COLUMBIA — The Missouri football team will make its second national television appearance of the 2007 season when the Nebraska Cornhuskers come to town Oct. 6. The game has an 8:15 start time and will be televised on ESPN. The Tigers’ season opening win against Illinois was on ESPN2.
Both teams will financially benefit from the game because of the appearance fees ESPN will pay the teams, said a representative from the Big 12 Conference.
“If you wrote something that was in the range of $150,000, you wouldn’t be far off,” Big 12 associate commissioner Tim Allen said.
The No. 20 Tigers and No. 22 Cornhuskers (USA Today poll) are considered the top two teams in the Big 12 North, according to preseason media polls, and the game will likely impact who wins the division.
It is one of the main reasons that the network picked up the game, said ESPN spokesperson Mike Humes.
“It’s two programs that are playing well in the Big 12 Conference,” Humes said. “It’s going to be an interesting and competitive game.”
The start time is the latest for a Tigers home game since 2003, when Missouri and Nebraska kicked off at 6:10 p.m.
Faurot Field could also be a candidate to host ESPN College GameDay, a weekly morning preview show that takes place at a marquee game. A rivalry game between the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns is on Oct. 6 as well as a game between the LSU Tigers and Florida Gators.
Humes was not able to comment on the situation, saying that the show’s site is determined the week of the game.
Since 1995, when the stadium reached its current capacity of 68,394, Nebraska has been a part of four of the top 10 attendance figures.
The record attendance for the stadium overall was a 29-21 loss to Penn State in 1980 that drew 75,298 fans.
Marty Finn, the athletics department’s director of ticket operations, said fewer than 2,000 general admission tickets remain, but he was not able to give an exact number of tickets sold. When asked if there were plans to open up ticket sales beyond capacity seating, Finn said that he was not aware of any plans to do so.