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Big Ten Commissioner Jim .. umm .. Delany (official thread)

I guess part of the package proposal is that every B1G school has to play at least once on Fridays (according to BTN).

But does anyone recall the Thursday game against Marshall at Ohio Stadium? I wasn't there. Did they have to clear campus by maybe 2 p.m.? Was it full (parking lots, tailgating, etc.)?

This entire thing is probably the brainchild of ESPiN (don't want to show WAC games on Fridays).
I was also there. It was hot, and by far the worst atmosphere of any night game I have been to, and worse than most day games. Weeknights might be ok for TV, but terrible for those who attend. Fortunately I was able to schedule a business trip to C-bus, and used Friday as a travel day so I didn't have to get up early Friday morning.
 
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Like most of you, I HATE this idea. I would be a lot happier if the BTN would encourage football fans to go out and support their "stars of tomorrow" while they're still in high school (and it's still affordable for every fan). Hell, if nothing else, broadcast a high school game (or two) from the B1G region every Friday night. I understand wanting to be profitable, but this would be going too far.
 
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I guess part of the package proposal is that every B1G school has to play at least once on Fridays (according to BTN).

But does anyone recall the Thursday game against Marshall at Ohio Stadium? I wasn't there. Did they have to clear campus by maybe 2 p.m.? Was it full (parking lots, tailgating, etc.)?

This entire thing is probably the brainchild of ESPiN (don't want to show WAC games on Fridays).

I remember the Thursday-nighter against Wyoming in 1997: quietest Horseshoe gameday crowd I've ever seen. But I don't think Thursday correlates exactly with Friday for gameday atmosphere, since everyone still has to go to school/work the next day, which is a real tailgate-killer.
 
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Good article here:
When it comes to Big Ten Friday night tailgates, where’s the money?

The argument against Friday football is the same for the Big Ten as it would be for any of the other power conferences. Playing on Friday causes travel problems for a large number of fans who make the voyage to their favorite college football cathedrals for home games. This varies from school to school of course, and the turnout for games would likely vary from school to school as well. Schools with a rabid fan base would likely still turn in a decent attendance for a Friday night game in a Big Ten stadium, but asking fans to take off a day of work, or leave early, could lead to more empty seats than a Saturday afternoon game would offer.
So what carries more weight, the empty seats or the television exposure? What it all comes down to is what brings in more dollars, and that may actually benefit the Friday night games stance.
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If common sense prevails, the Big Ten will stick to playing games on Saturdays and only Saturdays. If money trumps common sense, get ready to save up your vacation days Big Ten fans because you are going to need off on a Friday at some point.

Entire article: http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...-ten-friday-night-tailgates-wheres-the-money/
 
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I wouldn't mind seeing some Friday night games with each team having one Friday night game, attempting to alternate who has a home and away game every year. I love watching football on Fridays and it would be good for it to be an actual good game. I don't like the idea of competing with high school football, but it's been a while since I was in high school. When do they typically play? If you make it late enough you can get the kids watching it if they go out for wings after the games, but you'll never get the western crowd to see it. They just have to be careful and make sure it isn't a game that a team would use for recruiting, like playing Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers, etc.. I would like to see it not involve ESPN, put the game on FOX. You have to be very careful with these types of things or it will be a slippery slope.
 
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I wouldn't mind seeing some Friday night games with each team having one Friday night game, attempting to alternate who has a home and away game every year. I love watching football on Fridays and it would be good for it to be an actual good game. I don't like the idea of competing with high school football, but it's been a while since I was in high school. When do they typically play? If you make it late enough you can get the kids watching it if they go out for wings after the games, but you'll never get the western crowd to see it. They just have to be careful and make sure it isn't a game that a team would use for recruiting, like playing Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers, etc.. I would like to see it not involve ESPN, put the game on FOX. You have to be very careful with these types of things or it will be a slippery slope.

Lots of people love to watch a good game on a Friday night. You can already do that - at a high school. You don't have to be a student or a parent to attend a game, and in B1G country and Ohio especially, there's no shortage of good HS games and no shortage of people who attend those games not because it's part of what's important in that community. Those folks shouldn't have to choose between going there or watching the Buckeyes.

You'd have to start a game at 10:30 PM to avoid it overlapping with HS football. Besides, the point isn't to avoid playing on the same day as HS so recruits can watch it on TV while they eat wings. The point is so they can visit.

Plus, calling Purdue, Indiana and Rutgers throwaway games that aren't big days for recruiting may be true for the likes of Ohio State. The same is not true for the teams in the middle or the bottom of the conference. Illinois-Purdue could be a very important recruiting day for either of those teams depending on how the schedule falls that season. That's precisely the type of game that would end up on a Friday, and those are precisely the type of teams that can't afford to have their recruiting handicapped by something like this. The conference needs programs like that to be able to recruit better, not to have more obstacles than they already have.
 
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Are the schedules and dates made up in advance? Wouldn't a recruit see that there is a game on a Friday night that contradicts his high school game schedule and then schedule a visit for say a Saturday game earlier/later in the year? Also the phantom recruiting opportunity only hurts one team, the home team, if at all, which I don't think it would.

You almost make it sound like they would play their entire schedule on Friday nights.

While I am not a fan of the Friday night games for several reasons already mentioned, but a recruitting opportunity being missed is not one of them.
Yes, every game on Friday, forever and ever! That's the plain truth. Don't you be denying it, mister.

I didn't say it should be a factor at all, just that there would be some impact on recruiting.
 
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Perhaps it is my job, which at times requires me to help student athletes (Division III) work their travel schedules around their classes, but it makes me sad that of all the dumb reasons to do this (i.e. tv $$$$$) and all of the good reasons not to do this (high school football, game day atmosphere), there is no mention of the student athletes having to miss more classes due to travel for a Friday night game vs. a Saturday game.
 
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