More midweek games this year....

[Falcon137]

Yay......

https://twitter.com/KenMather_MAC/statu ... 3873989632

[guest44]

Nice, let's do Homecoming on a Tuesday, and start Family Weekend on a Thursday.

[Globetrotter]

I love midweek games.

[Falcon137]

Hopefully this means more Thursday and Friday games. Not Tuesday and Wednesday.

[thewebboy]

I actually don't mind midweek MAC games. I used to loathe them, but there is something valuable being the only game on TV on a given night. National TV exposure, trending on FB/Twitter, mentions on the radio the next morning...

Sure the crowds are horrible, but let's be honest, they aren't that much better on Saturdays. If we have to do this I wouldn't mind seeing every MAC team with 1 home/1 away weekday game.

[hammb]

I actually don't mind midweek MAC games. I used to loathe them, but there is something valuable being the only game on TV on a given night. National TV exposure, trending on FB/Twitter, mentions on the radio the next morning...

Sure the crowds are horrible, but let's be honest, they aren't that much better on Saturdays. If we have to do this I wouldn't mind seeing every MAC team with 1 home/1 away weekday game.

That's just it. When they first started it made sense as the MAC was one of the first conferences to adopt it and they were the only game on TV. Now that's rarely, if ever, the case. Now there are typically 3-4 games played on these weeknights and when we schedule it there isn't even a guarantee that it'll be on TV because ESPN won't decide until they find out which teams suck.

Then half the time if they are televised it's ESPNU or ESPN2, sometimes even head to head against a higher profile conference game on the actual ESPN.

To use a TV term (one that has probably jumped the shark itself), I feel that midweek MAC games have totally jumped the shark. I have a buddy in marketing at Buckeye that continues to reiterate to me that the ratings for those games, even in MAC-centralized Toledo, are beyond awful...like reruns of friends awful. The MAC ESPN contract brings in next to nothing in actual revenue. And if nobody's watching you're not gaining that much exposure.

Meanwhile the downsides of the midweek games are just as bad as ever...terrible attendance, hurts building a fanbase, etc. I know I can personally speak for the fact that it is a major reason why I don't get season tickets anymore. Every year you can count on at least one, usually more, games that are just a royal PITA to attend. I like BG football, but when it got to be a chore to use all my season tickets, and usually watch alone because nobody else wants to sit outside on a Tuesday in November, I just gave them up. Tickets aren't scarce, I can get them on gameday to any game I want to still attend.

The only value of midweek games is that die hards like us can actually catch the occasional game on TV.

[Flipper]

I'm torn...I hate the midweek games because I get to see fewer football games live....Unless I become a Siena Heights Saints fan and start driving to Adrian, MI on those gameless Saturday's. I also dislike having games like OU and Miami played mid week as it takes a fun road trip off the table.

OTOH...I suspect that playing midweek has raised our visibility nationally and regionally and that helps the conference with recruiting. The talent level in the league is higher and I suspect the exposure on cable has helped with that.

[Falcon137]

I'm hoping all the exposure the MAC got last year lands the league a few marquee games. Toledo @ BG on Thursday or Friday night. Kent @ NIU on a Thursday / Friday. That kind of thing.

Stick the Miami @ Buffalo game at 8 on a Tuesday night on ESPNU.