Glasnost Bowl The Glasnost Bowl was an attempt to stage an American college football game in Moscow , USSR at the beginning of the 1989 season . The game was named after the policy of glasnost ( " openness " ) introduced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 . Scheduled for the Dynamo Stadium , the game was similar to the Mirage Bowl , a college football game played annually in Tokyo , Japan , with plans to have it be an annual contest with different participants each year . Organized by Raycom Sports , the game was scheduled between the University of Southern California Trojans and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini to open their regular seasons . Arrangements were made for a network telecast back to the United States , and airplane s were chartered for fans to fly to the Soviet Union . However , due to complications , the game was rescheduled for Los Angeles , California as a USC home game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . History . The attempt to use Moscow as the venue for an American football game can be viewed as an element of intense dialogue among Russians and American s in the late 1980s . This exchange dialogue cut across many elements of culture and served as an important step in the political transitions leading to present day Russia . Early planning . On October 18 , 1988 , Rick Ray , CEO of Raycom , announced an agreement with Sovintersport , a division of the Soviet Ministry of Sports and Physical Culture , to hold " The Glasnost Bowl " , a regular - season opening game between two American college football teams . The announcement was the culmination of five years of negotiations with the Soviet authorities and a positive step in U . S . - Soviet relations , especially in light of the decade ' s previous American - led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and Soviet - led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles . Scheduled for September 2 , 1989 , the chosen site was Moscow ' s Dynamo Stadium , a soccer facility in the northwest of the city with a then - stadium capacity of 50 , 000 persons ( it currently has a 36 , 540 person capacity ) . The game planners hoped for 3 , 500 fans from each school , plus school marching band s and cheerleader s , as well as 43 , 000 Soviet spectators . In addition to the United States , Raycom planned to broadcast the game in the United Kingdom , Japan , New Zealand and Australia ; the Soviets planned to broadcast to republics of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc via the state - run Gostelradio . The agreement between Raycom and Sovintersport had the Soviets keeping profits from their telecast , Raycom taking profits from the U . S . telecast and travel packages , and a split of the stadium gate ( although tickets at the gate were planned for the equivalent of $ 1 ) . Additionally , the two sides agreed to broadcast a five - minute instructional video to be shown on Soviet television during the months before the game : explaining the basic rules , positions , " When do you cheer at a football game ? " , and other basics . The participating teams were not immediately selected , and a number of major Division I - A college football programs took interest in taking part in the historic game , including Florida , University of Miami , Florida State , Penn State , Alabama , Texas and UCLA . With the relatively short notice , interested teams needed to rearrange their schedules as the NCAA did not grant the game an exception to its then - rule permitting only 11 regular season games . To help encourage teams , Raycom offered US $ 300 , 000 to participating schools ; however , the logistics remained difficult . Some teams , like Miami , were concerned about playing a difficult game abroad ; others , like Florida , were unable to get out of previously scheduled games . Teams like Wisconsin and Penn State were concerned about losing a home game and the extra income generated by such games ( in some cases over $ 1 million ) . Also , with the game to be broadcast on ABC , teams in the Southeastern Conference , like Florida , had to further sort out complications with their exclusive television contract with TBS . By early November , the field of candidates was reduced to USC and Illinois : Kansas was willing to release USC from its commitment during that week and Illinois was open to having Raycom buy out one of its already scheduled games . The match - up was officially confirmed on November 15 . Planning a game in the Soviet Union . Even with the teams set , the logistics of hosting the first American football game in the Soviet Union proved challenging . Soviet officials were not used to the requirements of major American football teams : i . e . , the locker rooms in the stadium were designed for 16 - player soccer teams , not football teams with over 75 personnel , and Soviet stadiums did not have communications between booths and the field commonly used by coordinators . Some Soviets were even interested if anyone was ever killed during the games . In addition , Dynamo Stadium ' s grass field was 10 yards too short to meet football specifications . Plans were made in case any unexpected flare - up in the fading Cold War prevented the game from being played in the Soviet Union ; the contingency plan had the game to be moved to