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Central Arkansas Unable to Meet Hogs' Contractual Requirements

Not meeting attendance minimums at War Memorial hurting Razorbacks' recruiting, athletic program's branding

Kent Smith

Central Arkansas Unable to Meet Hogs' Contractual Requirements
Central Arkansas Unable to Meet Hogs' Contractual Requirements /
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – As my wife and I stepped onto a hotel elevator in Dallas over the Labor Day weekend, I leaned over and showed her a bit of the fallout on Twitter from how things went at War Memorial Stadium Saturday and whispered "It looks like it was a bit of a mess at War Memorial."

Immediately, the other couple on the elevator, a pair of strangers, popped their heads up. They asked if we were talking about the Arkansas game. I let them know we were and they shared that even though they were from Benton and had tickets to the game, they opted instead to come to Dallas and were grateful they did after some of the things they had heard. After a few more pleasantries, we parted ways in the lobby. Even hundreds of miles away it's impossible to escape the disappointment.

A lot of what went down in Little Rock Saturday is well documented. If you slept under a rock over the long weekend, then simply head to social media and search War Memorial Stadium. There will be a long list of complaints ranging from concession stands to ticket scanners to bathrooms and there were additional problems behind the scenes. 

Still, it was a far different corner of social media that hit the true problem with War Memorial Stadium Saturday and highlighted a possible breach of contract. It started with a tweet from the Razorback Communications office and immediately spread to fan bases throughout the rest of the SEC. "Attendance for today's season opener at War Memorial Stadium: 44.397." 

It came from Texas, and in heavy doses from Missouri. Even Reddit took an especially harsh double-edged shot by using a Western Kentucky meme to poke at the Razorbacks. From all directions, college football fans, including from Arkansas, made fun of the Hogs for the paltry attendance numbers that were posted, much less being promoted in a manner that made it look like a point of pride.

Games in Little Rock are already a drag on recruiting since official visits can't take place. However, adding posts showing SEC players are running out in front of 44,000 fans is an even bigger hit. There's no law saying a tweet has to go out with the day's attendance so there's no need to pile onto a difficult situation by adding a big PR hit with recruits that gives other league coaches ammunition. 

The sad thing is there was a legitimate reason to consider the post a positive. It was 2,000 more than showed up the last time the Razorbacks played in Little Rock and that was in late October, so weather and time changes can't be the reason for low attendance. It's 11,000 more than the November game against Missouri the War Memorial game before that. 

Only twice beginning with 2013 has a Little Rock game reached 50,000 despite having multiple games there some years and including an era before the SEC began to heavily frown on SEC games being played at War Memorial. Neither Mississippi State nor Missouri were enough to warrant a relatively packed house. In that same span, there have also been two games in the 30,000s. Missouri drew the lowest crowd SEC or otherwise in a non-COVID year with 33,000 in 2019.

Little Rock has yet to meet the reported 47,000 attendance requirement since an extension was granted back in 2019. The 44,000 that had people jumping on the program for embarrassing attendance numbers was as close as Central Arkansas has been to meeting the bare minimum in a long time. If the contract went off actual rumps in seats, the failure would be even worse.

If Razorback Stadium is only sold at 80% capacity, that's still 20,000 more tickets sold than Little Rock without the expense and disruption of a six-hour round trip. It's better for the players and the pocket books. Plus, the university has more quality control over the actual game and broadcast experience, both of which have struggled greatly the past several years. Anyone who has had to either attend a game in Little Rock or work at one knows how inconvenient things can be. 

Arkansas State in 2025 has to be the end of any agreement to play in Little Rock. The game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff has already proven it can't meet the attendance requirement, so the historic showdown against the Red Wolves might possibly the the only game that meets the threshold the duration of the contract and that will have more to do with Arkansas State than it will Hog fans. 

With both Arkansas and Texas A&M seemingly in agreement that bringing the Southwest Classic back to campuses after 2024 is best for business, it's hard not to justify bringing all Razorback home games to Fayetteville. Central Arkansas did a good job of carrying the load for a long time as Northwest Arkansas built up its population and infrastructure, but the region can no longer meet the lowest of standards. 

There's no more excuse for giving up recruiting visits, nor the money and PR hit the program takes when games are played in Little Rock. There shouldn't be programs making fun of the Razorbacks' attendance, least of all Missouri. 

If the people of Central Arkansas truly love then Hogs, then it's time to let them go. It's what's best for the program. 

Arkansas divider

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Arkansas divider

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments.