Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Irish End 2000 Spring Drills with Blue-Gold Finale

April 24, 2000

THE EVENT: It’s the 71st annual Blue-Gold football event, Notre Dame’s final intrasquad controlled scrimmage.

THE SITE: Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Ind. (80,012 capacity). This is the third year the game has been played in the expanded stadium, after construction prompted spring football scrimmages on Moose Krause Field on back-to-back Saturdays in both ’96 and ’97.

THE DATE: 1:30 p.m. EST (CDT), Saturday, April 29, 2000.

THE AUTOGRAPHS: Following the scrimmage, Irish players will head briefly to the locker room, then they’ll return to the field for autographs for 30 minutes. Players will be divided by position and seated at tables, with signs marking the various position areas. Fans are asked to remain in the stands until the session begins.

THE TICKETS: In advance, $8 for adults and $6 for youths 16 and under. Saturday at the gate, $10 for adults, $8 for youths. Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s students are admitted free of charge with identification. All parking is free.

THE PRE-GAME FESTIVITIES: The Notre Dame Stadium gates open at 11:00 a.m. EST. At 11:30 a.m., a group of former Irish football players will participate in a flag football game, as a warmup to the July 8 game in Hamburg, Germany, between Irish football alums and the Hamburg Blue Devils.

THE SCRIMMAGE FORMAT: Kicking game drills will be followed by a controlled scrimmage, with the offense-vs.-defense format featuring a scoring system that awards points to both sides.

THE CROWD: Much of the Blue-Gold crowd typically has been of the walk-up variety on gameday. The attendance when the game has been played at Notre Dame Stadium routinely has been at least 20,000 — with highs of 29,451 in ’90 and 27,327 in ’94. Last year?s game drew 21,512 fans.

THE PROCEEDS: Sponsoring the game is the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley, with all proceeds benefiting its scholarship fund.

THE EXPOSURE: The Blue-Gold scrimmage will be broadcast live on radio by WNDV-AM in South Bend (Jeremy Gray, Jeff Jeffers) and also will be available live through Notre Dame’s web site at www.und.com. WHME-TV (Channel 46) in South Bend (Bob Nagle, Craig Wallin) will televise the scrimmage on a delayed basis at 5:00 p.m. EST Saturday. The game also will be distributed via satellite at 12:30 a.m. EST (CDT) on Monday, May 1, on Galaxy 11 (transponder 15).

THE INJURIES: Expected to miss the April 29 scrimmage are OG Jim Jones (knee), DE Ryan Roberts (back), OT Jordan Black (shoulder), DT Andy Wisne (shoulder), OT Sean Mahan (shoulder) and TE Dan O’Leary (back).

LIVE INTERNET BROADCAST: UND.com will offer Blue-Gold game audio LIVE.

THE STANDOUTS: Media will vote on both an outstanding offensive player and an outstanding defensive player, and those selections will be announced at the end of the game.

THE MEDIA PLAN: Bob Davie and various players will be available in the Stadium interview room following the game to answer questions from the media.

THE HALFTIME PLAN: Ceremonies at halftime include introduction of winner of the Big Brother Award, presentation by Chevrolet of player-of-the-game awards to Notre Dame players from the ’99 games, by the Notre Dame Alumni Association of the William Reynolds Award — and by the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley to its scholarship recipients.

THE MEDIA DAY: It’s tentatively set for Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000.

THE DRAFT: One Notre Dame player was selected in the 2000 National Football League draft last weekend:

Round Selection Name Team
7 214 QB Jarious Jackson Denver

Free-agent contracts have been signed by WR Bobby Brown (Green Bay Packers), DE Lamont Bryant (Washington Redskins), DB Deke Cooper (Arizona Cardinals), FB Joey Goodspeed (Pittsburgh Steelers), DB Deveron Harper (Carolina Panthers), WR Raki Nelson (Philadelphia Eagles), LB Ronnie Nicks (San Francisco 49ers), DB A’Jani Sanders (Carolina Panthers), DT Brad Williams (Chicago Bears).

THE 2000 KICKOFFS: Here’s the latest on kickoff times for the 2000 season:

September 2 TEXAS A&M Noon EST on NBC
September 9 NEBRASKA 1:30 EST on NBC
September 16 PURDUE Noon EST on NBC
Septemner 23 at Michigan State TBA
October 7 STANFORD 1:30 EST on NBC
October 14 Navy (Orlando, Fla.) TBA
October 21 at West Virginia TBA
October 28 AIR FORCE 1:30 EST on NBC
November 11 BOSTON COLLEGE 3:30 EST on NBC
November 18 at Rutgers TBA
November 25 at USC TBA