http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/col...story.html

Quote:The league’s new television agreements with ESPN/ABC and Fox will include a package of six prime-time Friday games starting in 2017, Commissioner Jim Delany told the Tribune on Wednesday.

Quote:Delany said the league is reluctant to ask schools with giant seating capacities to host Friday night games, so don’t expect games to be played at Ohio State or Penn State.

And Michigan is flat-out saying no to Friday night games, both home and road. Delany said he believes the school simply prefers Saturday games for “consistency of presentation.”

(11-02-2016 01:32 PM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/col...story.html

Quote:The league’s new television agreements with ESPN/ABC and Fox will include a package of six prime-time Friday games starting in 2017, Commissioner Jim Delany told the Tribune on Wednesday.

Quote:Delany said the league is reluctant to ask schools with giant seating capacities to host Friday night games, so don’t expect games to be played at Ohio State or Penn State.

And Michigan is flat-out saying no to Friday night games, both home and road. Delany said he believes the school simply prefers Saturday games for “consistency of presentation.”

So they will exclusively be Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern and maybe Iowa or Nebraska games. Not sure if MSU and Wisc falls into the OSU, UM, PSU level.

Not surprising. Friday is the new Thursday since the NFL moved in.

Rutgers and Maryland are obvious hosts, since they are the newbies. They are also used to hosting prime time weeknight games as former members of the Big East and ACC.

Minnesota and Northwestern make a huge amount of sense to host, being located in more urban areas and having relatively smaller stadiums.

Not sure if anyone else is a great candidate.

Lol @ "consistency of presentation." Well, smell you.

(11-02-2016 01:50 PM)orangefan Wrote:  Not surprising. Friday is the new Thursday since the NFL moved in.

I used to agree with that. But looking at this season's TV ratings, when you compare comparable Thursday and Friday night games on ESPN/ESPN2, the ratings are pretty similar. So even though the NFL games draw big numbers on Thursday, there is no evidence that playing CFB on Friday instead of Thursday will get you a larger TV audience.

This is one of the two things I was wondering with new contact. Other thing is with night games. Right now all have to be scheduled before season. Hope most they dont change that too much (think it will though). Mostly, just want to be sure Ohio State/Michigan stays noon most of the time.

(11-02-2016 02:08 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 01:50 PM)orangefan Wrote:  Not surprising. Friday is the new Thursday since the NFL moved in.

I used to agree with that. But looking at this season's TV ratings, when you compare comparable Thursday and Friday night games on ESPN/ESPN2, the ratings are pretty similar. So even though the NFL games draw big numbers on Thursday, there is no evidence that playing CFB on Friday instead of Thursday will get you a larger TV audience.

The Friday night games are outdrawing every Saturday afternoon game on ESPN2, and ESPNU, and most on FS1. Thursday as well. They are still good showcases, even if not necessarily better than Thursday.

(11-02-2016 01:58 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  Lol @ "consistency of presentation." Well, smell you.

Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, Alabama and Auburn should never play on Friday.

Oklahoma, USC, UCLA, Florida, Florida State and Ohio State are almost in the No-Friday list as well.

Ohio State starts the 2017 season at Indiana --- at least to me, that seems to be a pretty good bet for a Friday night game on Labor Day Weekend.

FS1 can really promote that game as the kickoff to their B1G football coverage: they'd get a big name with OSU and Indiana would probably sell that game out. OSU would also get an extra day off before Oklahoma comes to town the next Saturday.

Then have 3 OOC night games in September, and a couple conference games in October. As someone said upstream, Maryland, Rutgers and Northwestern are logical host schools. Minnesota is already hosting on Labor Day Thursday night, so they might not want another non-Saturday home game. But otherwise they are a logical choice to host. Purdue is putting in permanent lights at Ross-Ade this off-season, so they'd probably make sense for a Friday night game.

Just guessing, but perhaps a schedule like this:

Friday 1-September OSU @ Indiana
Friday 8-September Eastern Michigan @ Rutgers
Friday 15-September MTSU @ Minnesota
Friday 22-September UCF @ Maryland
Friday 6-October Penn State @ Northwestern
Friday 27-October Nebraska @ Purdue

He'll probably force Rutgers and Md to take them all

Gotta try to capture those all-important "casual" viewers!

