Friday Night Football?

[WANG]

Feb 27, 2014 10:38:22 GMT -5 @theref said:

Feb 27, 2014 7:31:54 GMT -5 socaljd3 said:

Not every family has kids playing HS fball...this would be a small majority of people in the grand scheme of things. I don't go watch HS fball and none of my friends do either. Hell, I only know of one friend or family member that goes to the games...i'm all for it, but I'm more for the NFL moving to Friday, Thursday is too quick of a turnaround...have a few more college games on Thursday instead.

There are over 800 high schools just in the state of Ohio.

 Using extreme low balling numbers at high school games:

Players = 24,000
Parents = 40,000
1 other relative = 24,000
Cheerleaders = 6,500
Band members = 10,000
Coaches = 4,000
trainers = 1,000
Ticket takers = 1,000
Concession workers = 2,000
Referees = 2,000
Police and ambulance = 1,500
School administrators = 1,000
radio = 1500
General fans = 1500
students  = 30,000

That is 150,000 people which is easily an extremely low ball prediction of folks that will be at these games regardless. My guess it is well over 200,000 maybe over 300,000 people that would typically be at high school games on a friday night just in Ohio.

How about the potential money lost at these games if just 25% tune in or go to the B1G game that night instead. Devastating to high school programs to say the least.

The VAST majority of people who would go to a HS game wouldn't stop going if a random BTN game were on. Look at who you listed:

Players, band members, coaches, cheerleaders, family, employees

All those people, outside of family, are there regardless, and mom and dad aren't going to miss Jrs game just cause a better gam is on TV.

The only people who MIGHT be swayed would be the students and the general fans, and only way that this would affect their game attendence in Ohio is if OSU were playing, so you are looking at POSSIBLY 1 game a year. It would hardly be devastating, overall it would be no big deal for HS football.

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2014 12:09:30 GMT -5 WANG said:

Feb 27, 2014 10:38:22 GMT -5 @theref said:

There are over 800 high schools just in the state of Ohio.

 Using extreme low balling numbers at high school games:

Players = 24,000
Parents = 40,000
1 other relative = 24,000
Cheerleaders = 6,500
Band members = 10,000
Coaches = 4,000
trainers = 1,000
Ticket takers = 1,000
Concession workers = 2,000
Referees = 2,000
Police and ambulance = 1,500
School administrators = 1,000
radio = 1500
General fans = 1500
students  = 30,000

That is 150,000 people which is easily an extremely low ball prediction of folks that will be at these games regardless. My guess it is well over 200,000 maybe over 300,000 people that would typically be at high school games on a friday night just in Ohio.

How about the potential money lost at these games if just 25% tune in or go to the B1G game that night instead. Devastating to high school programs to say the least.

The VAST majority of people who would go to a HS game wouldn't stop going if a random BTN game were on. Look at who you listed:

Players, band members, coaches, cheerleaders, family, employees

All those people, outside of family, are there regardless, and mom and dad aren't going to miss Jrs game just cause a better gam is on TV.

The only people who MIGHT be swayed would be the students and the general fans, and only way that this would affect their game attendence in Ohio is if OSU were playing, so you are looking at POSSIBLY 1 game a year. It would hardly be devastating, overall it would be no big deal for HS football.

I was only referring to one night of OSU playing. That one night of lost revenue for high schools would hurt severely. And that IS just Ohio. Factor in the other states and their numbers. You are talking about well over a million people probably over 2 million and tons of dollars lost to high school programs.

And yes my point was they are there regardless. They are forced to miss Ohio State that night. Not right!

 Factor in the entire B1G for the year and you are hurting millions.

Not to mention from everything I have heard OSU, scUM, PSU, MSU, Wsky and Neb would probably be scheduled at least twice during the year so double everthing mentioned. TERRIBLE idea. Why can't BTN promote a primetime slot on every Saturday night. Show the biggest matchups each week at 8pm Saturday night. There would plenty of high caliber matchups to get the extra ratings and TV revenue.

