By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders may not have changed the outcome of whether or not the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University ever play another football game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, or anywhere else. But she did advance the conversation.

The governor sent letters to the universities’ boards of trustees on Sunday, Sept. 7, asking them to make the game an annual event in Little Rock. 

The letter came the day after the two schools met on the football field for the first time. The Razorbacks beat the Red Wolves, 56-14. 

Two issues are at play. 

One is the two universities playing each other, which ASU has wanted forever. What mostly had prevented it was the late UA Athletic Director Frank Broyles’ fear that playing the game would lend credibility to the ASU program and dilute the UA’s statewide support.

The other issue is War Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1948 and has hosted 220 Razorbacks games. For years, the Hogs played half their home games there. Fayetteville was hard for fans in much of the state to reach. Northwest Arkansas wasn’t so big and rich back then. The stadium there was small and didn’t even have lights.

As all that changed, it became harder to justify busing the team to Little Rock. Now, it’s War Memorial that’s insufficient. In recent years, the Razorbacks have played only one game every other year there.

The Razorbacks program makes “easily seven figures” less in revenues each game the Hogs play in Little Rock rather than in Fayetteville, University of Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said last week, as reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. That’s a lot in an era when major colleges are paying athletes millions of dollars. Also, a game played in Little Rock is one less opportunity to bring recruits onto the Razorbacks’ home turf.

Despite Broyles’ previous ban, Yurachek agreed in 2021 to play ASU this year. He probably was the most relieved man in the stadium when the Razorbacks built an early lead and won big. Nevertheless, it was a good day for ASU. It finally got its chance to play the UA.

Sanders would like to see it happen again, which is why she wrote the letters. Not surprisingly, on Monday ASU released statements of support from its board chair, chancellor and athletic director. 

Also not surprisingly, the University of Arkansas was less enthusiastic. Kelly Eichler, board chair of the University of Arkansas System, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the board would have much to discuss and would not take the decision lightly. 

Sanders continued promoting the idea Monday morning during an interview on the 103.7 The Buzz radio station. She’s not talking about executive or legislative action. Instead, she wants to work through the obstacles and bring the two schools’ leadership and boards together.

“There’s nothing that is set in stone,” she said. “But I think it’s worth a serious conversation for us to look at how we make it happen. If we get to a place where it’s just not feasible, I get that. But I think it’s too big of a thing, too big of an opportunity, and is something that is too big a part of the culture of our state to just walk away and say, ‘Ah, this isn’t worth at least sitting down and trying to see what kind of deal could be made that makes it advantageous for both schools.’”

What’s next? The issue will return to the back burner by Saturday, when the Hogs play Ole Miss and ASU plays Iowa State. How much it percolates depends partly on how hard Sanders pushes for it.

As for the future of War Memorial, the UA has no more games under contract there, which means the facility has lost its one-time biggest customer. The state has spent $6.3 million in recent years updating it, but it’s still not a major college football stadium, and it needs more big events. Sanders said in the interview that further upgrades “have to be part of the negotiation.”

It can’t be torn down. As Stadium Commission Chair Kevin Crass said in an emotional Arkansas Democrat-Gazette video, it’s a war memorial.

As for the two schools playing each other again, the Razorbacks’ schedule is largely set through 2030. The earliest a second game could happen – anywhere – likely would be 2031. 

Sanders would be out of office by then, but she’d still get some credit. At the very least, she advanced the conversation – at least until the next kickoff.