[JJJ]

I found this piece quite interesting. You may have already seen it, of course.

When Stanford kicks off the 2017 football season against Rice at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia, few will know how much work behind the scenes went into making the game a reality.

In February of 2016, Matt Doyle, senior associate athletics director and director of football operations, was contacted by the president of a company in Sydney that specializes in bringing large sporting events to Australia. Cal and Hawaii had just signed a deal to play a game in Sydney that August, and they were interested in having the Cardinal play "Down Under" in 2018.

Doyle did his due diligence, reaching out to Cal to get a feel for the process and thought it made sense for Stanford in 2017, not 2018. He emailed Bernard Muir, the Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics, and Patrick Dunkley, deputy athletics director, outlining reasons why the football program should consider playing in Australia. They included:

- Giving student-athletes the same chance many others get to experience on a cultural trip abroad
- Increased exposure playing on the first Saturday of the season
- By moving up the start of the season by one week, the ability to add in a bye week during a season in which the Cardinal did not have a natural bye
- Recruiting: every prospect they were recruiting in the 2017 class would have a chance to experience the trip
- Promoter would cover expenses for airfare, hotel and meals
- Promoter would provide a substantial appearance fee for the department

http://www.gostanford.com/news/2017/8/17...-trip.aspx

[JJJ]

I found this piece quite interesting. You may have already seen it, of course.

When Stanford kicks off the 2017 football season against Rice at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia, few will know how much work behind the scenes went into making the game a reality.

In February of 2016, Matt Doyle, senior associate athletics director and director of football operations, was contacted by the president of a company in Sydney that specializes in bringing large sporting events to Australia. Cal and Hawaii had just signed a deal to play a game in Sydney that August, and they were interested in having the Cardinal play "Down Under" in 2018.

Doyle did his due diligence, reaching out to Cal to get a feel for the process and thought it made sense for Stanford in 2017, not 2018. He emailed Bernard Muir, the Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics, and Patrick Dunkley, deputy athletics director, outlining reasons why the football program should consider playing in Australia. They included:

- Giving student-athletes the same chance many others get to experience on a cultural trip abroad
- Increased exposure playing on the first Saturday of the season
- By moving up the start of the season by one week, the ability to add in a bye week during a season in which the Cardinal did not have a natural bye
- Recruiting: every prospect they were recruiting in the 2017 class would have a chance to experience the trip
- Promoter would cover expenses for airfare, hotel and meals
- Promoter would provide a substantial appearance fee for the department

http://www.gostanford.com/news/2017/8/17...-trip.aspx

[fullmetal]

Huh. Well, if that's what it took to land Little, Sarell, and Wedington, great!

[fullmetal]

Huh. Well, if that's what it took to land Little, Sarell, and Wedington, great!