Florida Atlantic University announced an epic “Battle of the Coasts” football matchup against the University of South Florida.
The epic match would take place on a massive aircraft carrier in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the school claimed in a Monday morning tweet. There’s just one problem …
It turns out it was an April Fools’ Day joke.
Where better to host this years ‘Battle of the Coasts’ than off the coast of the Atlantic?🌊
The game vs @USFFootball will be played in the Atlantic Ocean aboard an aircraft carrier, a first in college football history.
🗓️ Friday, November 1
⏰ 8:00PM
📍 Floating in the… pic.twitter.com/loNxeXrnkP— Florida Atlantic Football (@FAUFootball) April 1, 2024
Not quite realizing today’s date, I jumped on this story the minute I saw the tweet. Visions of wide receivers jetting down the sideline and jumping out of the back of the endzone into clear blue waters danced in my head as I furiously typed away.
It was only after I did some digging and couldn’t find confirmation of the event that I began to question the legitimacy. I reached out to the school and they confirmed, breaking my heart in the process, that it was indeed an April Fools’ joke. (RELATED: Elon Musk Trolls Major Company With April Fools’ Day Joke)
And hand up, I was shockingly dumb to even believe it was feasible. While there is precedent for NCAA athletics taking place on an aircraft carrier — college basketball has played four “Carrier Classic” games between 2011 and 2022 — it would be exceedingly difficult to play a football game on one.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has a length of 1,106 feet and a flight deck of 256 feet, according to the U.S. Navy. While that’s technically big enough to fit three football fields in length, it would be difficult to accommodate the sidelines and stands necessary for an event of this magnitude.
I’m all for some good ol’ fashion fun, but in one fell swoop FAU gave me a brand new dream and then snatched it away. Some day we will get to see dudes play football in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Until then, I’ll keep dreaming.