Los Angeles and USC ' s home stadium , the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum , with Illinois still splitting the gate . However , despite these initial concerns , the general mood was optimistic . Both sides wanted the game to work . The kickoff was set for 8 p . m . , Moscow time , and televised live in the U . S . at 9 a . m . , Pacific time . ABC assigned a veteran group of sportscaster s with Keith Jackson , Bob Griese and Mike Adamle . Raycom agreed to bring in AstroTurf for the stadium . The American media regularly touched on the novelty of the event , citing the shared colors of the Trojans uniforms and the Soviet flag and the name of Illinois ' legendary Red Grange . Illinois rewarded 14 graduating seniors from its 1988 team to join them at the game the next year at the university ' s expense . While the Trojans ' Spirit of Troy marching band and cheerleaders were scheduled to make the trip , USC needed to adapt its mascot , Traveler , a white horse with Trojan - costumed rider , by sending the rider and substituting a local Russian white horse . The game also survived a February – March 1989 legal battle between American promoters involved with Raycom . Illinois head coach John Mackovic , USC head coach Larry Smith and their staffs visited Moscow in Spring 1989 to plan around the facilities and accommodations ; the Soviet officials remained worried about the violence of the game , asking if ten ambulances were enough . The teams realized that they needed to bring all the necessary equipment for a major college football match - up : including footballs , goal posts , play clocks , cooks , a large amount of food ( 2 , 000 pounds per team , and the large quantity of ice used for football related strains and injuries . The plan had the teams flying by chartered jets from Los Angeles and Chicago to Moscow on August 28 , having two days of practice before the game , sightseeing after the game and then returning on September 4 . Travel packages for fans , including airfare and hotel , were sold starting at $ 2 , 595 Like the Olympics , the game itself became a political football for thawing relations between the superpowers : American Congressional personnel and agencies at both the state and federal level showed interest in participation , along with Soviet counterparts in their foreign ministries . Tentative plans were already being developed for the second Glasnost Bowl , between Miami and Penn State . Illinois baseball coach Augie Garrido suggested creating a two - sport doubleheader with both universities ' baseball teams preceding the game . Plans collapse . On June 8 , just three months before the game , the " Los Angeles Herald Examiner " broke the surprise bad news : the Glasnost Bowl in Moscow was canceled by Raycom . All sides expressed deep disappointment in the result . Raycom CEO Rick Ray cited " contractual concerns " over the previous weeks for the cancellation that were not resolved to their satisfaction , specifically citing arrangements for hotel rooms and transportation . While all involved expected and accepted facilities and accommodations that were not up to normal requirements , serious questions arose as to whether such needs could be delivered in the required numbers . Raycom agreed to returning all sold travel packages , with interest , to those who had made arrangements to go to Moscow . By far the largest stumbling block was the Soviet authorities ' inability to guarantee the required number of hotel rooms and lack of communication from the Soviet side . The Soviet authorities told Raycom that they could not assure the number of hotel rooms in the contract , or the locations previously agreed upon , and asked for a delay in negotiations . Additionally , Raycom was not selling its tour packages as well as it had hoped : as of mid - May , fewer than 1 , 000 of over 3 , 000 packages had been sold . A contributing factor was the price for the six - day , five - night trip , which was considerably higher than most Soviet tours which offered even more . Raycom , faced with the potential of large financial losses , decided it could no longer move forward and cancelled the game . Indeed , a lack of inter - cultural experience on both sides combined with the traditional Byzantine Soviet bureaucracy and way of business proved to be the dooming factors for the game . Just to form the " final " game contract , Raycom officials met with six different sets of Soviet negotiating teams , signing at last on April 27 in Moscow - nine months after the game was first announced . Executives at Raycom felt in the end that the game was a few years premature given the changes occurring in the Soviet Union at the time . As per the original contract plans , the game was immediately shifted to the Coliseum , with USC agreeing to eventually play Illinois at home in Champaign , Illinois ; ABC still decided to carry the game , moving it to the Labor Day holiday . The game was played in Los Angeles on September 4 , with the # 22 - ranked Fighting Illini upseting the # 5 Trojans by a score of 14 to 13 in a tight contest before an attendance of 54 , 622 . The teams finally played the second half of the home - and - home arrangement seven years later : On September 7 , 1996 , the # 19 Trojans routed the Illini 55 - 3 in front of 56 , 504 at Memorial Stadium .