Feb. 1, 2008
Watch Kirk’s 2008 Signing Day Press Conference
25 Years of Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Big Ten Network: Programming Schedule
24 Hawkeyes to Watch
Check Out gohawks.com
IOWA CITY – Two-time Grammy Award-winner Kelly Clarkson will perform in the first concert ever staged in historic Kinnick Stadium on the University of Iowa campus on the evening of Friday, April 18, as part of the 2008 Gridiron Bash, the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and MSL Sports and Entertainment announced today.
Clarkson will be joined on the stage in Kinnick Stadium by former UI football student-athletes, members of current UI teams, and to-be-determined local entertainment that will serve as opening acts in a celebration that will happen the night before the Iowa football team’s annual spring practice.
  |
|
The Gridiron Bash is a national event that includes concerts similar to the one being put on in Kinnick Stadium at more than 20 other NCAA Division I football schools. The list of participating institutions includes, among others, Penn State featuring Fergie, Colorado featuring Counting Crows, Tennessee featuring Taylor Swift, Kansas State featuring the Goo Goo Dolls, and Texas A&M featuring ZZ Top.
Ticket information for the event will be announced next week. Persons interested in learning more about the Gridiron Bash are invited
to visit gridironbash.com .
“Kinnick Stadium is a special place and our fans have always looked forward to our spring football event. The Gridiron Bash combines Hawkeye Football and our historic stadium with a nationally-renowned headline concert. It will be a terrific weekend for our fans,” said Gary Barta, the UI’s director of athletics.
 |
“Kinnick Stadium is a special place and our fans have always looked forward to our spring football event. The Gridiron Bash combines Hawkeye Football and our historic stadium with a nationally-renowned headline concert. It will be a terrific weekend for our fans.”
Gary Barta, UI Director of Athletics
|
In addition to the football team’s final spring practice on Saturday, April 19, the UI’s baseball, softball, men’s track and field, women’s track and field, and men’s tennis teams will host events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 18-20.
In addition to the concert series, fans of each school will also be invited to participate in the USA Today Bash for Cash TM fan contest. The school that has the most passionate and supportive fans as determined by the total number of tickets sold to its concert and text message/telephone votes in support of their school will receive a $1 million contribution to its scholarship fund. The schools that place second and third will receive $500,000 and $250,000 respectively.
“We are thrilled to be bringing the Gridiron Bash and the USA Today Bash for Cash fan contest to the University of Iowa. Everyone in the business of intercollegiate athletics knows the passion Iowans have for the Hawkeyes – 30 straight sellouts of their home football games and their reputation among those in the bowl game business are evidence of that fact,” said Shawn Garrity, president of MSL Sports and Entertainment and a former linebacker at Syracuse.
The Iowa football team’s annual spring practice is the first public appearance of the 2008 Iowa Hawkeyes. The UI will open its 2008 season on Aug. 30 against Maine in the first of seven home games in historic Kinnick Stadium. That schedule also includes non-conference games against Florida International and Iowa State and Big Ten Conference games against Northwestern, Wisconsin, Penn State and Purdue.
Iowa enters the 2008 season with a string of 30 straight sellouts of games at Kinnick.
Click HERE for the Big Ten Network home page.