Arkansas State fan here, but I have all my teeth. Interesting reading the thread here.
I'm genuinely curious and not looking to mock anyone or act like the hurricane didn't really suck for you guys - but for those of you who don't think Arkansas State has a case here... why?
We had mutual open dates sooner than 2024 & 2025 but your AD didn't want to schedule it then.
If the game isn't returned, then Miami got a home money game for 300K. Whereas, we just received 1.7 Million from Alabama, and will get 1.9 Million from Georgia.
In addition, Arkansas State lost a home game - and a game in general. The estimated economic impact was well into the millions.
And at the end of the day, it's not that Miam couldn't play the game - no one disputes that. They chose not to. I'm not arguing that decision.
I'm just making the point...
Do you guys not see this from our side a bit too?
We have tried to explain this before, but your fans crap all over it. Are you going to actually listen?
First, you don't have a case because the contract SUCKED. The contract does not mandate "mutual open dates". That's some concept that you invented. Some jag-off A-State website administrator went on some crappy "future schedules" website and turned it into a thing.
Here's what you have to understand. Games are rescheduled all the time. Mizzou dropped out of a contract they had with Miami when they joined the SEC. That is "non-weather" rescheduling. If we had done that to A-State, then the "reschedule as early as possible" might be a valid issue. But it's not, due to the second issue.
So, number two, regardless of whether A-State wants to admit it, or live with it, Power Five teams that are trying to build a case for the Final Four cannot simply schedule 4 crappy OOC games. It would be easy for our AD to schedule FIU, FAU, Bethune-Cookman, and FAMU in the same year. ****, we would then have 8 home games. AWESOME, right? No. We need to schedule at least 2 of our 4 OOC games each year with a level of competition that will not be downgraded by the selection committee. UCF probably lost out on a chance to make the Final Four last year because its best Power Five game (Georgia Tech) had to be cancelled due to hurricane. The same thing might happen this year if they are unable to reschedule the North Carolina game.
In short, even though A-State would love to play "as soon as possible", it's not for you to look at our future schedule and point out a hole. Our AD is trying to balance out our home and away games, and the quality of our competition, so that if we happen to go 11-1 or 10-2 in the regular season, we have the best possible shot to make the Final Four.
As for your irrelevant points about what Alabama just paid you or what Georgia will pay you, that has no bearing on anything. The game you played in Miami was earlier. We all know that the price of one-off home games is increasing. Nobody disputes that. But you don't get to use a future contractual payout to go back and rewrite an old contract.
As for your "estimated economic impact", seriously...and I mean this seriously...go fvck yourself. If Miami had done everything A-State fans claim "they wanted", we would have flown to Arkansas mid-week, our fans would not have shown up, many of your fans would not have shown up, and all of your precious hotels and restaurants would have lost all that money ANYHOW. Seriously.
In all honesty, by the time that I got to the end of your post, I wanted to punch you in the throat, because you just keep repeating the same old tired BULLSH!TE that loser A-State fans have been repeating ever since..."waaaah, waaah, waaah, we lost millions [NOT TRUE] because Miami CHOSE not to play the game".
This is why we can't have nice conversations. This is why we can't "see this from your side a bit too".
You refuse to be intellectually honest. You refuse to confront reality. You refuse to put yourself in the shoes of ANYONE facing a Category Five hurricane.
IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. IT'S NOT ABOUT YOUR PATHETIC HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS. IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU HAVING 11 OR 12 GAMES.
It is, quite simply, about your horrible fans and your horrible AD having the disgusting temerity to try to shame us for making a HUMAN decision to allow our students to be with their families, to protect their loved ones and their homes, to NOT CHOOSE to fly away from danger and live in your oh-so-generously-offered hotel rooms in Arkansas while the rest of their families faced God-knows-what.
Seriously, will even one A-State fan EVER SHOW UP HERE and have an honest conversation?
1. It wasn't a choice. The ENTIRE UNIVERSITY shut down. The ENTIRE STATE shut down.
2. Your precious community didn't lose a dime. If we played the game early, NO FANS FROM MIAMI WERE COMING. Some of your own fanbase would not have shown up for a Thursday or Friday game. If you want to support your local hotels and restaurants, feel free to do so, but stop blaming us for not coming to a mid-week game on 2 days notice.
3. If you want Miami to come to A-State so badly, then stop slandering us, stop shaming us, stop blaming us, and acknowledge that a Power Five school's scheduling is not all about "first available Saturday", and accept the timeframe that we have offered to you.
This has NOTHING to do with A-State. Miami has, and will continue to, plan for hurricane-impact situations. We will take the same exact actions in the future for non-conference games. The myth of "Miami ducked us because we ALMOST beat Nebraska or our locker rooms suck or they don't have any respect for us" is the dumbest thing we have ever heard, and we can't figure out why people who claim to be intelligent would even fall for such nonsense.
But here we are.
.