Report: Michigan Adds Army To 2019 Schedule
Photo: Danny Wild/USA Today
FBSchedules.com reported this afternoon that Michigan will face Army in the 2019 home opener:
Michigan will host Army at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Sept. 7, 2019, according to a copy of the game contract obtained from the Army Athletic Association under a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Wolverines will pay the Black Knights a $1.5 million guarantee for the game, which will be the 10th overall meeting between the two schools. Army leads the series 5-4 and has won the last four meetings, the last coming in 1962.
While Army does hold a 5-4 edge in the series, it's Michigan that has won the last four. All nine games took place between 1945 and 1962, when Army was still a football power.
This is probably Michigan's replacement for what would usually be a MAC game. M opens the 2019 season at Arkansas, the latter half of a home-and-home series, and hasn't yet filled the other open non-conference spot. Starting in 2016, the Big Ten moves to a nine-game conference schedule, which leaves room for three non-conference games.
Army is the sort of opponent Michigan should play after opening the 2019 season in Fayetteville against Arkansas. In that regard, scheduling the USMA makes sense, and I expect the following Saturday after that game will be filled with another pay-for-play team because the game at Wisconsin is the conference season opener.
I would like to make the case, however, for a ten-game Big Ten Conference schedule. Instead of an opponent from the MAC, Mountain West, American Athletic, etc., perhaps the B1G should start considering a tenth conference game. It would mean losing a home game every other year seeing that UM has at least one home-and-home opponent on the schedule through 2027. OTOH, it'd make for a potentially more interesting schedule and UM wouldn't have to pay that $1.5M for the second pay-for-play opponent.
In 2019, Michigan doesn't have Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue or Minnesota on the schedule. With only four home conference games on the schedule (Iowa, Rutgers, Michigan State, Ohio State), that additional B1G game would be played in Ann Arbor as early as September 14.
The Big Ten has published conference schedules in place through 2019, so 2020 might be the earliest season this could happen. Michigan has its opening season game at Washington and then hosts Ball State and Virginia Tech. Would it be better for the fans (both in the stands and those watching on television) to replace BSU with another Big Ten program?
Michigan is no slouch when it comes to revenue and I get that this is only fair, but paying Army feels weird. Yes, I know federal budgeting isn't straightforward and this isn't to bury this thread in civics, but c'mon. . . their school gets money from the Department of the Treasury. Feels like throwing a Zippo into the Sun.
"duty honor country" sounds kinda dirty.
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