(04-05-2017 07:25 AM)H.U.S.T.L.E. Wrote: (04-05-2017 05:49 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote: So why can't the ACC just tell ESPN "These teams are willing to play on Thursday, those teams are willing to play on Friday, and the others are Saturday only"? It sounds like that is essentially what the Big Ten is doing...
That seems to be the common sense solution, right?
Who knows what the negotiations actually end up looking like, but it sure seems that ESPN is dictating who they want to see in some of those Friday night matchups.
One group's opinions we don't hear much from on this topic are the coaches - I'm curious how they feel about Friday night games, but my guess is that they like them much better than Thursday games.
It's also interesting to see which fanbases do and don't mind playing games on days other than Saturday - based on the small sample size here & taking from what I know of the Hokie fanbase, it appears that former Big East teams used to playing on Thursday or Friday nights don't really mind it that much while longtime ACC fans have a strong aversion to it.
I thought the Louisville/Syracuse Friday night matchup this past season was great for the league, as it was a coming out party for Lamar Jackson on national TV without much competition for eyeballs. The ACC needs to be strategic with those Friday night slots and I thought that was an outstanding showcase for the conference (even if it was at the expense of Syracuse... sorry guys).
As I mentioned previously in the thread, I think the ACC Network coming may actually help solve some of these issues. In order to boost the subscriber numbers, it wouldn't shock me to see games like Clemson/BC or FSU/BC on the network. No offense to BC, but it makes sense to use those first-tier brands to anchor the ACCN when they aren't playing in a marquee matchup. Use the Friday night slots for the likes of your second-tier brands like Louisville, VT & Miami. Those fanbases seem to like the exposure of night games on non-traditional gamedays more than some of the other conference members.
It's less of an issue for Syracuse because our recruiting isn't based on attracting local talent. As such, playing during HS games isn't a big deal. The only players in the Dome on gameday are kids who either have scheduled (and therefore more flexible) visit or kids who really, really want to play for us.
Additionally, our football fans (who go to games) are mostly local, so week day games aren't an issue for them. They don't have to worry about travel.
So the downside is comparatively small.
However, the upside is comparatively big. We get a prime time slot that we wouldn't normally get, which is great for general exposure, recruiting, and growing our fan support.
As such, I have no issue w/ SU taking one or two for the team (conference) every year. The conference will do best if every school gives what it can and takes what it needs.
My issue is if SU is going to have that mindset, I strongly wish the rest of the conference would go along (or continue to go along in many cases). SU has extremely limited flexibility in basketball because we have 4 legitimate OOC rivalries in basketball and at least 3 of them are against big name schools (St. John's, UConn, Villanova, and Georgetown). Scheduling 20 ACC games + multiple OOC rivals + anybody else interesting OOC is an issue - especially when the tourney committee doesn't accurately take circumstances of a win/loss into account.
IMHO, if the conference is going to 20 BB games and we're biting the bullet on Friday night games, I'd like to get love w/ conference tournaments - especially in basketball and lacrosse. Now I'll be the first to admit that the ACCT in NYC was designed to benefit SU the most, so don't take this post as a complaint. It's more a statement of my beliefs/opinions/perspective.