[ohstatefan]

Feb 27, 2014 12:25:06 GMT -5 @theref said:

Feb 27, 2014 12:09:30 GMT -5 WANG said:

The VAST majority of people who would go to a HS game wouldn't stop going if a random BTN game were on. Look at who you listed:

Players, band members, coaches, cheerleaders, family, employees

All those people, outside of family, are there regardless, and mom and dad aren't going to miss Jrs game just cause a better gam is on TV.

The only people who MIGHT be swayed would be the students and the general fans, and only way that this would affect their game attendence in Ohio is if OSU were playing, so you are looking at POSSIBLY 1 game a year. It would hardly be devastating, overall it would be no big deal for HS football.

I was only referring to one night of OSU playing. That one night of lost revenue for high schools would hurt severely. And that IS just Ohio. Factor in the other states and their numbers. You are talking about well over a million people probably over 2 million and tons of dollars lost to high school programs.

And yes my point was they are there regardless. They are forced to miss Ohio State that night. Not right!

 Factor in the entire B1G for the year and you are hurting millions.

Not to mention from everything I have heard OSU, scUM, PSU, MSU, Wsky and Neb would probably be scheduled at least twice during the year so double everthing mentioned. TERRIBLE idea. Why can't BTN promote a primetime slot on every Saturday night. Show the biggest matchups each week at 8pm Saturday night. There would plenty of high caliber matchups to get the extra ratings and TV revenue.

That's part of the double edged sword of the BTN. On the one hand, you need to promote the conference games as much as possible. BTN isn't going to have as much of a draw of say ESPN, ABC, CBS, etc. so for that reason you want your marquee matchup there. However if they don't have good games on BTN, it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as viewers have less incentive to check out the network.

As conferences keep getting bigger, maybe the Friday night thing is bound to happen. We're already at 7 conference games each week with the addition of Rutgers and Maryland, so we'd already be subject to overlap as it is.

Personally I hope they don't do it. Friday night games always seemed kind of Bush League to me. The article also points out that the Big Ten should act fast or the SEC will do the same. Of course the Big Ten doing it first doesn't stop the SEC from following suit. And what network wouldn't be clamoring to cover SEC games?

[victor2111]

First off: For those saying "The Big 10 is too good to play on a Weekday". SEC,ACC, Pac 12, Big 12 have all had games on Thursday night. Those guys are all better than the B10. Lets quit acting like the B10 is great, and too good for something.

Second: Ref, an 8PM Big 10 Network game on Saturday doesn't do any good because it would be competing against the ABC/ESPN primetime games. That is why they want to move a game to Friday night, so it is the only college game and gets more views. Nobody is going to watch an game on BTN 8PM saturday when Oregon is playing LSU on ABC or something like that.

Third: Talking about how it is not fair for HS FB, well I doubt the Big 10 cares one bit against HS football is making. It only cares about their $$$$. And as Wang said, most of the HS fans will stick. You will lose a few maybe but it is not like Ohio State is playing Michigan on Friday night.

Fourth: I doubt Ohio State would play twice on Friday night. More likely just once. Ohio State draws good crowds on Saturday night(TV), Friday night would be more for Illinois @ Indiana, PSU @ NW, Indiana @ Ohio State maybe, Michigan @ Iowa, etc. It is one game a week, and there are only 13-14 weeks of CFB? 13-14 B10 teams. So each team gets an home game. Nobody is going to want Ohio State be their game on Friday because that is their big home game to use for recruiting. So I'm guessing one Ohio State home game against lesser team(Maybe OOC or Indiana/Illinois/Purdue of the world) would be on Friday.

Not many people would watch PSU @ NW on an Saturday night but if it is the only game on Friday night, and you're at home, and a CFB fan, you probably will turn the game on and check it out.



I don't like the idea but understand why the Big 10 would do it because all they care about is the $$$ that is being put in their bank account.

