This morning, as the UCF press release indicated, UCF and Penn State have officially agreed to kick off the 2014 season in Dublin, Ireland. Football coach George O'Leary and AD Todd Stansbury are currently in Dublin and so is Penn State AD Dave Joyner. Bill O'Brien had a previously-scheduled engagement and could not make the trip.
On Friday, a few of us had the opportunity to get a "briefing" if you will from UCF athletic department personnel, including Associate Athletic Directors David Hansen and Zack Lassiter, AD of Communications Andy Seeley and Football Media Relations Director Brian Ormiston. Ormiston, as well as Chip Fontanazza from the video department, are also in Dublin today.
On Feb. 6, UCF agreed to a future series with Penn State. That included a game in State College for this season and a return game - TBA - in possibly 2014 or 2015. Because of previous scheduling obligations, questions about future Big Ten scheduling and the desire to play a destination game (like Ireland), Penn State wasn't able to guarantee a specific date for a return to Orlando, and in the weeks to follow it became evident that a game in Orlando likely would not happen for 2014 or 2015.
"When we set the two dates, they did agree to return the game, but they were also honest and upfront," Hansen said. "They said it would be a challenge to make it work. As we got along in the process it became more apparent the likelihood of them coming here was diminishing by the day."
So in late March, UCF's David Hansen, in conjunction with his counterpart at Penn State, then began exploring the possibility of moving the return game to Ireland. The idea was fully endorsed by both head coaches, so UCF got to work to see if this was indeed feasible.
"When I met with Coach O'Leary and the word Ireland came up, he looked up, looked at me and I looked at him," Hansen said. "That's interesting,' he said. In the days and weeks after that, with myself and my counterpart at Penn State talking through it, the two head coaches talked about it, so we decided to explore playing this game in Ireland."
While always in communication with Penn State, UCF actually did the majority of logistical planning as this was technically UCF's "home game." The first thing Hansen did was place a call to Navy, who just played their 2012 "home" contest with Notre Dame in Dublin. Navy planned their trip three years in advance, and UCF was facing a timeline of 17 months if this was to be for the 2014 season opener. They knew they had to get working.
Hansen said the Navy model would not work for UCF - Navy sold tickets and did all the marketing - and UCF knew they didn't have the time to do that, nor would it be financially feasible.
UCF then decided to look at potential sponsors in Ireland which could host the game. In late April, UCF received an offer from the Gaelic Athletic Association, an organization that is well over 100 years old and promotes traditional sport within the country with a current membership of well over 700,000. After their phone conversation, they became pretty confident that this would work.
At that point, UCF decided to take a trip to Dublin to meet with the GAA, which they did the last week of May. That group included Hansen, Lassiter, Brad Stricklin (UCFAA finance) and Marty O'Leary (Director of Football Operations).
"That was the group that in each of our areas we needed to understand the different parts of the agreement," Hansen said. "It's more than just playing a football game obviously."
This was a "site survey" if you will as UCF wanted to make sure they felt comfortable with playing a football game such a long ways from home.
"We had a great visit and actually started to negotiate terms with the GAA (on that visit)," Hansen said. "That was the start, just six weeks ago, and to bring together in six weeks, I think it is a pretty big accomplishment... Penn State has been great to work with in this and we have a great deal of respect for the GAA. We've gotten to know them through this process and we've built a very fair, equitable agreement that makes this event very strong we feel."
American, ESPN fully on board
Last week, Hansen and Lassiter made a special trip to the Northeast.
"On Monday, we flew up to Providence to meet with Commissioner Aresco and his staff," Hansen said. "They were very excited about this. It's very special for the conference. The next day, we drove up to Bristol to meet with ESPN. We sat with some of their senior people to discuss this event thoroughly. It was a very productive visit. I was a little surprised at how excited they were. This is a special event for ESPN. Very unique. This will be their first college football telecast from Ireland."
