Thursday night games have been a curse for Pac-12 Football and it needs to stop.
There is no point in having Pac-12 Football games on a Thursday night. It is a waste of time for everyone that actually wants to enjoy the game.
The decision for day and time comes down to two entities: Pac-12 and ESPN. Sometimes the decision making is a nightmare. If they want to appeal to Pac-12 fans, they need to rethink midweek games.
Take last night’s contest between USC and California at the Coliseum just south of Downtown Los Angeles for example. Generally, traffic is bad on Thursday evenings, especially the downtown area. The Pac-12 and ESPN chose to schedule a game in this madness. Downtown and the surrounding area was not a fun place to be last night.
Wnat does errant scheduling like this result in? USC had its lowest attendance in 14 years.
Announced attendance at the Coliseum: 61,725, the lowest for a USC home game since 2002.
— Joey Kaufman (@joeyrkaufman) October 28, 2016
It’s Getting Ridiculous
Last season the Thursday night games got ridiculous. The UCLA Football team experienced something no college football program should ever experience… they had two Thursday night games in a row.
If they want to improve viewership and fan appreciation, they need to consider dropping Thursday night games for good. For the fan’s sake.
Their first game at Stanford Stadium drew only 50,464. The next game at the Rose Bowl against Cal only got 57,046 out to the Arroyo Seco. That was the second lowest attendance at the Rose Bowl last season.
And let’s not forget the schooling these student-athletes are missing for these inconvenient games.
Let us go back to the USC-Cal game for a second. Putting aside the rivalry and advocating for the Trojan fans, I think that fans being unable to tailgate is wrong. I am not arguing USC’s policy, they have every right to ban tailgating on a school day. I am stating that these Thursday games occasionally run into problems like this and it is impeding on the fan experience.
The time is an issue as well. ESPN and the Pac-12 agreed to a 7:30 p.m. PT kickoff time. This is after the general public is getting off of work and school. Simply, it is hard getting to the game.
The Coliseum crowd at kickoff. pic.twitter.com/C1kYE9P8NH
— Joey Kaufman (@joeyrkaufman) October 28, 2016
These games are not doing the east coast fans any favors either. The game started for them at 10:30 p.m. ET. Die hard fan or not, Pac-12 Football fans back east are not going to be willing or able to start watching a game at the end of their day.
Why is that? Because the majority of those fans have work or school the next day. A late game is much more suitable for a Saturday.
Lastly, California went to 2 overtimes late into last Friday night against Oregon. That means the Golden Bears only had six days to prepare for this game. The Pac-12 needs to do a better job of taking into consideration these student-athletes. This is not the NFL.
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Pac-12 Football fans will watch the games on ESPN and the Pac-12 Network no matter what. Fans will watch their team wherever they are broadcasted. If they want to improve viewership and fan appreciation, they need to consider dropping Thursday night games for good. For the fan’s sake.