[angrybaldman]

Feb 27, 2014 12:53:49 GMT -5 victor2111 said:

First off: For those saying "The Big 10 is too good to play on a Weekday". SEC,ACC, Pac 12, Big 12 have all had games on Thursday night. Those guys are all better than the B10. Lets quit acting like the B10 is great, and too good for something.

Second: Ref, an 8PM Big 10 Network game on Saturday doesn't do any good because it would be competing against the ABC/ESPN primetime games. That is why they want to move a game to Friday night, so it is the only college game and gets more views. Nobody is going to watch an game on BTN 8PM saturday when Oregon is playing LSU on ABC or something like that.

Third: Talking about how it is not fair for HS FB, well I doubt the Big 10 cares one bit against HS football is making. It only cares about their $$$$. And as Wang said, most of the HS fans will stick. You will lose a few maybe but it is not like Ohio State is playing Michigan on Friday night.

Fourth: I doubt Ohio State would play twice on Friday night. More likely just once. Ohio State draws good crowds on Saturday night(TV), Friday night would be more for Illinois @ Indiana, PSU @ NW, Indiana @ Ohio State maybe, Michigan @ Iowa, etc. It is one game a week, and there are only 13-14 weeks of CFB? 13-14 B10 teams. So each team gets an home game. Nobody is going to want Ohio State be their game on Friday because that is their big home game to use for recruiting. So I'm guessing one Ohio State home game against lesser team(Maybe OOC or Indiana/Illinois/Purdue of the world) would be on Friday.

Not many people would watch PSU @ NW on an Saturday night but if it is the only game on Friday night, and you're at home, and a CFB fan, you probably will turn the game on and check it out.



I don't like the idea but understand why the Big 10 would do it because all they care about is the $$$ that is being put in their bank account.

First - Just because the other conferences do it, does not mean it is a good idea or that we have to. The other conferences may have better teams, but that doesn't mean they are a better conference. The Big Ten is a gold standard.

Second - A fair point, but if it is at night you could still watch another Big Ten game if you weren't concerned with the ABC matchup (which isn't all B10).

Third - They care if they aren't getting the viewers.

Fourth - We will play at least twice in order to a) fair b) be a draw for the games.

[victor2111]

Second: I'm not watching an boring Big 10 matchup vs two top 25 teams going at it. And I think at least 95% of CFB fans would agree. The only people watching that Big 10 game are A. Fans of teams. B. Some really hard B10 fans. Not much of the CFB population thought.

Third: When I said care, I meant about how many views an HS game gets. Do you think the Big 10 really cares if there are less people at HS FB game on a Friday night? That is what I was trying to say. They don't care, which is why they would add a Friday game. If they cared about how many views a HS FB game got, they wouldn't be talking about this.

Fourth: I still think it is only once. Ohio State will get great views on Saturday. So why would you lose your Saturday views just to add Friday views? That doesn't make sense. You want to lose your Saturday game that doesn't get many views and try to move it to Friday so it gets more. That is the point of this, at least that is what I think it is. Ohio State gets a lot of TV views on Saturday, the other B10 games lack Saturday views from CFB fans because of the competition

If, say, Rutgers-Purdue is going to be buried beneath a wave of six other league games on your standard October Saturday, is there really so much harm in moving it to a Friday night and snagging both teams a few more eyeballs?

^^^ That right there is why you move B10 games on Friday. Not for Ohio State. For others teams that can't get CFB views because of competition of TV time on Saturday. Ohio State would play once to be fair but I wouldn't play them twice. That would be dumb if you're trying to get the B10 more views.

[victor2111]

Here is how I see it in my head:

Views on Saturday(made up #s):
Ohio State game on TV: 8.5
NW game on TV: 2.3
Illinois game: 1.2
Indiana game: 1.1

Views on Friday:
Ohio State game: 8.9
NW game: 4.4
Illinois: 3.5
Indiana game: 3.5


SO if you're trying to get more view throughout the week, that is why you move other Big 10 teams on Friday more often, because they would gain the views they need. Maybe I'm wrong. But that is how I see it.