The game is confirmed for Saturday, August 30, 2014 with TV coverage on ESPN2. The kickoff will be 8:30 a.m. EST, which translates to 1:30 p.m. in Dublin.
"This game will be the lead-up and run concurrently with College Gameday," Lassiter said. "ESPN plans on promoting this game pretty heavily, so that opportunity made this attractive to us and for the GAA as well."
Lassiter expects there will be several "live look-ins" during ESPN Gameday, which begins at 10 a.m. They also expect considerable pre-game publicity from ESPN.
"This isn't just another game (for ESPN)," Lassiter said. "This is closer to a bowl game from a creative process."
American Associate Commissioner Tom Odjakjian accompanied Hansen and Lassiter on their trip to meet with ESPN.
Stadium
The name of the game is "Croke Park Classic."
The Navy-Notre Dame game was played in Aviva Stadium, but that game was coordinated by an American-based group. This game will be played in Croke Park because the GAA owns the stadium. The GAA was not involved in last year's game.
The Croke Park capacity for the game will be 69,000.
"There's a strong expectation that the majority of fans at this game will be from Ireland," Lassiter said. "They have a strong desire to be involved in American football. They've been trying for years to get an NFL game. The GAA and the country want to show they can support a major football game."
Team Itinerary
The UCF football team plans to fly to Dublin on Wednesday of that week. They would fly home after the game. Next spring, they will begin the process of obtaining passports for all the players.
Tickets, finances
Lassiter said the concept of a "ticket allotment" does not apply to this game. The GAA will control ticket distribution. For now, the only tickets available are through UCF's official travel partner, which is outlined in the press release.
"During this initial period, we've secured a small number of tickets they can offer to UCF and Penn State that are part of this official travel experience," Lassiter said. "That's all we've decided to do at this point."
Lassiter expects there will be an opportunity to purchase single-game tickets, perhaps sometime next year.
"We're not on sale for next year's game against BYU obviously," Lassister said. "For the initial interest, for people that know they want to go, the tickets are available through the travel package."
The GAA has a membership-base as well who will receive an opportunity to purchase tickets. A small number of endzone tickets did go on sale today, though I do believe those sales are limited to Irish residents.
UCF will see a financial gain from this game.
"We weren't going to do this for a break-even standpoint," Hansen said. "We went into it to make as much or more than having a home game with Penn State. That was our concept. We feel like we've got a plan to do that without talking specific numbers."
2014 schedule
On Friday, UCF cancelled their scheduling contract with Jacksonville State. UCF's 2014 non-conference schedule is now as follows:
Saturday, Aug. 30 - vs. Penn State (Dublin, Ireland)
Saturday, Sept. 6 - FIU
Saturday, Sept. 13 - at Missouri
Saturday, Oct. 11 - BYU
I asked if they preferred a bye week after this trip, but it appears the scheduling with FIU wouldn't allow for it. In any case, O'Leary was not opposed to playing the following week as UCF will "gain" five hours on the flight home.
Tidbits
I asked if this was a UCF "home game" for purposes such as uniforms, officials, etc.
"We like to say the GAA is the home team," Lassiter said. "This is a GAA home game. We certainly did a lot of work to get it to this point, but we don't want to be seen as the home team and Penn State seen as the road team. We're both the road team and the GAA is hosting this game. We're all partners."
The game will have American Athletic Conference officials.
Another question I asked. What are the chances UCF incorporates some Irish flair into their uniforms, possibly with a shamrock helmet?
"We've recently shown our willingness to do things a little more creative than we have in the past, so I wouldn't be surprised if we had a few ideas that we're thinking about, but nothing is public at this point."
Everybody knows Coach O'Leary is very proud of his Irish heritage and this weekend's trip is actually his first ever visit to the country.
"There will be a swarm of media in Ireland," Ormiston said. "We'll constantly be moving between radio and TV interviews, and be on the field for the Leinster Football Finals (happening on Sunday). The exposure and publicity we'll get for UCF go so far in elevating the program."
