The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Buckeyes on Friday night comes as no shock
The Big Ten is apparently OK with biting the hand that feeds it.
Ohio State and Northwestern announced jointly Dec. 18 that the Buckeyes and Wildcats will meet in Evanston, Ill., on Oct. 18, 2019.
A Friday night. The announcement has been greeted bitterly around Ohio, primarily in the high school football circles by coaches, players and fans who can’t believe Ohio State — and the Big Ten on a larger scale — would step into an arena (i.e. Friday nights) that is considered the property of high school football. People are outraged. They’re angry. Many are surprised. But they shouldn’t be.
In the arena of college football, most decisions are based on marketability — getting your product out there for all to see.
That’s why many (if not most) coaches — especially outgoing Ohio State coach Urban Meyer — loved night games. What better way to showcase your program than on national television in a primetime slot?
While most games are played on Saturday afternoons, playing at night when fewer games are played means putting your program in the spotlight.
If you want to broaden your scope even more, you find a night during which even fewer teams are playing, such as some conferences scheduling games on Wednesday or Thursday nights.
In the Big Ten’s case, they announced in 2016 they would begin playing some games on Friday nights.
It wasn’t a popular decision then — and it isn’t a popular decision now, as Ohio State prepares to play its first Friday night game in recent memory.
“I think it’s foolish,” Euclid coach Jeff Rotsky said in 2016 when the Big Ten announced its decision to play some Friday games. “I just don’t think it makes any sense.”
“That’s not in the best interest of the game,” Perry coach Matt Rosati said.
But then Rosati hit the nail on the head.
“Why are they going to Fridays?” he asked. “It’s an easy way to make money, that’s why.” And he’s right. The Big Ten — and specifically Ohio State in this case, since they agreed to play a Friday night game — is betting it can market itself better than an area high school football game can.
In essence, Ohio State is figuring Joe Q. Public Casual Fan is more apt to stay home and watch the Buckeyes than go to the local Friday night high school football game. They might be right. If the casual football fan, one who doesn’t have a relative or a close family friend on the local high school football team, has a choice between a chilly Friday night at the town field or the cozy confines of home watching the Buckeyes, they actually might choose the Buckeyes.
At least that’s what Ohio State is hedging its bet upon — and also the Big Ten as a whole.
It’s not popular in high school football circles, making fans choose between Ohio State and area high school, but that’s the unfortunate sign of the times.
Fans want to believe college football is as pure as high school football, where it is “still a game” and not the big-money business that the NFL is.
But face the facts — college football IS big business.
Ohio State football is among the biggest of businesses in the college football world. The money the football team brings to the coffers of The Ohio State University is off the charts.
Apparently, Ohio State is OK with stepping on the toes of the high school football programs that feed the financial and athletic juggernaut it puts on the field.
If anything, the Big Ten is hindering itself in one way with its Friday night games in that recruits considering the schools playing in said games won’t be able to take visits to take in the game-night experience because they will be playing at the same time.
Apparently, that’s OK with the league and the teams playing in those Friday night contests.
It’s not ideal, playing college football games on Friday nights.
But college football is big business, and marketability and exposure plays a major role in big business.
If that means biting the hand that feeds you — i.e. crowding in on a night generally reserved for high school games — that’s a risk the Big Ten (and Ohio State) is apparently willing to take. It’s not a popular move. But it shouldn’t be a surprise.
Kampf can reached via email at JKampf@NewsHerald.com; On Twitter @JKBuckeyes and @ NHPreps