The Owls are certainly not what they were when that contract was signed nine years ago. Temple won only 13 games from 2020 through 2024. First-year coach K.C. Keeler has the Owls off to a 2-0 start after encouraging blowouts against UMass and FCS Howard.<\/p>\n
Keeler is excited for the challenge and trying to use the OU game to build enthusiasm and interest in the program \u2014 always tricky in a pro sports town.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an opportunity for us to kind of see how good we are,\u201d Keeler said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be playing some big-boy football this Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keeler threw out the first pitch at the Phillies home game against the New York Mets on Tuesday, which was Temple Night at Citizens Bank Park, across the parking lot from the Linc. There will be a pep rally on campus this week to drum up excitement among students.<\/p>\n
Temple athletic director Arthur Johnson said he started working on ways to capitalize on the Oklahoma game from a marketing perspective in May.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma received a 4,000-ticket allotment, more than usual for Temple\u2019s opponents. Temple held back on making single-game purchases of Oklahoma game tickets available until mid-June; Sooners fans who wanted to buy tickets in advance to watch their team play in Philadelphia also had to purchase a ticket to another Temple game.<\/p>\n
The Owls drew a combined 27,220 fans for their first two games of the season. Johnson said he is hopeful they will surpass that total for Oklahoma, even with the upper deck at the Linc closed off.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the great start for our team under Coach Keeler has been incredible,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat has helped with that plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Owls\u2019 often sparse home crowds are expected to get a sizable boost as Oklahoma comes to town. (Gregory Fisher \/ USA Today)<\/p>\n
Oklahoma officials were under no illusion that a new stadium in Philadelphia was guaranteed to be built in time for this game, but the deal still made sense for the Sooners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were talking to other schools about perhaps playing a two-for-one matchup but playing (the road game) in an NFL stadium,\u201d Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Oklahoma, the defending champion Eagles are playing a Super Bowl rematch at Kansas City on Sunday, so former Sooners Jalen Hurts, Lane Johnson and Grant Calcaterra are not likely to be at the Temple game, which kicks off at noon ET.<\/p>\n
The Sooners rarely play in the Northeast. They played Army at Yankee Stadium in 1961 and Boston College at Braves Field in 1949. And in 1942, in front of 3,000 fans at Temple Field, according to UPI, the Owls beat the Sooners 14-7.<\/p>\n
Castiglione said he liked the idea of giving OU fans in the Northeast Corridor a chance to see the team close to home. In 2009, Oklahoma scheduled a home-and-home with Army, but after the teams played in Norman in 2018 (the Sooners escaped with a 28-21 win in overtime) the trip to West Point in 2020 was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The OU alumni clubs in nearby Washington, D.C., and New York City have planned a happy hour Friday and tailgating Saturday. Rainey Sewell, Oklahoma Class of 2013 and president of DC Sooners, said about 700 people have purchased tickets through the two clubs. Though she did point out it caught some of her fellow Sooners by surprise that Temple played in an NFL stadium.<\/p>\n
Sewell was in Norman last week for the Michigan game and has plans to be at seven games this season. She\u2019s thrilled she\u2019ll only need to spend $36 on a round-trip train ride to see her team this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the one time they\u2019ll probably ever be here, and it\u2019s a great weekend,\u201d Sewell said. \u201cPhiladelphia is an amazing city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing in the same conference as West Virginia for a few years brought the Sooners this direction regularly before their move to the SEC. Otherwise, a game at Pitt in 1984 is the closest they have been to Philadelphia for a nonconference game in decades.<\/p>\n
Locking in two season-opening home games with Temple was also helpful for Oklahoma. Making available dates match in college football can be difficult, which is why games are often scheduled so far in advance.<\/p>\n
Crafting the ideal schedule can also be expensive.<\/p>\n
Back when Oklahoma signed up for this trip, the prices for guarantee games were on the rise. Guarantee games (or \u201cbuy games\u201d) are one-off arrangements where the visiting team typically \u2014 though certainly not always \u2014 receives a big check and a sound beating.<\/p>\n
Football Bowl Subdivision schools outside the power conferences have been routinely getting more than $1 million to more often than not serve as glorified warmups for their P5 (now P4) counterparts. Prices have soared past $1.5 million in recent years, with some P5 schools shelling out around $2 million for games. Alabama paid $1.925 million to Louisiana-Monroe for last week\u2019s game, and several teams are paying upward of $1.8 million for games this season.<\/p>\n
By comparison, two-for-ones are a good value play.\u00a0Instead of Oklahoma spending upward of $4 million on three separate home games, it agreed to pay Temple $1 million for this deal, according to contract details reported by The Oklahoman.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe financial components made all the sense in the world for us to consider that,\u201d Castiglione said.<\/p>\n
Dave Brown, the founder of a scheduling software company called Gridiron that helps college football teams make matchups, said the two-for-one might be endangered as the market for guarantee games shifts in favor of the buyers.<\/p>\n