TV has Lobos’ hands tied Friday night
UNM to host Boise State opposite prep playoffs
Playing a college football home game on a Friday night, especially in November, presents a huge challenge for New Mexico.
Consider that the Lobos already have had trouble drawing on Saturdays — a disappointing 17,093 paid, on average, through four home games.
Now consider that there are four NMAA high school quarterfinal games in the metro area (Cibola-Volcano Vista at Nusenda; Manzano at Cleveland; La Cueva-Cruces at Wilson; and Hope Christian-Tularosa at Milne Stadium) being played this Friday as well.
What is UNM to do? Well, basically grin and bear it. This is a result of the Mountain West Conference television contract for football that runs through 2020. That’s part of the deal: Each Mountain West school makes about $1.1 million annually from contracts with ESPN, CBS and AT&T Sports
Net, which in turn make the call on when games are played. The exception is Hawaii, which has its own TV contract.
CBS Sports Network will televise this Friday’s game with a 7 p.m. kickoff that has No. 23 Boise State coming to Dreamstyle Stadium as a 19½-point favorite.
“We all know that there is a financial element to this and you have to do what you have to do depending on what conference you’re in,” UNM coach Bob Davie said. “We can all discuss why or why not (fans show up to the game). That becomes a tired conversation. I don’t think (high school football is) going to affect the attendance, quite honestly, because I think the people that care about Lobo football are those people. I think that base is what that base is.”
Apparently, the MWC cares a lot about Boise State. To keep the Broncos from bolting to the Big East Conference back in 2012, the MWC negotiated a contract with Boise State to receive $1.8 million annually of the TV contract in addition to the cut that all the MWC schools receive, said Joe Nickell, Boise State associate athletic director/ communications.
Boise State had gained national attention as BCS-busters by then and have continued to build on that tradition. The Broncos (8-2, 5-1 in the MWC) need a win against the Lobos (3-7, 1-5), losers of five straight, to set up a monster matchup for the Mountain Division title against No. 14 Utah State (9-1, 6-0) next week. That game will be on a Saturday night at 8:15 in Boise.
The Broncos have built their unique brand of football on playing games at odd hours and on weekdays. Nickell remembers when Boise State played on a Tuesday against visiting Louisiana Tech in 2010, a game that the Broncos won on ESPN2.
“I do believe playing on days other than Saturday helps get your brand out there,” Nickell said. “But winning those games has helped.”
The Lobos earned success in 2016, and some bonus TV money, when they gained a share of the MWC championship and won the New Mexico Bowl. However that turned out to be the final year of bonus TV money that has since been revised to the current format, said Bret Gilliland, MWC deputy commissioner. The bonus structure — which saw schools receive a bonus of $300,000 for a Friday night game and $500,000 for a Saturday night game if airing on ESPN/ESPN2/ ABC — had not been operating as had been anticipated, Gilliland said. UNM had three such “bonus” games in 2016.
The UNM game operations staff has intensified its promotional efforts for Friday night, when military and first responders will be honored and they can purchase discount tickets. There will be a canned food drive. Fans that bring a non-perishable packaged or canned food to donate will be able to purchase a ticket in any section, except for the premium sections, for $11.
In addition, the Razzle Dazzle youth cheerleaders will perform at halftime, and that could also attract their family and friends.
“Friday night games and late night kickoffs are a challenge for many of us, no doubt about that,” said Brad Hutchins, UNM deputy athletic Director for external operations. “It creates national exposure for our university and the conference, but that doesn’t translate into increased ticket sales and attendance. We survey our stakeholders every year and have measurable data on preferred game times, and that is not on a Friday or at 8 p.m.”