EAST LANSING – Michigan State University Athletics Director Mark Hollis outlined plans on Thursday for a “Celebrate the State” football series, featuring 12 games over 10 seasons (2011-2020) against Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan that includes the Spartans making one road trip each to Mount Pleasant, Ypsilanti and Kalamazoo.

Michigan State will play four games each against the Chippewas, Eagles and Broncos during the 10-year period.

“The state of Michigan is a great place to live,” Hollis said. “In the spirit of ‘Pure Michigan’, we strive to ‘Celebrate the State’ with a football series that provides competition on the fi eld while unifying people of our great state.

“Michigan State University and President (Lou Anna) Simon have made great strides to provide opportunities for the state of Michigan that provide economic and other benefits for our State. FRIB, IBM, and our state wide medical school outreach are a few examples. It is with this spirit that we present the ‘Celebrate the State’ series.

“The series provides an opportunity for competitive games, positive celebrations, and economic benefits. Coming off the 2009 NCAA Final Four in Detroit, Michigan State continues to provide positive economic stories for the state of Michigan.

“Competitively, the Big Ten Conferences enjoys its relationship with the Mid-American Conference in football and multiple other sports.

“The series also provides an opportunity for Michigan State fans to celebrate Spartan football at locations across our state (Mount Pleasant, Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti) while maintaining a seven-game home schedule at Spartan Stadium.

“Financially, the series provides a positive for each university with regards to game guarantees, regionalized travel expenses, and keeps revenues within the boundaries of the state of Michigan. The games will also provide a positive economic impact on the state of Michigan from teams and fans that spend dollars in our state with travel, housing, dining, and other activities on game days.

“I am appreciative of the cooperation of CMU, WMU, and EMU for collaborating on a football series that celebrates the state of Michigan.”

The Spartans will entertain Western Michigan during the 2013, 2017 and 2019 seasons and play a road game at Waldo Stadium in 2015. It will mark Michigan State’s first game in Kalamazoo since playing at Kalamazoo College in 1905.

Michigan State will play host to Eastern Michigan during the 2012, 2014 and 2016 seasons and travel to Rynearson Stadium in either 2018 or 2020. It will mark the Spartans’ first trip to Ypsilanti since 1899 when EMU was formerly known as Michigan State Normal College.

The Spartans will play Central Michigan in East Lansing during the 2011, 2015 and 2018 seasons, with their firstever appearance in Kelly/Shorts Stadium scheduled for 2012.
“Michigan State University is proud of its scheduling, competing in the tough Big Ten Conference,” Hollis said. “Our non-conference series with Notre Dame is one of the nation’s greatest rivalries and will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 10-10 tie in 2016.
We have also recently announced home-and-home series with Alabama and West Virginia.”
Western Michigan University Athletics Director Kathy Beauregard: “The announcement of Michigan State coming to Waldo Stadium in 2015 is one that benefits our fans, our University, the entire Kalamazoo community and the Mid-American Conference.”