SAN FRANCISCO -- USC and Boston College will have to learn to share at the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 26.
At least when it comes to the sideline.
The two teams will be on the same side of the field for the bowl matchup, with a 10-yard border -- between the 45-yard lines and featuring the game's trophy and a few uniformed officers -- separating the two bench areas. But why exactly is this the case?
Because AT&T Park is a baseball stadium, the lowest seats are right at field level, unlike a football stadium, where the first row is at least seven or eight feet high. So if the north sideline of the AT&T Park football field was inhabited by one of the teams, the first 10 rows of seats would be lost, sacrificing hundreds of prime tickets in an already small stadium (capacity is around 40,000 for football).
"We're not doing it to be cute," Emerald Bowl hospitality director Steve Steinhart said.
Meanwhile the temporary bleachers behind the bench areas are elevated 10 feet, making those some of the best seats in the stadium because of their proximity to the action.
Steinhart said almost every coach in the bowl's previous seven games has liked the change of pace, though it's not something they said they would want to do throughout the season.
The only foreseeable complication of the sideline sharing would be when players have to make substitutions or coaches have to signal plays in to the opposite side of the field. But have no fear, Steinhart said, as it's a challenge that's been overcome throughout the Emerald Bowl's history.
"We've never had a delay of game penalty in the seven years we've played this game," Steinhart said.
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