They are disappointing several thousand Illinois fans (maybe) while delighting hundreds of thousands of national college football fans. A relative few more butts in the seats does not match the financial value of a televised game.
Illini Football 2026
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Friday night is probably the weakest viewing night of the week for TV. Many people are out doing other things after working all week. The only reason live sports is on TV Friday nights is because no one wants to watch anything else.
Yes... Friday night football is the reason for this data. Correlation without causation at its finest. Although, I wouldn't even say the actual data correlates at all if you actually look at the rate of Friday night college games compared to the total number of games over that span.
Anyway, in actual response to this though, here are two articles from the same website (NHFS.org). This first one is in direct response to the data that was used to generate graph above: https://nfhs.org/stories/high-school-football-is-thriving-not-dying.
What's interesting, is that the graph above ends at 2018. This article, also form NFHS.org has a follow up to that data with even more recent data. This article is from 2025: https://nfhs.org/stories/high-school-football-continues-to-rebound-from-pre-pandemic-decline.
The best is this last line: "While some college conferences continue to schedule games on Friday nights, it is clear that high school football remains the lifeblood of communities on this special night during the fall." remember, this is from this past September. Not some article 20 years ago.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
As someone who was neck deep in this environment for many years, the run of profit-making in youth sports is far more to blame for the issues in the youth sports landscape than some Friday night college games. I’m so glad my kids are now college-aged and I don’t have to deal with that racket anymore.
The peak in football participation coincided with the emergence of research of CTE in football players. Dr. Bennet Omalu identified the first case in former Pittsburgh Steelers player Mike Webster in 2002. Subsequent research by Boston University, particularly by Dr. Ann McKee starting around 2008, confirmed CTE in dozens, and eventually hundreds, of retired football players, including college and high school athletes. In 2016 the NFL's top health and safety officer acknowledged Monday there is a link between football-related head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. A 2017 study found that 110 out of 111 former NFL players examined had CTE. A lot of Moms (the majority?) don't want their sons playing football anymore.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Not gonna lie… I’m glad I never played football (outside of flag football and an occasional game on the beach). I’m at the age right now, or maybe even beyond it, where CTE would be ravaging my brain. I complain enough about a stiff knee as it is.
My 3 boys started playing rec league basketball and little league starting about 2006, and Pop Warner football starting about 2007 or 2008. They liked football but not so much the other sports. Already back then, Pop Warner had banned helmet to helmet contact and helmet tackles (spearing). Running backs still got whacked in the head occasionally, but that was mostly on short yardage plays up the middle, and my kids weren't running backs. As parents, we were more concerned with knee, back or shoulder injuries, which our kids, thankfully, avoided. On the other hand, my kids' experience in football thru HS taught them discipline, teamwork, comeraderie, work ethic, and got them physically fit and strong like nothing else would have. I believe it helped train their bodies (fitness-wise) for the rest of their adult lives. So, if/when I have grandkids, I would strongly encourage them to play also, if that's what they want.