LGHL If I Was in Charge: Ohio State would continue playing noon games
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If I Was in Charge: Ohio State would continue playing noon games
Michael Citro via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Adam Lacy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
While there would be no schedule with as many noon kickoffs as the Buckeyes played in 2024, Ohio State games would continue to be available for the noon time slot.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about what we would do if we were in charge of our favorite position group, team, conference, or sport.
You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”If I Was in Charge” articles here.
Much has been made recently of legislation introduced by Ohio Representative Tex Fischer (R-Boardman) that would prohibit state schools like Ohio State from playing most of their games before 3:30 p.m. With so many important issues that require the time of our elected leaders, this kind of stunt legislation that’s specifically geared toward currying favor with voters does taxpayers little good, although it does illustrate the lengths to which politicians will go to solve problems that don’t exist while very real ones aren’t being adequately addressed.
My own cynicism aside, Ohio State’s schedule in 2024 included too many noon kickoffs for many people’s taste, and those folks have not been shy about airing their grievances and letting people hear about it on social media.
In 2024, the Buckeyes played seven noon games, including six at home, and every one of the final six games of the season started at noon. That does seem excessive, so it’s understandable for fans to have a reaction. The internet, however, is not a place for reactions; it’s a place for overreactions.
A parade of noon games one year does not necessarily mean that will become the new norm, even if Ohio State continues to be the draw FOX wants to bring viewers to the time slot it is trying to own — which happens to be noon (for some reason).
There are some legitimate reasons to place some limits on noon games. High school recruits typically play on Fridays, so strings of noon start times put Ohio State at a disadvantage to get kids — especially prospects from out of state — to Columbus on recruiting visits. A recruit in California who plays a game Friday night that ends after 10 p.m. Eastern Time is going to have difficulty scheduling travel to get to Columbus for a campus visit that includes a noon game the next day.
Local economies tend to prosper more on Saturdays with a night home game played as opposed to a day game, because fans are more likely to stay overnight and to spend more money on food and drinks when the game is at the end of the day. Visiting fans spend more time in local stores and visit local attractions with the whole day at their disposal. In smaller college towns, that can be the difference between businesses that rely on college football season staying open or closing up shop.
But neither of those scenarios mean that state legislatures need to be involved. The Big Ten Conference, its member schools, and FOX (and other networks) can work together to make the distribution of noon games more equitable.
A demand for no noon games at all, or to just have the season-ending Michigan game at 12 p.m., is unrealistic. All teams should have games with a variety of start times in order to maintain a level playing field between schools, maximize help to local economies that rely on college football-driven revenue, and give fans with disparate work schedules a chance to see their favorite team play live.
Night games are great for recruiting, so any school that wants to host them should be able to schedule a few a year.
If I was in charge of Ohio State TV scheduling — and I realize this might not be a popular opinion — I would not only not eliminate noon games for Ohio State, but there might be some years when half the slate started at noon.
Admittedly, part of this is selfish. Noon games are conducive to my own personal schedule, particularly early in the college football season. However, lots of people other than me work either full or part time on weekend afternoons and evenings, and the noon window can be the best chance they have to see games live.
Further, some games (and even entire season schedules) can be pretty...well, meh. Ohio State’s three non-conference games from 2024 were against Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall. Those are all stinkers that the Buckeyes won by an average of 46 points. There’s nothing wrong with sticking those games at noon. Even a “marquee” matchup like Ohio State-Indiana is fine to play at noon, despite the fact that it was a battle of Top 5 teams last year.
But when it comes to playing a major non-conference opponent like Texas or conference teams with bigger brands, like Penn State, there is nothing like having that game under the lights.
To me, a good compromise would be to limit noon conference games to no more than two in a row for any school unless the university consents to a third — giving the athletic department and university presidents some agency in the process — and to have no more than two instances of two consecutive noon kickoffs per season. And that includes The Game, for me.
I am a rabid traditionalist in most things involving college football, as I am with the placement of the Ohio State-Michigan game on the calendar. But I’m not a traditionalist with The Game’s placement on the clock. When the Buckeyes and Wolverines met in 2006 at 3:30 p.m., it was an amazing game with an incredible atmosphere. More of that, please! (Full disclosure: I’m also not opposed to a night version of The Game, despite the possibility of extreme cold at that time of year, although I understand it could be problematic.)
Television money’s impact on the sport is obvious and (at this point) necessary, and that means the networks must also have some agency, so noon games are, and should be, here to stay. But 2024 did seem excessive. Rather than overreact, it’s better to work on a common sense approach to future television schedules.
What would help Ohio State is sustained success by other teams in the conference to elevate their profiles and remove the need for the Buckeyes to be the obvious selection by FOX for Big Noon Kickoff inventory. Penn State, Oregon, and Michigan can’t be the only ones, either.
USC, Iowa, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin, and Nebraska are capable of commanding noon kickoff audiences if they can return to previous levels of success, while schools like Indiana and Illinois can join that group if they can take the next step in raising their levels. It would give FOX more options if the above schools (or others) around the Big Ten would consistently schedule a big name opponent to their nonconference schedules. In the 12-team College Football Playoff era, scheduling a potential loss is (as we’ve seen with the Buckeyes) not a barrier to getting into the field of contenders.
It’s fine to have noon games. Some years, it’s even fine to have a lot of them, but there must be opportunities for coaches to get recruits to night games, too. There must be some opportunities for local economies to enjoy the added benefits of having tens of thousands of fans in the area longer. There must be variety in scheduling to accommodate the needs of all kinds of fans working disparate job schedules.
The need for balance and variety doesn’t have to hinder fans, football programs, or FOX. So, I’m keeping noon games, and trying to distribute them more fairly. And even though the legislation mentioned above might do that, it’s not a necessary step to accomplishing the objective.
