste Marie Ontario? Just UP the road for you, eh?
I think its somewhat silly. There is little to no interest in college football outside the US, so really its a destination tourism thing. Do players really get anything out of it?
Actually, they do. Trips like this always include some time for sightseeing and some local culture. Assuming they don't give up a home game, I'm much less opposed to this than I am the MSG thing.
Well its unlikely to be a 13th game so someone is giving up a home game.
Agreed. As long as it's the other team, I'm OK with this. :)
I mean, realistically, we won't know until we see the opponent. They have an open slot in 2022 that would work: they already have 7 home games that year. In 2023, they also have an open slot, but they only have 6 home games, so if this is a 2023 game, they're basically giving up a home game. That's how I'd look at it. 7 home. 4 road, 1 neutral, I can handle. 6 home, 5 road, 1 neutral, I think it's a poor decision.
This will be the 2022 game originally scheduled at Rutgers. It will be played on the flight deck of the USS Gerald R. Ford, which will sail down to Turks and Caicos for the game. Stephen Ross is footing the bill for lodging and meals, and Tom and Giselle are calling the coin flip on their yacht anchored alongside the Ford.
So this was your announcement of his announcement of a future announcement. Trippy.
It’s very hard for this not to be a bad idea.
Uninterested. Neutral site regular season games are, and always will be an absurdity in college football. Especially when they require a passport.
I'm clearly the minority in this discussion because I think it sounds awesome. For those of us that have lived abroad, UM is a dominant global brand. It's great to walk around Tokyo, Rio, Cape Town, and other spots, wearing a UM hat or shirt, and getting a "Go Blue."
Several years ago, I attended the Navy - ND game in Dublin with some buddies from the Academy. It was one of the coolest college sports experiences I have ever had. It's not something that I would advise doing annually (or all that frequently), but to do it as a one-off would be really freaking cool. (On that note: ND vs. UM in Dublin would be a pretty epic event to attend)