Wording in Statement Gives Liberty Bowl Room to Adjust as Needed

While water main break inconvenient for Arkansas fans, its disastrous for Kansas

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Dec 28, 2022 9:52 AM EST
Original:
Dec 27, 2022

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – If you're planning on taking off a few minutes early on Wednesday to catch the Arkansas vs. Kansas Liberty Bowl game on television, then go right ahead.

If you're thinking about taking the day off to drive over to Memphis to buy a walk-up ticket and watch the game, you might want to save that vacation day for another time.

The Liberty Bowl put out an announcement yesterday evening stating that the game is definitely going to be played. However, they covered their backsides in how they worded things.

The key here is that the statement simply says the game will be played. That leaves all kinds of legal wiggle room for last minute adjustments to be made should it be needed.

This all has come about because of a water main break that apparently supplied water to pretty much all of Memphis. As a result, hotels have kept people from checking in and fans and media who arrived early have either faced a lack of showers and general toilet access or they have been asked to go stay in surrounding cities.

So without the ability to guarantee restroom facilities, the Liberty Bowl is left to scramble to see whether it can meet the standards necessary to host fans in the stadium.

This could shake out in a lot of forms. It could mean fans aren't allowed in because of code restrictions. It could also mean only those who have currently bought tickets, reportedly around 40,000, could enter the game, but would be subject to significant limitations.

These limitations may come in the form of an abbreviated set of concession options. It could also mean entering a stadium ringed with Porta Potties.

If that turns out to be the case, be prepared for fans referring to this as the Toilet Bowl for the rest of Razorback history.

While all of this is an inconvenience for Arkansas fans, it's truly disastrous for the people of Kansas.

This is the first bowl game for the Jayhawks since 2008 and there have only been 13 in the entire history of the program.

While a Razorback fan all the way down in Texarkana can have an early lunch and still make the start of the game without speeding, that's not the case for Kansas fans. A Jayhawks fan in Topeka, which is about as eastern as you can get in Kansas, it's more than eight hours as far as driving.

Sure, it's not the full bowl experience to do a day trip if you're traveling from Arkansas, but at least it's an option. Not all is lost in that case.

Kansas fans also aren't familiar with Memphis. Razorback fans typically know the area enough to relocate to a relatively safe area with reasonable entertainment and food options rather quickly.

The odds of a Jayhawks fan ending up rebooking in an area that might be detrimental to the bowl experience are much higher.

So no matter how inconvenient things shake out to be tomorrow, keep the Kansas fans in mind and repay a bit of the kindness that BYU showed Arkansas earlier this year.