The annual Penn State-Michigan State is being moved to a neutral venue this year and football fans are pretty annoyed about it.
On Wednesday, the two teams announced that their game this year is being moved to Ford Field in Detroit, home of the Detroit Lions, and will be played on Friday, November 24, also known as Black Friday.
The move deprives the Spartans of a true home game even though they’re still playing in the state of Michigan. As a result, there are a lot of angry Spartans fans right about now:
You moved it to Friday, you’ve now taken away a home game, you’ve taken senior day in Spartan stadium from the fans and the Football players, you’ve taken our last chance to tailgate at our favorite place, you’ve taken away the ability for out of state people home…
— Mitch Steur (@Spartan_dawg12) May 24, 2023
Not a fan of this move.
Ford Field is not at all close to E.L. and students will not be a present as they would at Spartan Stadium.
— Jaewoo (@jae_w0o) May 24, 2023
Not all of them are upset though. Some believe that moving it to Detroit makes the game more accessible to fans based all around the state as opposed to isolating it to East Lansing:
I love this
— MSU Chief of Propaganda (@OdellBretthamJr) May 24, 2023
Yeah this is fire. https://t.co/zKcmFJx86H
— AJ King (@allday_ajking) May 24, 2023
This change in venue will mark the first time in the 110-year history of these two teams playing that the game will be played anywhere other than East Lansing or State College.
The upset for the Spartans is getting an extra primetime game this year. The downside is that it effectively means that their final home game of the season will be November 4 against Nebraska. They’ll effectively be playing six of their final eight games of the season away from home.
On the other hand, Penn State will get to enjoy four of their last five games of the season either at home or without a hostile crowd.
Was it a good decision to change the venue of the game?