hammb wrote:And so the MAC continues to be bitch of ESPN.
I'm sorry, but that is a horrible idea. We are already the running joke of the college football world because we're so willing to play our games on the weeknights, the last thing we need to do is bastardize the entire Saturday tradition to get more ESPN exposure. If we're not good enough to be aired on Saturdays, then tough $h!t.
I hate these weeknight games, because they make it impossible to tailgate & have a good time. Our attendance would get even worse, and it's NOT going to make the MAC look any better to outsiders.
As others said the players do have to go to class sometime as well! I'm sorry, but college football was meant for Saturdays. It was cute when they first started the 1 Thursday game every week for ESPN. It was even cool to see some of our big games get national television because they were played on weeknights. But the thought of moving the entire league schedule for a month to weeknights...I'm sorry that's ridiculous and not nearly worth the extra publicity.
Yeah , I'm thinking the exact same thing. This could kill any rising support we might have generated at all these last 4 years. Talk about embarrassing attendance issues , we might not have seen the worst yet.
We have enough problems getting any kind of crowd for November on Saturday afternoon, and this would make a joke of attendance at MAC games. Can you imagine EMU vs Buffalo on a cold, windy, Wednesday in the middle of November. Hell, I'd be worried about a OU vs Miami or a CMU vs Western or even a BG vs UT.
I honestly don't think any team should be on TV more than once "during the week", and forcing all the teams to play then, whether they are on TV or not is absolutely nuts!!!
factman wrote:We have enough problems getting any kind of crowd for November on Saturday afternoon, and this would make a joke of attendance at MAC games. Can you imagine EMU vs Buffalo on a cold, windy, Wednesday in the middle of November. Hell, I'd be worried about a OU vs Miami or a CMU vs Western or even a BG vs UT.
I honestly don't think any team should be on TV more than once "during the week", and forcing all the teams to play then, whether they are on TV or not is absolutely nuts!!!
Even though this wouldn't put alot of our games up against the all mighty OSU or Michigan games , I still dont' think this helps us in the slightest. A few big key Mac matchups is okay but not every week in Nov. puleezzze.
At least with this new schedule we won't have to deal with all the students going home on the weekends and what not and missing the games. This might even help student attendance for the simple fact that wednesday is not a big drinking night and everybody is on campus. I'm thinking that while it is a pain in the butt, it might have some positives! Only way to find out however is to try it.
BourbonFalcon wrote:At least with this new schedule we won't have to deal with all the students going home on the weekends and what not and missing the games. This might even help student attendance for the simple fact that wednesday is not a big drinking night and everybody is on campus. I'm thinking that while it is a pain in the butt, it might have some positives! Only way to find out however is to try it.
Our student attendance has been good since they installed the lights and allowed students to make a day out of it.
It's the alumni/townies that we need to get to the games in order to bolster attendance. I doubt very seriously that having a month's worth of games played on school nights is the best way to achieve that goal.
hammb wrote:
Our student attendance has been good since they installed the lights and allowed students to make a day out of it.
It's the alumni/townies that we need to get to the games in order to bolster attendance. I doubt very seriously that having a month's worth of games played on school nights is the best way to achieve that goal.
Are the universities also planning on taking all Wednesday night classes off the schedule for November? If not, it looks like another case of "Athletics vs. Academics" with athletics offering another nice, robust GFY.
Obviously, I'm a fan of the athletics, but driving that deliberate of a wedge between the two yet again is crap. It goes well beyond the "look how much money we bring in" comments, especially at smaller schools.
"I don't believe I can name a coach, anywhere, anytime, anyhow, who did it better than Doyt Perry."
-1955 BG Assistant Bo Schembechler
I thought the reason they had mid week games was to get one ESPN. If every MAC game is gonna be on Wednesday nights, is ESPN gonna televise all of them? I hate this decision...I was hoping on coming up for the senior night game, but if it is in the middle of the week, then I doubt I can make it (unless we are on turkey break, but I doubt it). This really sucks. Sure they will get on tv, but people watching on tv will just laugh at how empty the stadiums are when no one can make it to a weeknight game
Not to mention that a lot of us townies have to get up and go to work Thursday a.m. -- I start at 6 a.m. One weeknight game in November I can hack, but all of them -- no way. Trading tradition for dollars. Will they rent cots in SEBO for those who want to catch a nap before driving home to go to work and get the kids off to school??????
Once in a while is fine, but every MAC game in November is just a bit much. Why doesn't the MAC office just bend over and let the media go at it. Wait, thats what they are doing. BG has tried having the Toledo game the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the results were terrible. Classes end on Tuesday night and the residence halls close on Wednesday afternoon. Where will the students stay? Chances are they either will not stay at all, or they will be tired while driving home after the game. Those who do stay will either crash with friends who have appartments or will stay in hotel rooms, something BG does not have a large amount of. This may push other fans from out of the area to not attend the game. Now if a deal were struck to put the games before Thanksgiving on the Tuesday before then I might be interested in seeing what happens. IF the NCAA will gran all MAC schools a waiver from the attendance rule for the 2006 season. If not, then football was ment to be played on saturdays. GO BG!!!!!
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I strongly disagree with having the Wednesday night games. Not only do we have to think about the football players having class, the marching band students and cheerleaders also have class. Some of the professors I have are oblivious to football and would not dare cancel class for the game, putting those students in those activities at a disadavantage. Even those students not involved in these extra-curricular activities may want to skip class for the game, which would lead to unhappy professors. I could see one game because in most courses, one missed class would not be terrible, but having 3 or 4 would be detrimental to everyone: students and professors alike. There are numerous meetings scheduled for Wednesday nights whose attendance would be hurt...or our attendance would be hurt.
I'm sure that BG would end up with at least one away game in November, and it sucks to drive down for the game and then get up in the morning. I went to the Miami game this last year, stayed through the delay and the whole game. The group I went with did not get back until 4:30AM...and then I was up at 8:30 to go to class. It was not fun, and I would hate to have to do that for multiple weeks in November. Even still, going to bed at a decent time after any Falcon victory is rough, let alone on a Wednesday.
Someone else mentioned the loss of tradtions with the move. Eliminated would probably be field house shows for the marching band as well as much of the promotional tailgating that goes on. Yes it's nice to be on TV, but is it worth the cost of all these things? I don't think so.
GO FALCONS!!
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Lord_Byron wrote:Forget about any regional fan-base if this happens. If people don't drive from Cleveland on Saturday, they aren't going to do it on Wednesday night.
It appears to be giving up butts in the seat for a few bucks in the pocket.
I would hope that Coach B would realize that and refrain from complaining about attendance.
It's all about the money. It's time to start prioritizing for the benefit of the players, their education, and the fans. Money and marketing should fall somewhere behind those on the list.
This has to be the world's worst idea ever! The MAC better be getting a crap-ton of money from ESPN to make up for all the lost attendance by moving the games. Furthermore, we'll be the laughing stock of all college football even more w/ all these televised games w/ empty stadiums.
Give me a break
Edit: If you read in the article... we won't get any more money from ESPN this year, as this is a one year trial. We as a conference are really gonna take this one up pretty hard IMO.