Continue reading...
Michael Citro via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Adam Lacy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
While there would be no schedule with as many noon kickoffs as the Buckeyes played in 2024, Ohio State games would continue to be available for the noon time slot.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about what we would do if we were in charge of our favorite position group, team, conference, or sport.
You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”If I Was in Charge” articles here.
Much has been made recently of legislation introduced by Ohio Representative Tex Fischer (R-Boardman) that would prohibit state schools like Ohio State from playing most of their games before 3:30 p.m. With so many important issues that require the time of our elected leaders, this kind of stunt legislation that’s specifically geared toward currying favor with voters does taxpayers little good, although it does illustrate the lengths to which politicians will go to solve problems that don’t exist while very real ones aren’t being adequately addressed.
My own cynicism aside, Ohio State’s schedule in 2024 included too many noon kickoffs for many people’s taste, and those folks have not been shy about airing their grievances and letting people hear about it on social media.
In 2024, the Buckeyes played seven noon games, including six at home, and every one of the final six games of the season started at noon. That does seem excessive, so it’s understandable for fans to have a reaction. The internet, however, is not a place for reactions; it’s a place for overreactions.
A parade of noon games one year does not necessarily mean that will become the new norm, even if Ohio State continues to be the draw FOX wants to bring viewers to the time slot it is trying to own — which happens to be noon (for some reason).
There are some legitimate reasons to place some limits on noon games. High school recruits typically play on Fridays, so strings of noon start times put Ohio State at a disadvantage to get kids — especially prospects from out of state — to Columbus on recruiting visits. A recruit in California who plays a game Friday night that ends after 10 p.m. Eastern Time is going to have difficulty scheduling travel to get to Columbus for a campus visit that includes a noon game the next day.
Local economies tend to prosper more on Saturdays with a night home game played as opposed to a day game, because fans are more likely to stay overnight and to spend more money on food and drinks when the game is at the end of the day. Visiting fans spend more time in local stores and visit local attractions with the whole day at their disposal. In smaller college towns, that can be the difference between businesses that rely on college football season staying open or closing up shop.
But neither of those scenarios mean that state legislatures need to be involved. The Big Ten Conference, its member schools, and FOX (and other networks) can work together to make the distribution of noon games more equitable.
A demand for no noon games at all, or to just have the season-ending Michigan game at 12 p.m., is unrealistic. All teams should have games with a variety of start times in order to maintain a level playing field between schools, maximize help to local economies that rely on college football-driven revenue, and give fans with disparate work schedules a chance to see their favorite team play live.
Night games are great for recruiting, so any school that wants to host them should be able to schedule a few a year.
If I was in charge of Ohio State TV scheduling — and I realize this might not be a popular opinion — I would not only not eliminate noon games for Ohio State, but there might be some years when half the slate started at noon.
Admittedly, part of this is selfish. Noon games are conducive to my own personal schedule, particularly early in the college football season. However, lots of people other than me work either full or part time on weekend afternoons and evenings, and the noon window can be the best chance they have to see games live.
Further, some games (and even entire season schedules) can be pretty...well, meh. Ohio State’s three non-conference games from 2024 were against Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall. Those are all stinkers that the Buckeyes won by an average of 46 points. There’s nothing wrong with sticking those games at noon. Even a “marquee” matchup like Ohio State-Indiana is fine to play at noon, despite the fact that it was a battle of Top 5 teams last year.
But when it comes to playing a major non-conference opponent like Texas or conference teams with bigger brands, like Penn State, there is nothing like having that game under the lights.
To me, a good compromise would be to limit noon conference games to no more than two in a row for any school unless the university consents to a third — giving the athletic department and university presidents some agency in the process — and to have no more than two instances of two consecutive noon kickoffs per season. And that includes The Game, for me.
I am a rabid traditionalist in most things involving college football, as I am with the placement of the Ohio State-Michigan game on the calendar. But I’m not a traditionalist with The Game’s placement on the clock. When the Buckeyes and Wolverines met in 2006 at 3:30 p.m., it was an amazing game with an incredible atmosphere. More of that, please! (Full disclosure: I’m also not opposed to a night version of The Game, despite the possibility of extreme cold at that time of year, although I understand it could be problematic.)
Television money’s impact on the sport is obvious and (at this point) necessary, and that means the networks must also have some agency, so noon games are, and should be, here to stay. But 2024 did seem excessive. Rather than overreact, it’s better to work on a common sense approach to future television schedules.
What would help Ohio State is sustained success by other teams in the conference to elevate their profiles and remove the need for the Buckeyes to be the obvious selection by FOX for Big Noon Kickoff inventory. Penn State, Oregon, and Michigan can’t be the only ones, either.
USC, Iowa, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin, and Nebraska are capable of commanding noon kickoff audiences if they can return to previous levels of success, while schools like Indiana and Illinois can join that group if they can take the next step in raising their levels. It would give FOX more options if the above schools (or others) around the Big Ten would consistently schedule a big name opponent to their nonconference schedules. In the 12-team College Football Playoff era, scheduling a potential loss is (as we’ve seen with the Buckeyes) not a barrier to getting into the field of contenders.
It’s fine to have noon games. Some years, it’s even fine to have a lot of them, but there must be opportunities for coaches to get recruits to night games, too. There must be some opportunities for local economies to enjoy the added benefits of having tens of thousands of fans in the area longer. There must be variety in scheduling to accommodate the needs of all kinds of fans working disparate job schedules.
The need for balance and variety doesn’t have to hinder fans, football programs, or FOX. So, I’m keeping noon games, and trying to distribute them more fairly. And even though the legislation mentioned above might do that, it’s not a necessary step to accomplishing the objective.
Continue reading...
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