[ohstatefan]

It would suck if you were a commuter and had to get to class on a Friday and now have all that tailgating traffic to deal with. Because you know people roll in several hours before a game.

I guess you're also not getting recruits to watch your game on a Friday (since they already have a game of their own that night). But just once a year wouldn't be too bad.

Heck, why not add a Sunday game in their too? NFL could handle a little competition anyway. I could see the add now: the Big Ten - our players are *already* playing on Sunday.

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2014 13:02:16 GMT -5 angrybaldman said:

Feb 27, 2014 12:53:49 GMT -5 victor2111 said:

First off: For those saying "The Big 10 is too good to play on a Weekday". SEC,ACC, Pac 12, Big 12 have all had games on Thursday night. Those guys are all better than the B10. Lets quit acting like the B10 is great, and too good for something.

Second: Ref, an 8PM Big 10 Network game on Saturday doesn't do any good because it would be competing against the ABC/ESPN primetime games. That is why they want to move a game to Friday night, so it is the only college game and gets more views. Nobody is going to watch an game on BTN 8PM saturday when Oregon is playing LSU on ABC or something like that.

Third: Talking about how it is not fair for HS FB, well I doubt the Big 10 cares one bit against HS football is making. It only cares about their $$$$. And as Wang said, most of the HS fans will stick. You will lose a few maybe but it is not like Ohio State is playing Michigan on Friday night.

Fourth: I doubt Ohio State would play twice on Friday night. More likely just once. Ohio State draws good crowds on Saturday night(TV), Friday night would be more for Illinois @ Indiana, PSU @ NW, Indiana @ Ohio State maybe, Michigan @ Iowa, etc. It is one game a week, and there are only 13-14 weeks of CFB? 13-14 B10 teams. So each team gets an home game. Nobody is going to want Ohio State be their game on Friday because that is their big home game to use for recruiting. So I'm guessing one Ohio State home game against lesser team(Maybe OOC or Indiana/Illinois/Purdue of the world) would be on Friday.

Not many people would watch PSU @ NW on an Saturday night but if it is the only game on Friday night, and you're at home, and a CFB fan, you probably will turn the game on and check it out.



I don't like the idea but understand why the Big 10 would do it because all they care about is the $$$ that is being put in their bank account.

First - Just because the other conferences do it, does not mean it is a good idea or that we have to. The other conferences may have better teams, but that doesn't mean they are a better conference. The Big Ten is a gold standard.

Second - A fair point, but if it is at night you could still watch another Big Ten game if you weren't concerned with the ABC matchup (which isn't all B10).

Third - They care if they aren't getting the viewers.

Fourth - We will play at least twice in order to a) fair b) be a draw for the games.

I'm with ya ABM.

Friday night has always been the worst for TV ratings in general. The Olympics worst nights were Friday nights. Unless the B1G puts out their marquee teams consistently they will not get very good ratings. They are not going to get them with the marquee teams playing one of their weak non-conference games. The Friday night game would have to be a game that draws the extra views they don't normally get. You are not going to get that with a OSU vs. Kent St. game the same as OSU vs. Indiana would not be a good draw. They would have to be games that have meaning and potential competitiveness. All the radio talk and media reports i have read all say the marquee programs would have to commit to 2 or more games to get the extra ratings and revenue they are after.

BTN could compete on Saturday night easily. OSU/VT....BTN airs that on Sat. 8pm and it competes with anything ABC/ESPN can come up with. scUM/ND, Neb/Miami are just a couple others that would compete with anything else they throw out. Then when conference play rolls around pick the most meaningful out and go with it. Sure there will be nights when say Bama/LSU rolls around and you cant win that week but over an entire season BTN could compete. 

[victor2111]

BTN will never get OSU/VT, UM/ND, Neb/Miami games.