(11-02-2016 03:05 PM)TIGER-PAUL Wrote:  He'll probably force Rutgers and Md to take them all

There is a report going around that says no school would have more than 1 home game per year on a Friday Night. So certainly possible that Rutgers and Maryland become fixtures of Friday Night, but neither of us will be giving up multiple home games from Saturday to Friday. It's possible that say Rutgers plays 1 home a year on Friday and then 5 more on the road on Fridays, but not likely. More likely would be 1 home and 1 away on Fridays.

(11-02-2016 02:08 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 01:50 PM)orangefan Wrote:  Not surprising. Friday is the new Thursday since the NFL moved in.

I used to agree with that. But looking at this season's TV ratings, when you compare comparable Thursday and Friday night games on ESPN/ESPN2, the ratings are pretty similar. So even though the NFL games draw big numbers on Thursday, there is no evidence that playing CFB on Friday instead of Thursday will get you a larger TV audience.

Many conferences are reluctant to intrude on the high school space. So there really isn't anything for the networks to broadcast, so its inventory they desire.

Right now the AAC and BYU are playing a lot on Friday. Big 10 is crowding in on their territory.

The ACC plays on Friday's as well.

Although 4 teams have agreed to take on the brunt of the weeknight games, UofL, Syracuse, BS, and VT, since they are used to weeknight games and can still get a pretty full stadium on weeknights.

(11-02-2016 03:19 PM)bullet Wrote:  Right now the AAC and BYU are playing a lot on Friday. Big 10 is crowding in on their territory.

Time to get ready for some Wednesday night AACtion?

(11-02-2016 01:41 PM)RutgersGuy Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 01:32 PM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/col...story.html

Quote:The league’s new television agreements with ESPN/ABC and Fox will include a package of six prime-time Friday games starting in 2017, Commissioner Jim Delany told the Tribune on Wednesday.

Quote:Delany said the league is reluctant to ask schools with giant seating capacities to host Friday night games, so don’t expect games to be played at Ohio State or Penn State.

And Michigan is flat-out saying no to Friday night games, both home and road. Delany said he believes the school simply prefers Saturday games for “consistency of presentation.”

So they will exclusively be Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern and maybe Iowa or Nebraska games. Not sure if MSU and Wisc falls into the OSU, UM, PSU level.

Wow, I had not realized the perception of Nebraska had fallen so much. I thought it was a given they fall into the OhioSt, Mich, PSU level, at least in terms of football attendance. All above 90k I believe

The next level I would put Wisc, MSU and Iowa. All in the 65k to 80k range.

Then there is a big dropoff with bottom 7 in attendance all below 50k.

If your stadium holds 75K plus you are saying HTFN to Friday games

This arrangement will feature almost exclusively basketball schools

(11-02-2016 03:35 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 03:19 PM)bullet Wrote:  Right now the AAC and BYU are playing a lot on Friday. Big 10 is crowding in on their territory.

Time to get ready for some Wednesday night AACtion?

The AAC should benefit from the cutback on B1G games on the ESPN networks on Saturday, picking up a few more ESPN2 and ESPNU slots and reducing the ESPNews appearances. However, I agree, ESPN is likely to ask for some Wednesday night games as well. I read today that Aresco is hoping to negotiate with ESPN sooner rather than later. They may be interested.

On a separate note, the 25 games each allocated to ESPN and FOX ensured some amount of head to head competition of some Big Ten games. 50 games/13 weeks = 3.85 games/week. Take 6 out of the equation, and you get 44. Assume one games on Black Friday afternoon, and you get 43. 42/13 = 3.23 games per week. Basically four head to head games over the course of the season, assuming a Saturday night game is played every week.

(11-02-2016 03:47 PM)goofus Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 01:41 PM)RutgersGuy Wrote:  [quote='Wedge' pid='13743378' dateline='1478111542']
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/col...story.html

Quote:The league’s new television agreements with ESPN/ABC and Fox will include a package of six prime-time Friday games starting in 2017, Commissioner Jim Delany told the Tribune on Wednesday.

Quote:Delany said the league is reluctant to ask schools with giant seating capacities to host Friday night games, so don’t expect games to be played at Ohio State or Penn State.

And Michigan is flat-out saying no to Friday night games, both home and road. Delany said he believes the school simply prefers Saturday games for “consistency of presentation.”

So they will exclusively be Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern and maybe Iowa or Nebraska games. Not sure if MSU and Wisc falls into the OSU, UM, PSU level.

Wow, I had not realized the perception of Nebraska had fallen so much. I thought it was a given they fall into the OhioSt, Mich, PSU level, at least in terms of football attendance. All above 90k I believe
quote]


They haven't, that is just his opinion and this just mine. FWIW