The USA Rugby D1A College Executive Committee decided Sunday to switch the matchups for the men's playoff semifinals scheduled for April 28.

The original brackets had No. 3 seed Cal going to No. 2 seed Life and ninth-seeded Lindenwood facing No. 5 seed Penn State at Saint Mary’s (SMC and Life were long ago confirmed as hosts for the semis to make TV coverage easier).

But the committee decided to change the matches in order to save money. Instead of paying for Cal to travel to Marietta, GA, Penn State will be sent there and Lindenwood— already set to travel to Northern California—will play Cal in Moraga, CA.

FloRugby is in the process of getting team reactions to this change, and at present, the only reaction received is that of Lindenwood—and the Lions are not happy at all.

Having planned to play Penn State, Lindenwood now plays Cal in the Bears’ backyard. Cal, which had been set for a road game, now plays almost the equivalent to a home game. Certainly, there will be a vocal Bears crowd in Moraga.

That there will be a crowd is a big factor in the decision. TV coverage is better when there are fans watching, and in fact, CBS will be filming the semifinal in Moraga from the embankment side, facing the stands (FloRugby's coverage all season has been from the stands side).

The plan had been for Saint Mary’s to provide the fans, but the top-seeded Gaels were beaten 43-22 by Lindenwood on Saturday.

D1A Executive Committee Chairman Paul Keeler consulted with the committee members and made the call for the switch on Sunday.

“As we grow the game, it is important for us to draw in fans to support the teams, to support the game,” Keeler said in an official statement. “Keeping local teams local helps with that.”

Added D1A Commissioner Kevin Battle, “It's important that we do what’s best for the growth of the college game.”

Battle added later that he doesn’t expect any of the teams to be thrilled with the change, but having one team travel across the country and another travel a shorter north-to-south trip, he said, is better than three teams traveling across the country.

This likely won’t look good in the eyes of many fans. Cal gets to skip playing at Life—a matchup that was going to be difficult for the Bears and one the Running Eagles were already preparing for prior to the change. Meanwhile, after telling Notre Dame College that it couldn’t move two places in the seedings in order to save costs on travel (and NDC, as a result, pulled out of the playoffs), D1A now has changed the seedings and the entire bracket because of money.

On Saturday, Penn State kicks off at Life at 2:30 PM ET in Marietta, GA, and Lindenwood kicks off against Cal at 4:30 PM ET in Moraga, CA.