Tigers to open season on ESPN at home against Bentonville West Aug. 29
Second time BA football to play on national network in four years
Launch the media gallery 1 playerFor the second time in four seasons Broken Arrow Memorial Stadium will be the site of a Saturday, nationally televised high school football game on ESPN.
Broken Arrow will host Bentonville West on Saturday, Aug. 29, as part of the GEICO ESPN High School Football Kickoff weekend. The Tigers hosted Union in 2017 to open the season on an ESPN. Game time is 2 p.m. The game will be either on ESPN or ESPN2
Tickets for the game will be restricted due to COVID-19 seating capacity guidelines. No tickets will be sold at the gate on game day. Tickets were made available to 2019 season ticket holders who renewed their season passes, parents of students who are part of the on-field game day experience and a limited number to district staff. Remaining tickets, if available, may be purchased at GoFan. The link to purchase tickets to Saturday's game will be unlocked if seats are available.
The Tigers were scheduled to play at Mansfield High School on Aug. 28, but the game was moved to Bentonville West when the Texas UIL announced their Class 5A and 6A schools would not start playing games until Sept. 24.
“When the UIL made the tough decision to move back the start date of the Texas high school football season for class 5A and 6A, we immediately reached out to Bentonville West since we both lost our Week Zero opponent in the announcement,” said Steve Dunn, executive director of athletics for Broken Arrow Public Schools.
“ESPN reaching out to our head football coach to see if they could broadcast our Week Zero football game was just the cherry on top,” Dunn added. “It took several moving parts to finalize the plan for the game to be broadcasted nationwide on ESPN. The sports network will only be returning to stadiums across the country where they have previously covered a game.”
Next season will feature just four home games for Broken Arrow, as the Tigers will open the 2021 season in Texas against Mansfield Legacy. Originally, BA was scheduled to host the Mansfield High School Tigers in the 2021 season opener. However, to accommodate a return home game for Bentonville West, Mansfield will open the season in Arkansas.
“It truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most of our student-athletes to play a game they love on national television,” Dunn said. “If playing a four-game home schedule in 2021 was what it was going to take to make it happen for our kids this year, then that was what we were going to do.
“We are grateful for Scott Passmore, Kevin Downing, and the Bentonville administration for helping us make this happen for all of our students in such a short time frame.”