Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-23

Why Franklin Field Is No
Longer a Desirable
battle-ground.

NEW YORK. December 23-"The way
they manage athletics at the University
of Pennsylvania is the reason why the
Army-Navy foot ball game will not be
played at Franklin Field next year,
said a man who knows much about the
affairs of the Philadelphia institution yes
| terday. I'm the first place Pennsylvania
never should have reserved third OF ne
| seats at Franklin Field. 4 much smaller
reservation would have been sufficient.
say 1000. and each academy would have
had 10000 seats to distribute. The 5000
seats reserved by the Pennsylvania atm
! letic managers were sold to Tom, Dich
and Harry, it seems. for 81 each, making
sixteen-thousand-d dollar rake-on Tor the
university foot ball association. but ohiS
| weak attempt was made to keep i'm
cts disposed of in this manner ou' Vi ''e
SPECTATORS hands.
, LAS a result of this poor mana senen'
speculators sold Army-Navy tickets open,
| Nv in the Philadelphia hotels. stores ana
! streets outside the field last IAN, anu
government officials who couldn secure
| tickets from either academy had to pay
| exorbitant prices for the pennsylvania
| allotments, held by scalpers. or remain
away from the game.
1T is a fact that hundreds of army and
through both academies $4,000 seats were
| distributed free The West Point man.
; ayers had to give tickets TO all SUD
scribers to their athletic association IN
addition to the officers OF inc regular
! army and officials Of the War Depart
ment. They did not refuse any demands
until the allotment was exhausted. Inc
Naval Academy managers were IN
| somewhat different position. At least
| they assumed the right to curtail re-
fnys tiok in
| accommodate everybody with a minimum
allotment The result was storm o!
| protests from all sides. which was fol-
| lowed by the present determination to
! the abandonment. If necessary, of Frank
| lin Field. Each academy wants l2.JN
! seats for future foot ball games, and II
Franklin Field should be retained under
| such conditions the Pennsylvania foot
| ball association would retain no seats at
| all. hence no revenue in return for the
| use of the field.
Some of the army and navy men
! would like to have the game played in
Washington, and would welcome a plan
by which the government would erect a
stadium there at an outlay of 100000 or
more. But it is highly improbable that
the government would agree to spend
money for such a project. While out
New York city as a possible battle
ground. you can say that there is still
a chance to have the game played here
| and that persons directly interested in
Army and Navy foot ball affairs have
already looked over the ground. The
! Polo Grounds have been talked of infor-
mally. and the new American League
stadium at Kingsbridge. which will be
finished in July, is in some favor. Either
place will afford 1850 seats for each
academy, with room for the general pub
lie, too.
New York is the place for the Army
Navy game. because of the hotel and
railroad accommodations in addition to
the ground facilities and the many at
fractions here for visitors. There hasn't
been chance to see a real big foot ball
game here since the Princeton-Yale, con-
tests were played at Manhattan Field.
and for that reason the Army-Navy bat
ties would renew much Of the old inter-
est. think in due time New York will
receive serious consideration and will also
secure the plum"