Alabama AD explains what changed, why Texas, Notre Dame series make sense.
Click here for linkThe moves broke almost a decade of precedent of Alabama playing these high-profile non-conference opponents exclusively in neutral sites.
Saban always explained it as an exposure thing that had financial considerations. There was an annual payout that came with the neutral-site games that won't come with the Texas and Notre Dame games. In the Notre Dame contract, each school agreed to pay the visitor $1 million, but that obviously comes out revenue neutral.
Byrne explained why that thinking evolved.
"The paycheck is nice and we're going to have to budget accordingly," Byrne said. "We also think long term, from a season-ticket standpoint, that will help continue to keep people engaged and invested for the entire season. These two series made sense for us."
There has been more and more grumbling from season-ticket holders paying high prices
Attendance for the non-conference home games have sagged since the long sell-out streak ended in 2012. Though announced figures were at least close to the 101,821 capacity of Bryant-Denny Stadium in recent years, empty seats have become the norm for games with teams from outside the Power 5 conferences.
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For Texas, finding that two-year window to fit Alabama in meant postponing a Texas series with Ohio State... The cancelation of a 2023 game between Texas and UCF also went public Wednesday....
"Texas handled that," Byrne said.
"A lot of schools talk to us and we talk to a lot of schools," Byrne said when asked if there had ever been discussions with the Orlando school.
Any possibility UCF would end up on an Alabama schedule?
"Don't see that on the radar screen," said in the final answer of the interview Wednesday."