Possibility of MSU being a night game?

Submitted by MGoBlue96 on September 25th, 2018 at 10:14 AM

So what are the chances that the MSU game is a night game? Just curious because my wife wanted to go to a Halloween event on the 20th, but after looking at the slate of games for the 20th it looks like a decent chance it will be the primetime game. Will we find out the game time before October 1st?

GoBlueOval

September 25th, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^

Please no, please no, please no, please no, please no!

-Sincerely, guy who's going to the game and also running the Free Press 1/2 Marathon the following morning. 

Sleepy

September 25th, 2018 at 10:22 AM ^

Depends on how the NLCS is trending.  Game 7 is scheduled for 10/20 on FOX/FS1.  The UM/MSU game will also be on FOX/FS1.  No way FOX would put them head-to-head.

 

NittanyFan

September 25th, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^

Last year in the same weekend, FOX chose Kansas @ TCU as their Prime Time game.  It wound up going against (1) USC @ ND on NBC, (2) U-M @ PSU on ABC, and (3) Yankees @ Astros ALCS on FS1.

The KU @ TCU game didn't draw many eyeballs, to say the least.

Honestly, that decision of KU @ TCU was FOX "punting."  They wanted to protect their FS1 broadcast and given that ABC/NBC both had very good college football games on themselves, FOX just chose a filler college game for Prime Time.

I can see them doing the same thing this year.  NBC won't have ND in Prime Time, but ABC will have some decent game, and of course there's the potential NLCS Game 6.

I think FOX's play is to put U-M @ MSU in a 3:30/4 PM slot.

MH20

September 25th, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^

The earliest we'll officially know is October 8th. Rumor/speculation might point to it being a night game prior to that but nothing official will be known until a maximum of 12 days beforehand.

Squad16

September 25th, 2018 at 10:55 AM ^

* minimum of 12 days beforehand. 

 

The 6 period window cannot be used for Night Games in the Big Ten. So we don't necessarily have to find out the game time on October 8th (could be October 14th), if it's not announced on 10/8 it won't be a night game. 

Section 1.8

September 25th, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^

To Brian Cook's excellent diatribe against what television is doing to the in-stadium experience of college football, let's add: the injury and insult to fans who need to make travel plans to attend games as part of the in-stadium crowds.

It is complete bullshit that game times are not known at least a month in advance, so that people who are flying in and/or booking hotel rooms (or a thousand other varying personal arrangements) can make plans accordingly.

The notion that Fox, or ABC, or ESPN, CBS can jerk around 100,000 people's plans to decide whether UM-MSU should be 3:30 or 8:00 depending on how each of the teams do in their first six or seven games (5-2?  Or 6-1?  Does that make a difference for game time?) is nonsense.

Fuck you, television.  All of television.  Understand this, everyone; when we run the total of ticket revenues, plus preferred seating donations, plus parking, plus other stadium revenues, it is far more -- almost double -- than the total amount of revenue sharing we get from the Conference.  And of that latter amount (revenue sharing from the Conference), it is something less than 100% that is derived from TV revenue.  The simple metric is this; the backbone of UM Athletic Department revenue is the attendance, the PSD's, and the voluntary general fund giving by loyal alumni and season ticket holders.  TV revenues are a distant second place.  It is time to get our scheduling priorities in line with those revenue realities.  Not for one minute do I think that the television networks would walk away from the Big Ten Conference if in our next contract(s) we told them that we will no longer get jerked around on scheduling times and opposing night games.

Indiana Blue

September 25th, 2018 at 4:18 PM ^

Whoa there Section 1.8 ... I think it's time for your meds.  Holy shit - it about exposure to the largest potential target audience.  If it appears that msu vs Michigan will be a 1 loss vs 1 loss contest - it may very well be a night game (unless baseball does have a compelling matchup).  IIRC the msu game was a night game last year ... wasn't it ?

Go Blue!

Section 1.8

September 25th, 2018 at 5:54 PM ^

It was a night game, and despite the fact that it was a night game I was there.  It was a glorious, warm Indian summer afternoon.  It would have been ideal October weather (shirtsleeves!) for football.  Golden autumn.

But the game didn't start until 8:00.  And midway through the game, at night, the skies opened and it was a torrential, cold, stinging rain.

I care a whole lot less about "the largest potential target audience."  I care about the paying audience.  The critical, irreplaceable, indispensable PAYING audience.

 

bklein09

September 25th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^

I know it’s silly, but these threads really grind my gears. Call it a pet peeve. 

The rules for when game times are announced has been the same for years. And yet, we get these threads pretty much on a weekly basis. If anyone knew the game time for the MSU game, it would be public knowledge. No one has anything to gain from keeping it a secret.

LSAClassOf2000

September 25th, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^

To be fair though, I actually believe a fair number of people are unsure of the television rules regarding how network / time are determined and what the structure of those contracts might be, so at least it is a question asked in earnest. I could be way wrong in assuming that most people are unsure or outright don't know, but it's the most plausible explanation for these threads showing up well in advance of when we will be told. 

michgoblue

September 25th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^

I disagree, for three reasons:

1.  While the rules concerning the announcement of game times have been the same for quite some time, not everyone knows those rules.  You are assuming that everyone here reads every single comment to every single post.  I tend to be a pretty active reader, so I generally know the rules, but (a) there are new readers every day, so if it was previously posted, they wouldn't know; and (b) there are casual readers who don't go through every post in detail.

2.  While the formal announcement as to the game time may not have been made (since, yes, if it had been made, it would certainly be up on mgoblue.com), this board has a pretty wide reach and it is certainly possible that some of the posters on here might be able to offer insight - not necessarily anything definitive, but something along the lines of "I work in event planning, and they recently sent around an email looking for people to work overtime or night hours on the night of the Wisconsin game" or "my buddy is a former player at MSU and he has been told that they are strongly considering making that game a night game."  While these are not definite, for someone who has to make plans a few weeks out, that type of information might move the needle and help make a decision.

3.  This board is incredibly informed.  There are many on here who follow these types of things really closely, and, again, while not necessarily based on specific information, there are posters on here who might be able to give their "best guess" based upon prior match-ups, other games on at the same time, which network has the game, etc. that will help someone looking to make long-range plans (such as the poster who noted that the game is on Fox / FS1, as is the NLCS and Fox would likely not want to schedule a conflict between two potentially big draws).

I know that many on this board look for reasons to get annoyed, but I just don't see the downside of these posts, especially where, as here, it is obvious from the title what the post is about. 

 

mGrowOld

September 25th, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^

Co-signed.

But my absolute favorite (and by favorite I mean threads that drive me bat-shit crazy) ones are the "has anybody heard anything about where recruit X is trending or player Y's injury?" 

Like if somebody had that information it wouldn't have been posted already.  They needed a REMINDER to let everyone know what they've learned.

ijohnb

September 25th, 2018 at 11:23 AM ^

It could be days or weeks since anything was posted about it though, and many posters may not have been on the blog at that time to learn the status of an injury and could find it helpful.  A lot of people use this blog as like a "newspaper" that they glance at once in a while and are not on it all the time to know.

Too much talk about what posts are "right" and which posts are "wrong."  People just need to start going to the threads they want and not going to the ones they don't.