Point being, the Big 10 to me is just trying to get the lower key games that get loss in the saturday schedule more views.

If I'm home on a Friday night, relaxing, and Purdue vs NW is on the TV, I'll probably watch some of it. I think that goes with most CFB fans. There is no way I would watch Purdue vs NW on saturday becasue there are much better games on TV that I could watch instead.


EDIT: We're looking at things completely different right now. You guys are making it like the Big 10 wants the highest rated game on Friday. I'm looking at it that the Big 10 is looking to get more views for its lesser games that are drawn with 5 other games on Saturday, so nobodies watches them.


I think the Big 10 is just trying to add some more $$$ and get a little bit more views for their Noon games on Saturday. There is like 4 Big 10 Noon games on every Saturday. Make it 3 and put one of those on Friday so it gets a little more views. That is how I see this playing out but I could be wrong.

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2014 14:20:33 GMT -5 victor2111 said:

BTN will never get OSU/VT, UM/ND, Neb/Miami games.

Why? The dollars are there and I am not sure exactly how it works but I would think the B1G has the say so on which network gets it.

The same night OSU/VT plays is the MSU/ Oregon game which will likely be the ABC/ESPN game and the other will be a SEC vs whoever game. BTN airs OSU/VT and competes easily if not better.

[Deleted]

No way the Purdue / NW game gets significantly more viewers on a Friday night than it would on Saturday noon. People that really want to see that game watch it either way. But for the extra viewers, I don't see cancelling dinner and movie or whatever someone does normally on Friday night and getting that extra viewer to say oooh that game is on, I'm watching. Not to mention the the people of Indiana high schools getting screwed.

[victor2111]

Feb 27, 2014 14:37:37 GMT -5 @theref said:

No way the Purdue / NW game gets significantly more viewers on a Friday night than it would on Saturday noon. People that really want to see that game watch it either way. But for the extra viewers, I don't see cancelling dinner and movie or whatever someone does normally on Friday night and getting that extra viewer to say oooh that game is on, I'm watching. Not to mention the the people of Indiana high schools getting screwed.

There are a lot of people that stay home Friday night and relax at 8PM that have a family. So I'm sure it would get a few more views than it would on a Saturday when there are 6 better games on TV.


There are a lot of people that watch random NHL, NBA, MLB games on Friday night. I'm sure during CFB season on Friday, there will be someone that catches a CFB game if it is on TV.

[victor2111]

Feb 27, 2014 14:30:01 GMT -5 @theref said:

Feb 27, 2014 14:20:33 GMT -5 victor2111 said:

Why? The dollars are there and I am not sure exactly how it works but I would think the B1G has the say so on which network gets it.

The same night OSU/VT plays is the MSU/ Oregon game which will likely be the ABC/ESPN game and the other will be a SEC vs whoever game. BTN airs OSU/VT and competes easily if not better.

Big 10 is not going to lose everything it has with ESPN just go play its game on BTN. And I hope they don't do it either becasue the BTN coverage sucks.

[victor2111]

Feb 27, 2014 14:40:09 GMT -5 victor2111 said:

Feb 27, 2014 14:37:37 GMT -5 @theref said:

No way the Purdue / NW game gets significantly more viewers on a Friday night than it would on Saturday noon. People that really want to see that game watch it either way. But for the extra viewers, I don't see cancelling dinner and movie or whatever someone does normally on Friday night and getting that extra viewer to say oooh that game is on, I'm watching. Not to mention the the people of Indiana high schools getting screwed.

There are a lot of people that stay home Friday night and relax at 8PM that have a family. So I'm sure it would get a few more views than it would on a Saturday when there are 6 better games on TV.


There are a lot of people that watch random NHL, NBA, MLB games on Friday night. I'm sure during CFB season on Friday, there will be someone that catches a CFB game if it is on TV.

And the viewers that were going to watch the big 10 game on Saturday but now watch it on Friday, will now add more viewers for the other big 10 games Saturday since their team already played.