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A spirit that is not afraid

His view: Championship games played on campus?

Last week while watching the epic game seven of the NBA finals, one could not help but notice the awesome championship atmosphere that surrounded the game.
Miami's fan base became a part of the championship run, witnessed it first hand and then celebrated on their home court.
This raises a question. Should the college football national championship be played on college campuses, giving one team home field advantage?
It would not be hard to accomplish, even with the new The College Football Playoff starting in 2014.
The two semi-final games could be played in the traditional bowls, and then have the highest ranked team host the national championship game.
Simple, right? To quote ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso, "Not so fast my friend."
It is not that easy. There are negatives to this scenario.
The biggest issue is small college towns like Auburn, Clemson, S.C., and Athens, Ga., can't accommodate all the media, game sponsors and fans that would swarm into these towns for the game.
Also, the weather, even in the South, is not the best in January when the game would be played. Most players and coaches welcome playing in a dome stadium or a town with great weather like Los Angeles or Miami, instead of Ohio State or Michigan.
It would also give the home team an advantage by being able to practice and watch film in their own facilities, while the visiting team would have subpar accommodations right before the biggest game of their season.
Even with these negative points it still makes a lot of sense to have the championship game on a college campus.
A major benefit would be making the game easier to attend for fans, at least for the home teams fans. While a lot of Auburn fans traveled to Arizona in 2011, many did not, especially students.
Imagine what it would have been like for Auburn to have won the national championship game in Jordan Hare Stadium? It would have been an unbelievable atmosphere that many more Auburn fans would have been able to experience.
BCS game attendance has struggled the past few years. Having the national championship game on campuses would probably solve that problem.
Imagine the huge economic boost it would have given Auburn and the state of Alabama to host a national championship game.
Not to mention the economic boost of being able to host national championship games in 2010 and 2011. Both years Auburn and Alabama were ranked No. 1 before the national championship game, giving them home field advantage.
While this is a nice thought, it will never happen.
There is too much money being spent by the four BCS bowls (Orange, Rose, Sugar and Fiesta bowls) for the game to be moved to college campuses.
However, the national championship game should be moved to college campuses.
The positives out weigh the negatives.
College football is great because of the college campuses, stadiums, traditions, fans and most of all the students.
None of these things are being represented in the biggest game of the year.


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