Tennessee is playing a regular-season game against North Carolina State on Saturday. Not in Neyland Stadium or on the Wolfpack campus in Raleigh, but in Charlotte. Why?
Easy answer for even a casual fan. TV.
Nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century, we accept that television dictates the when and occasionally the where of college football.
A date between quality foes from the SEC and ACC would be a festive occasion for either campus. But there will be no Vol Navy anchored outside the stadium in Charlotte. Instead, we have the Duke’s Mayo Classic.
Such early-season events are relatively new to college football. They are also another manifestation of TV’s ever-increasing domination. Would once-unthinkable conference expansion happen without TV?
For Tennessee, it began with the 1987 Kickoff Classic on ABC. The Vols went to East Rutherford, New Jersey, to open the season against Iowa. Hey, a New York road trip and a great game. All good.
Then came the 1990 Pigskin Classic, a Disney production on NBC in Anaheim, California. UT and Colorado, two preseason top-10 teams, played to a 31-31 tie.
The Aug. 26 kickoff still stands as the earliest start in Tennessee history. Still, another great game and fun destination.
The Vols weren’t invited to another “special’’ opener until 2012, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta against N.C. State. That ESPNU got the game signified maybe it wasn’t the national headliner.
Neither were a 2017 opener in Atlanta against Georgia Tech or in 2018 in Charlotte against West Virginia.
Now, the ABC-televised 2016 Battle at Bristol is another story, a signature event. The game against Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway, witnessed by a college football record crowd of 156,990, would never have happened without TV pulling the strings.
So, here we go to Charlotte. Or, to your local ABC affiliate.
I’ll finish with a timeline of Tennessee’s history with the tube.
Sept. 30, 1939: The first televised college football game matched Fordham University of New York against Waynesburg College.
Oct. 20, 1951: Tennessee’s first TV appearance was a 27-13 win over Alabama in Birmingham, on NBC.
Jan. 1, 1953: The Vols’ second appearance was a 16-0 Cotton Bowl loss to Texas, Robert Neyland’s final game as coach.
1953-1964: A total of seven games were televised over a 12-year span. Three were against Alabama, one Auburn, one LSU and two bowls.
1962: The Alabama game is the first telecast from Neyland Stadium.
1965: The first time two games in the same season were on TV, Ole Miss in Memphis and the Bluebonnet Bowl.
1966: The first time two regular-season games are on TV, Georgia Tech and Kentucky.
1973: The first time three games are televised, Alabama, Ole Miss and the Gator Bowl.
1977: Johnny Majors came home but none of his 11 games were televised.
1981: The final season that no UT regular-season games were televised. Mizlou carried the Garden State Bowl.
1984: Georgia and Oklahoma successfully sue the NCAA over TV restrictions. The floodgate opens.
1985: Seven of 11 regular-season games are televised during the Sugar Vols’ SEC championship campaign.
Oct. 26, 1985: ESPN televises its first game from Knoxville, a 6-6 tie with Georgia Tech.
1989: Pay-per-view arrives, UCLA and Ole Miss. (UT’s final PPV game will be Butch Jones’ 2013 debut. The 2014 arrival of the SEC Network eliminates PPV).
Sept. 5, 1991: ESPN moves UT’s season-opener at Louisville to a Thursday night. Three times since, the Vols have opened on a Thursday.
1991: For the first time, every UT game is televised (including two PPVs).
Nov. 12, 1994: The Vols beat Memphis, 24-13, the last Tennessee game that is not televised by anyone.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Tennessee football is in Charlotte Sept. 7. TV calls the plays.
