It wasn’t that long ago that the 2016 UMass football schedule had just one game on campus. But athletic director Ryan Bamford announced a third game in Amherst on Monday and talked about the possibility of a better McGuirk Stadium in the future.
UMass’ Oct. 1 game against Tulane has been moved from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough to McGuirk Stadium and will be homecoming. The move brings the total in Amherst to three games, making an even split between the two sites.
The 2016 schedule originally had just five home games, four at Gillette and one (Wagner on Oct. 29) in Amherst. But contractual maneuvering switched UMass’ game with BC (Sept. 10) from a road game to a home game (at Gillette), and postponed a game with UConn (in Foxborough) to a later season, opening a date for a game with Florida International in Amherst.
The original terms of the contract between UMass and Tulane, an American Athletic Association school in New Orleans, had the Minutemen paying the Green Wave $350,000 to play in Foxborough this season, while Tulane would pay UMass $400,000 to visit Yulman Stadium in 2022.
As part of the agreement to switch locations, Bamford said the payment amounts will be switched.
“We just reversed it,” he said. “It basically cost us an extra $50,000 this year, which we feel like we will recover in costs (not having to pay to have the team go to Gillette), and we think we can make that up in revenue. It was an easy deal to make.”
Bamford said no compensation was required for the Kraft family, which owns Gillette Stadium.
“The Krafts have been great with all of this,” Bamford said. “They’ve been very helpful and supportive.”
Since Bamford was hired just over a year ago, he has talked about bringing as many games back to campus as possible and limiting the use of Gillette.
All six home games in 2017 are scheduled for McGuirk with only a smattering of future games set for Foxborough.
“We only want to play games at Gillette where we can get 25,000 to 30,000-plus people,” Bamford said. “We’d put games like Mississippi State, BYU or Boston College there.”
Bamford said UMass was already exploring temporary additional seats at McGuirk for the 2017 season, but hoped for more permanent solutions long term.
“There’s a lot of talk right now. I wouldn’t say there’s anything moving in that direction,” Bamford said. “Looking at what our options are, it’s anything from enhancing the bathrooms and concessions, which is not a considerable cost, to adding seats. We haven’t had any real high level conversations about it. I’ve probably done more homework than anything. I need to know what our options are, to be able to go back to our leadership and say this is where I think we need to be.”
Bamford would like to have some improvement in place for the 2017 season.
“I do know we could get (capacity) from 17 to maybe 20,000 pretty easily with some temporary seating options and some (standing room) and feel good about that if we have to for 2017,” he said. “More than that, if we’re bringing 20,000 people here we have to figure out a way to not have them going into Porta-Johns to use the bathroom and not using the makeshift stands for concessions.
“We’ve made the best of the situation with a 50-year old stadium,” Bamford continued. “But in order to act like and FBS and do things at a level where we’re going to bring people here, we’ve got to be better. Now we have to figure out what better looks like.”
UMass averaged 12,527 fans in three games at McGuirk Stadium in 2015, but Bamford was hopeful that 20,000 was possible.
“I think we can get to 20,000 if we’re playing good football and good teams that people want to come see,” he said.
He hoped any temporary fixes could be a bridge to something more permanent.
“We’re going to have to make some decisions in the next three to five years about what the stadium is, what it looks like and how it acts for is,” he said. “We’re trying to evaluate all our options and see what’s fiscally responsible.”
SHARPE MAKING AN IMPRESSION — Former Minuteman receiver Tajae Sharpe, who was drafted by the Tennessee Titans last month, has endeared himself to his new franchise’s fans by bringing his own football to mini-camp.
“I am a man that plays football so I want to always have it in my hand,” Sharpe told TitansOnline.com. “I just like to hold the football. I usually go to sleep with my football. This is my job and this is my dream. I love it, and I’m going to carry it around as much as I can, just because.
“The strangest place I’ve taken it?” Sharpe continued. “I’ve taken it in the bathroom. … I’ve taken it a lot of places. No, I’ve never taken it on a date or anything like that.”
DUCASSE A RAVEN — The Baltimore Ravens became former UMass lineman Vlad Ducasse’s fourth NFL team. Ducasse, who started 11 games last year for the Chicago Bears, has played for the Jets and Vikings.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage