B1G thinking about Friday and November night games

Submitted by Cold War on

...Would you be OK with the University of Wisconsin football team playing an occasional home game on Friday night?

How about a prime time night game in November when sitting outdoors could expose you to uncomfortable conditions?

Both ideas are years away and neither is a certainty, but they are curious talking points for Big Ten Conference administrators meeting this week in Chicago...

Read more: http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/andy_baggot/andy-baggot-ok-wi…

Bando Calrissian

February 26th, 2014 at 9:17 PM ^

Contrary to popular belief, there isn't a formal conference rule against November night games--the conference just prefers teams not schedule them, and the current TV contracts make it difficult.

Former_DC_Buck

February 27th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^

I understand perhaps doing it Labor Day weekend, but otherwise, Friday is for HS, Saturday for college and Sunday for the NFL. The B1G doesn't need oddball nights for exposure. It needs to win OOC games.

JayMo4

February 26th, 2014 at 9:39 PM ^

At least where I live, high school games are played on Fridays... and Saturdays... and even Thursday nights now.

The NFL has games every Monday and now every Thursday, too.

College football has games four, five, six nights a week some weeks.

I'm sure some of us have nostalgia for the way we remember it growing up, but the genie ain't goin back in that bottle.

mGrowOld

February 26th, 2014 at 10:12 PM ^

Sure why not.  Indiana vs Minnesota seems PERFECT for a Friday night tilt of the titans and If played OSU at night in the Big House I'm pretty sure everybody would be just fine.

ballertim87

February 26th, 2014 at 10:49 PM ^

-- if the NFL can play night games in the north from December through Feb, then I think the Big Ten can survive playing some November night games.  It's friggin November.  Apparently it's safe to play football with temps in the 90s but not in the 40s.

-- I'm not too keen on Friday night games, but if it's Indiana, Purdue, Maryland, etc, then fine.  Let them do it.  Keep the power schools on sat.

UM Fan in Nashville

February 26th, 2014 at 10:55 PM ^

I'm fine with Friday night games for the bottom 2/3rds, but not the top teams. Night games? More please! It only adds to the atmosphere and the B1G needs to work on that if we want to get back to be seen as a top conference.

rob f

February 27th, 2014 at 1:49 AM ^

for the home-town high school heroes. 

For most kids, that's the end of the line in their football careers and they deserve the bright lights of Friday night. 

Marching Bands still provide the music, cheerleaders lead the cheers without help from giant-screen video scoreboards, and the concession prices are affordable fundraisers for the booster clubs. 

I usually take in at least a few high school games each fall.  Don't knock it if you haven't tried it in a while.

Former_DC_Buck

February 27th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^

My wife an I lived in the DC area for 8 years. We were there during 9/11, I could see smoke from the Pentagon from my office. It was chaotic getting home. That night as we were watching the news we talked about how we both wanted to go catch a HS football game back home. For most of us from Ohio (and I'm sure a lot of other places) it is a quintessential American activity. But, I know this is not true everywhere. My wife used to work for Arbitron, the radio ratings company. They were having a team event where they were pretending to be program directors. My wife's team was supposed to be a small town FM station. When she mentioned broadcasting HS football games her coworkers thought she was crazy until the person coordinating the event informed them that this is pretty common throughout "flyover" country.