Neutral site, non-conference games all about money, location for teams like FSU

Last season, the Florida State football team opened its quest to repeat as national champions in North Texas.

This season, FSU will be hosting Texas State University in its opener.

FSU's non-conference schedule, which also includes home games against USF and Tennessee-Chattanooga, is surely not as exciting as the neutral-site, non-conference games that have been announced for future seasons.

But FSU is participating in one of college football's latest trends, scheduling high-profile season openers thanks to the payouts and proximity to a central location for the schools involved.

"We want to stay in the vicinity where most of our fans can get to us and see us," FSU Athletics Director Stan Wilcox said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat last week.

"And we have a large contingency of our fan population that's in the state of Florida and Georgia, as well as, a lot of our kids are from Florida and South Florida.

"So we don't feel the need to go too far. And it helps us as far as being able to cut travel costs and things of that nature so we can maximize the revenue we make from neutral-site games."

At a FSU Board of Trustees meeting on June 26, Wilcox told members playing a neutral-site game makes $1 million more than having a home game at Doak Campbell Stadium.

FSU will make $3.5 million for playing Ole Miss at the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium to open the 2016 season.

The Seminoles are also on track to play their 2016 spring game in Orlando because of ongoing renovations to Doak Campbell Stadium, which are expected to be completed before the 2016 season.

FSU's 2017 season opener against Alabama in Atlanta could gross at least $4 million for both schools, the Palm Beach Post reported.

And a FSU-West Virginia game to open the 2018 season in Jacksonville is also in the works, and could be announced this week, according to the Florida Times-Union.

"It's the best preparation you have for going into a playoff game or a national championship or major bowl game," FSU coach Jimbo Fisher told the Palm Beach Post last week regarding the high-profile season openers. "It's a major game, the hype, that atmosphere and environment. And I think it's good for college football."

With FSU's run in the NFL draft over the last three seasons, winning the national title in 2013, opening their 2014 season in Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, and playing in the Rose Bowl twice in the last two years, FSU's brand is arguably the strongest it has ever been.

And the Seminoles are in prime position to pick and choose whichever non-conference, neutral-site game they wish to play in because of the success the program has gained under Fisher, who is entering his sixth season at the helm.

Other schools are also taking advantage of their locations to promote themselves in high profile games. Boston College and Notre Dame will play on Nov. 21 in the first football game in Fenway Park since 1968.

Tennessee and Virginia Tech will meet in 2016 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, less than 130 miles from each school. The race course could also hold upwards of 150,000 fans in attendance. The record for attendance at a college football game was set at 115,109 when Michigan hosted Notre Dame on Sept. 12, 2013.

Along with Orlando, FSU will also play in Tampa Bay and Miami in 2016 because of games already built into the schedule.

The Seminoles will finish a home-and-home series with USF in Raymond James Stadium and will also visit the Miami Hurricanes in Dolphins Stadium, which is undergoing a $400 million renovation expected to be completed by the start of the 2016 season.

Home-and-home series, while advantageous for certain teams on a case-by-case basis, could start to become scarce for high-profile teams.

FSU is slated to host Boise State in 2019 and return the favor in 2020. Before the series with USF, the Seminoles and Bulls met in 2009 (a 17-7 USF win) and in 2012 (a 30-17 win for the Seminoles in front of 69,383 people).

FSU's last significant home-and-home series with a team from a Power Five Conference was with Oklahoma in 2010 and 2011. The Seminoles lost both of those games, and are 1-6 all-time against the Sooners.

"Right now, the trend tends to be a one-off neutral site game because A) the money is more lucrative and B) you only have to play that marquee team once," said Andrea Adelson, ACC football reporter for ESPN.com. "You don't have to worry about having to play them twice."

"It just seems as if the home and home games with those marquee, national teams aren't going to be happening as much as they have in the past because of the way these neutral-site games have exploded and the amount of money they can pay out."

Coming Monday

•The Florida State football team informed the ACC it could start fall camp on Aug 5.

•Beginning Monday, the Tallahassee Democrat sports staff and NoleSports.com will start our '30 Days to Fall Camp' countdown, taking a look at this season's team in addition to some of the most game-changing plays, moments and players in Florida State history.