You can thank Fox.
Illini Football 2026
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Maybe I’m just too naive, but I’d like to think a school could say, “hey, that’s Dad’s Day weekend and we would like to keep a Saturday game.”
But I’m sure the networks don’t care based on the money they are pumping into the conference.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
There are no conferences anymore, there are only media deals.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- Batavia
Dumb.
Back to back too. I watch more Saturday football when we play on Saturday.
Short of homecoming - I don't see any promotion moving the needle. They have something going on every game.
The reality is, it's university athletics that have decided this is he way to go. Dangle some money at them and they snatch it up. At any point they can choose to get off the merry-go-round or cumulatively slow it down.
I get the legality of it. What I don't understand is, doesn't NCAA realize they are impeding on a quasi-partner? They should be working with high schools to help nuture the so called feeder system, not take the fans out of their stadiums just because they can.
Schools do have (at least they used to) the right to turn down Friday games. Illinois chooses not to.
I referee high school football. I also work all home games for Illini radio. I HATE Friday night games.
At least the Friday home game is in November, when the HS regular season is over and almost all the playoff games are on Saturdays.
I thought for sure the Duke game was going to be Friday night.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The idea of foregoing the opportunity for a single red cent on this quarter's balance sheet in recognition of the need to keep the ecosystem which your industry depends upon healthy and thriving and ensuring future prosperity is no longer allowed in the boardroom door, whether that be for-profit, non-profit, public entities, it doesn't matter.
The first world business ethos of burn everything down to squeeze one last penny today has been unquestioned within every major institution for decades now.
Living through the consequences won't be fun. Go Illini.
Michigan always declined Friday night games when Harbaugh was coaching. But that was under an old broadcasting deal.
I would hope that there is some type of cap on the number of Friday night games that schools are forced to play.
In a weird way, should we be sort of proud that TV wants the U of I on island games? If so, is a Friday night game a prestigious time slot like Sunday Night Football is for the NFL?
is it fair to say that with indiana's success last season, i.e winning a national championship in a 2-year period with a new coach, the bar has been raised for all Big 10 coaches?
People have been saying this for a decade plus. Hasn't affected the sport since.
There isn't a kid in America that stopped playing football or decided not to go to their college of choice because they or their family missed their favorite team playing on a Friday night.
Likewise, there aren't these large swaths of Americans that decided to stop watching college football because they had to miss one game to go watch their son play high school football on Friday night.
No one cares. Or rather, not enough people do.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
You're attributing the decline to the Big Ten starting to play football on Friday nights?
Just like ChiefGritty said:
The idea of foregoing the opportunity for a single red cent on this quarter's balance sheet in recognition of the need to keep the ecosystem which your industry depends upon healthy and thriving and ensuring future prosperity is no longer allowed in the boardroom door, whether that be for-profit, non-profit, public entities, it doesn't matter.
A lot of gobbledegook here, from both of you.
Playing some college football games on a Friday night will have zero impact on HS football beyond talking heads and a few legitimate gripes here and there. But it changes nothing at the HS level.
They would tell you to go pound sand. After we beat Nebraska they requested not to play anymore Fridays
I asked my ticket rep last week, here was the response:
Our parking surveys will be sent after the I-Fund deadline here on May 15th. Be on the lookout for that later this month. Thanks!