Status quo for football schedule

Although officials want to play local teams, it won't happen for another 10-15 years. The fans are bored. Two years of declining football attendance have left the stands at Franklin Field sparse and administrators looking for solutions. One possible solution is right around the corner -- scheduling local games outside the Ivy and Patriot Leagues. "All of our local games are really our most popular games," Villanova Ticket Operations Director Vince Nicastro said. Like many athletics administrators, Nicastro thinks teams that are competitive and within driving distance can form the "natural rivalries" that draw crowds. "What we have found is the natural rivalries -- whether winning or losing -- always help to boost attendance." The Quakers play a prescribed number of games within the Ivy League and usually schedule at least two Patriot League each year. Most of these schools are similarly sized and grant no athletic scholarships. Outside of this set number of games, the teams essentially have one remaining game left to schedule, which often results in a colossal mismatch. In fact, the Quakers are tentatively scheduled to play Villanova in 1999, Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said. But Bilsky cautioned against relying on scheduling as an attendance fix, noting that football games are scheduled five to 10 years in advance. Still, there are a number of local competitive teams that Penn might consider. The University of Delaware, Villanova's rival, is a scholarship school and is larger than Penn, yet it has a history of playing -- and sometimes losing to -- smaller teams such as West Chester, Delaware Athletic Director Edgar Johnson said. Additionally, Delaware's powerhouse status -- it has made the NCAA Division I-AA tournament three of the last four years -- could draw fans to Franklin Field. And because it is nearby, it could become a rival. "I personally would like to see more local rivalries," said Bilsky. But Bilsky has broader plans. Long-distance games, for instance, could also help Penn football. "If we could find a compatible team in California, I think we'd have thousands of alumni in California coming out to watch the teams play," he said. The University needs to increase football's popularity in the short term as well, Bilsky said. Attendance concerns are "just one part of the equation" in scheduling. "You wouldn't want to lock your team into playing if the competition level" of the opposing team changes, he noted. Ivy League Executive Director Jeff Orleans agreed. While he supports football teams playing outside the league, "the games will rise or fall on their own merits." Orleans mentioned this year's Yale-Army game as an example of a constructive inter-league matchup. And he agreed local matchups often work. "It would be interesting to see if it were possible to put something together in football that approximates the Big 5," he said. The Big 5 is a basketball league that includes Penn, St. Joseph's, Villanova, Temple and La Salle. "Having to play the Big 5 makes Penn [basketball] tougher and it helps fill the Palestra," Orleans said. Like Bilsky, Orleans believes increasing attendance will take more than scheduling changes. "The [Philadelphia] Inquirer has abandoned any college football that does not begin with the words, 'Nittany Lions'," he said, referring to Penn State's nationally-ranked team. This media brownout has prevented Philadelphia fans from hearing about the Penn, Villanova and Temple teams as much as they should, said Orleans. "It's just hard to get that kind of publicity through regular news coverage as it was 10 years ago," he said.