Chip Fontanazza from the video team is with the group in Dublin so UCF will have plenty of video features in the days to come.
On Friday, a few of us had the opportunity to get a "briefing" if you will from UCF athletic department personnel, including Associate Athletic Directors David Hansen and Zack Lassiter, AD of Communications Andy Seeley and Football Media Relations Director Brian Ormiston. Ormiston, as well as Chip Fontanazza from the video department, are also in Dublin today.
On Feb. 6, UCF agreed to a future series with Penn State. That included a game in State College for this season and a return game - TBA - in possibly 2014 or 2015. Because of previous scheduling obligations, questions about future Big Ten scheduling and the desire to play a destination game (like Ireland), Penn State wasn't able to guarantee a specific date for a return to Orlando, and in the weeks to follow it became evident that a game in Orlando likely would not happen for 2014 or 2015.
"When we set the two dates, they did agree to return the game, but they were also honest and upfront," Hansen said. "They said it would be a challenge to make it work. As we got along in the process it became more apparent the likelihood of them coming here was diminishing by the day."
So in late March, UCF's David Hansen, in conjunction with his counterpart at Penn State, then began exploring the possibility of moving the return game to Ireland. The idea was fully endorsed by both head coaches, so UCF got to work to see if this was indeed feasible.
"When I met with Coach O'Leary and the word Ireland came up, he looked up, looked at me and I looked at him," Hansen said. "That's interesting,' he said. In the days and weeks after that, with myself and my counterpart at Penn State talking through it, the two head coaches talked about it, so we decided to explore playing this game in Ireland."
While always in communication with Penn State, UCF actually did the majority of logistical planning as this was technically UCF's "home game." The first thing Hansen did was place a call to Navy, who just played their 2012 "home" contest with Notre Dame in Dublin. Navy planned their trip three years in advance, and UCF was facing a timeline of 17 months if this was to be for the 2014 season opener. They knew they had to get working.
Hansen said the Navy model would not work for UCF - Navy sold tickets and did all the marketing - and UCF knew they didn't have the time to do that, nor would it be financially feasible.
UCF then decided to look at potential sponsors in Ireland which could host the game. In late April, UCF received an offer from the Gaelic Athletic Association, an organization that is well over 100 years old and promotes traditional sport within the country with a current membership of well over 700,000. After their phone conversation, they became pretty confident that this would work.
At that point, UCF decided to take a trip to Dublin to meet with the GAA, which they did the last week of May. That group included Hansen, Lassiter, Brad Stricklin (UCFAA finance) and Marty O'Leary (Director of Football Operations).
"That was the group that in each of our areas we needed to understand the different parts of the agreement," Hansen said. "It's more than just playing a football game obviously."
This was a "site survey" if you will as UCF wanted to make sure they felt comfortable with playing a football game such a long ways from home.
"We had a great visit and actually started to negotiate terms with the GAA (on that visit)," Hansen said. "That was the start, just six weeks ago, and to bring together in six weeks, I think it is a pretty big accomplishment... Penn State has been great to work with in this and we have a great deal of respect for the GAA. We've gotten to know them through this process and we've built a very fair, equitable agreement that makes this event very strong we feel."
American, ESPN fully on board
Last week, Hansen and Lassiter made a special trip to the Northeast.
"On Monday, we flew up to Providence to meet with Commissioner Aresco and his staff," Hansen said. "They were very excited about this. It's very special for the conference. The next day, we drove up to Bristol to meet with ESPN. We sat with some of their senior people to discuss this event thoroughly. It was a very productive visit. I was a little surprised at how excited they were. This is a special event for ESPN. Very unique. This will be their first college football telecast from Ireland."
The game is confirmed for Saturday, August 30, 2014 with TV coverage on ESPN2. The kickoff will be 8:30 a.m. EST, which translates to 1:30 p.m. in Dublin.
