No more Sat. games in Nov.?

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:45 pm

Here's the link

Here's the relevant excerpt:

"The Mid-American Conference is close to giving the OK to move the league's entire November schedule to Wednesday nights this fall, Western Michigan University Athletics Director Kathy Beauregard said Wednesday."

Apologizing in advance if this has been posted elsewhere already.

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:48 pm

I'm all for more TV coverage, but this is really taking things too far.

The next thing you know, they'll announce the stadium announcer will only speak spanish because it will boost attendance by migrant farm hands.

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:53 pm

Hate.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:01 pm

Next thing you know we'll be forced to line up with Dave Coulier, Todd Bridges and Bronson Pinchot on special teams...

Dayons_Den · Post by **Dayons_Den** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:29 pm

Take a step back and think about this, guys. It makes more sense to uniformally play MAC games accross the board on Wednesdays instead of just a few games that are moved after they have been scheduled for a Saturday.

I think it makes more sense to do this so that plans can be made in advance and teams preperations dont' get all out of whack- the teams will now KNOW a season in advance instead of a few months in advance when their routines will become altered.

I"m all for the pagentry and fanfare of Saturday afternoon football and hope that outside of this one month that all BG games would kick off at 3pm on a Saturday. I just know that the trend was scheduling some games on Wednesday for Bristol, and I think that this plan makes sense for the reasons I state above.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:36 pm

We knew there would be some sort of scheduling hiccup with the advent of the 12-game schedule. Some had figured it would limit MAC teams to only one mid-week game per year. This would be one way around that, affording the MAC the chance to maintain its TV profile.

Better for me than for most, since I only get to The Doyt once a year, but folks like Freak can't like this possible scenario.

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:37 pm

Yep, that's how we take care of not having an Open Saturday anymore, and still needing weeknight games. While recognizing its potential benefit, and its necessity, I don't like it one bit as a fan. Its going to hurt crowds at BG, IMO. People from out of town are even less likely to travel down for a weeknight game then they are on the weekend.

PGY Tiercel · Post by **PGY Tiercel** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:42 pm

orangeandbrown wrote:Yep, that's how we take care of not having an Open Saturday anymore, and still needing weeknight games. While recognizing its potential benefit, and its necessity, I don't like it one bit as a fan. Its going to hurt crowds at BG, IMO. People from out of town are even less likely to travel down for a weeknight game then they are on the weekend.

Percisely. Weekend games are the only thing I can make, unless its at Miami (and this year its not). I don't have the time to take off and make a 4.5 hr drive there and back. And for what, I can only imagine 1 maybe 2 games being shown on TV.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:42 pm

Flipper wrote:Next thing you know we'll be forced to line up with Dave Coulier, Todd Bridges and Bronson Pinchot on special teams...

Not until Pinchot puts on 45-50 lbs. We need size, Bartokomous!!!

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:42 pm

With respect Dayon, we move November this year, and they'll be pushing to move September to Thursday, and October to Tuesdays.

The only upside is if the MAC gets all Wednesday broadcasts to itself, and they air lots of clips from other conference games underway at the time. Then it becomes a MAC fest every week.

The down-side remains my wife going nuts because there are even more games on during the week. You don't know how hard it was to convince her Georgia, Boise State, and the WAC were really teams and divisions of the MAC, and so I just HAD to watch.

I think the last week of this past season is what lined us up for this. The three days of MAC football games, each with a share of something on the line just was too good to not want to duplicate.

Dayons_Den · Post by **Dayons_Den** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:54 pm

NWLB wrote:With respect Dayon, we move November this year, and they'll be pushing to move September to Thursday, and October to Tuesdays.

Understand that slippery slope mentality and that's why I put that caveat (or however it's spelled) in about hoping all other games are Saturday 3pm kicks. I really, really hope that the remainder of the schedule would be 100% Saturday games, and I hope that some AD or Pres. presents that and it becomes part of the legislation that would move Nov. to Wed.

The conference can control all other MAC games and guarantee they be played on Wed but still allow teams to move non-conference games.

My questoin now would be about the UT-BG game, would this mean it will be played the day before thanksgiving? Not so sure I like that. . .

Maybe they would move it to Tuesday or Friday or even Saturday.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:01 pm

1987alum wrote:We knew there would be some sort of scheduling hiccup with the advent of the 12-game schedule. Some had figured it would limit MAC teams to only one mid-week game per year. This would be one way around that, affording the MAC the chance to maintain its TV profile.

Better for me than for most, since I only get to The Doyt once a year, but folks like Freak can't like this possible scenario.

I'm sorry, but that would flat out suck. No way should that happen. Talk about really hurting the attendance at games. So this would mean I'd have to take half day vacation for every Wed game in November?

Like Nathan said, I'm all for TV coverage as well but at what price? And the way ass clowns like Craig James ridicule the MAC? Have the ESPN broadcasts helped the MAC? In some ways, absolutely. But this is taking it too far.

One other question...how would this affect the players with their classes? They still have classed to attend!

I don't mind a game on a weeknight but not every freakin game in one month. Please say this isn't gonna happen and should we contact anyone to voice disapproval?

PGY Tiercel · Post by **PGY Tiercel** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:04 pm

Falconfreak90 wrote:
I don't mind a game on a weeknight but not every freakin game in one month. Please say this isn't gonna happen and should we contact anyone to voice disapproval?

Absolutely. I think we should. Send it right to the MAC comissioner along with Paul Krebs.

BGSU Falconz · Post by **BGSU Falconz** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:09 pm

Flipper wrote:Next thing you know we'll be forced to line up with Dave Coulier, Todd Bridges and Bronson Pinchot on special teams...

Cut.
It.
Out.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:46 pm

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.