"This game will be the lead-up and run concurrently with College Gameday," Lassiter said. "ESPN plans on promoting this game pretty heavily, so that opportunity made this attractive to us and for the GAA as well."
Lassiter expects there will be several "live look-ins" during ESPN Gameday, which begins at 10 a.m. They also expect considerable pre-game publicity from ESPN.
"This isn't just another game (for ESPN)," Lassiter said. "This is closer to a bowl game from a creative process."
American Associate Commissioner Tom Odjakjian accompanied Hansen and Lassiter on their trip to meet with ESPN.
Stadium
The name of the game is "Croke Park Classic."
The Navy-Notre Dame game was played in Aviva Stadium, but that game was coordinated by an American-based group. This game will be played in Croke Park because the GAA owns the stadium. The GAA was not involved in last year's game.
The Croke Park capacity for the game will be 69,000.
"There's a strong expectation that the majority of fans at this game will be from Ireland," Lassiter said. "They have a strong desire to be involved in American football. They've been trying for years to get an NFL game. The GAA and the country want to show they can support a major football game."
Team Itinerary
The UCF football team plans to fly to Dublin on Wednesday of that week. They would fly home after the game. Next spring, they will begin the process of obtaining passports for all the players.
Tickets, finances
Lassiter said the concept of a "ticket allotment" does not apply to this game. The GAA will control ticket distribution. For now, the only tickets available are through UCF's official travel partner, which is outlined in the press release.
"During this initial period, we've secured a small number of tickets they can offer to UCF and Penn State that are part of this official travel experience," Lassiter said. "That's all we've decided to do at this point."
Lassiter expects there will be an opportunity to purchase single-game tickets, perhaps sometime next year.
"We're not on sale for next year's game against BYU obviously," Lassister said. "For the initial interest, for people that know they want to go, the tickets are available through the travel package."
The GAA has a membership-base as well who will receive an opportunity to purchase tickets. A small number of endzone tickets did go on sale today, though I do believe those sales are limited to Irish residents.
UCF will see a financial gain from this game.
"We weren't going to do this for a break-even standpoint," Hansen said. "We went into it to make as much or more than having a home game with Penn State. That was our concept. We feel like we've got a plan to do that without talking specific numbers."
2014 schedule
On Friday, UCF cancelled their scheduling contract with Jacksonville State. UCF's 2014 non-conference schedule is now as follows:
Saturday, Aug. 30 - vs. Penn State (Dublin, Ireland)
Saturday, Sept. 6 - FIU
Saturday, Sept. 13 - at Missouri
Saturday, Oct. 11 - BYU
I asked if they preferred a bye week after this trip, but it appears the scheduling with FIU wouldn't allow for it. In any case, O'Leary was not opposed to playing the following week as UCF will "gain" five hours on the flight home.
Tidbits
I asked if this was a UCF "home game" for purposes such as uniforms, officials, etc.
"We like to say the GAA is the home team," Lassiter said. "This is a GAA home game. We certainly did a lot of work to get it to this point, but we don't want to be seen as the home team and Penn State seen as the road team. We're both the road team and the GAA is hosting this game. We're all partners."
The game will have American Athletic Conference officials.
Another question I asked. What are the chances UCF incorporates some Irish flair into their uniforms, possibly with a shamrock helmet?
"We've recently shown our willingness to do things a little more creative than we have in the past, so I wouldn't be surprised if we had a few ideas that we're thinking about, but nothing is public at this point."
Everybody knows Coach O'Leary is very proud of his Irish heritage and this weekend's trip is actually his first ever visit to the country.
"There will be a swarm of media in Ireland," Ormiston said. "We'll constantly be moving between radio and TV interviews, and be on the field for the Leinster Football Finals (happening on Sunday). The exposure and publicity we'll get for UCF go so far in elevating the program."
Chip Fontanazza from the video team is with the group in Dublin so UCF will have plenty of video features in the days to come.
