No longer sacred
Big Ten’s TV deal puts Ohio State up against tradition of high school football tonight
The Ohio High School Athletic Association doesn’t like it. Neither do high school administrators, coaches and avid fans, and, apparently, even some at Ohio State University.
But regardless of the grumbling, Big Ten football is being played on Friday nights, producing telecasts that butt heads with hundreds of high school games across the state.
Although these conflicts will occur only sporadically in Ohio, one takes place tonight at 8:30 when Ohio State plays at Northwestern. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
Most high school games kick off at 7 p.m., but some fans may feel pressed to choose between supporting a local high school team or not missing any of the Buckeyes game.
“We all know and appreciate that Friday nights are sacred for high school football,” OHSAA executive director Jerry Snodgrass said. “When this plan was announced a few years ago to play some Big Ten games on Friday, we strongly voiced our displeasure with it, and there’s no need to harp on it now. I get the reasons: It’s all financially oriented and about the television revenue. There’s not really much else we can do except roll with it and make adjustments as we see fit.”
In a preemptive move, a smattering of high schools statewide rescheduled their games to Saturday. A few pushed their kickoffs up an hour.
Locally, four games took place Thursday: Westerville Central-olentangy Orange, Westerville North-Westerville South, Central Crossing-westland and Grove City-reynoldsburg.
“We went ahead and moved our game not long after the Ohio State game was announced,” Westerville North athletic director Wes Elifritz said. “This is a sisterschool game and literally our biggest gate of the year. We didn’t want our fans to have to make that decision whether to go to our game or watch Ohio State on TV.”
Also factoring into the decision for some schools to play Thursday was an areawide teachers work day on Friday.
Hilliard Davidson athletic director Nathan Bobek said he wouldn’t begin to consider moving his team’s home game against rival Dublin Coffman.
“People love Davidson football,” he said. “If you’re invested in our football team, you’ll be there.”
Things might be different if Ohio State were playing at home on a Friday, Upper Arlington athletic director Tony Pusateri said.
“Traffic would be a mess, and I’m sure we’d have trouble getting concession people and others to work our game,” he said. “That happened one year on a Saturday when we were supposed to host a playoff game when OSU was at home. We ended up moving the game to Dublin Coffman.”
Pickerington North coach Nate Hillerich said the potential conflict with OSU would have little impact on his team’s home game against rival Pickerington Central.
“We’ll sell out before kickoff,” Hillerich said. “Fans in our community will always turn out, especially for this game. The big problem might be with schools that aren’t football powers and don’t draw well to begin with. Kids will always come to the game to be with their friends and be part of the atmosphere. Adults may be less inclined to go because they’re more invested in Ohio State.”
A big crowd also is expected for the Hartley- Watterson game at Ohio Dominican, but Hartley coach Brad Burchfield conceded that some fans will choose to stay home and watch Ohio State.
“Let’s face it: It’s a bully system,” Burchfield said. “We’ll ruin everyone’s evening because we can. It’s disappointing that the Big Ten went this route, but it’s not going away. If people watch these games, and I’m sure they will, they’ll keep doing it regardless of what anyone else thinks.”
Earlier in the week, Dublin Scioto coach Karl Johnson took to Twitter, encouraging fans to attend a high school game.
“Friday is set aside for high school football; that’s our night,” he said. “I think it’s ridiculous for colleges to take from the hand that eventually feeds them. The OSU people said from the outset they weren’t in support of this, but I would imagine the Big Ten put pressure on them to do it.”
In 2016, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said he was not on board with the idea of the Buckeyes playing on Friday nights. But the Big Ten’s 14 members unanimously approved the six-year TV contract. Smith insisted he only supported it to help other members.
He reiterated his stance this week.
“It was a 100 percent unanimous vote to provide (commissioner) Jim Delany the means to negotiate a television deal, and it included Friday night play,” he said. “Everybody provided tolerances. Ours was once every three years, and included (not) hosting. My perspective was why put a game at Ohio State on Friday night? Friday nights are not for Ohio State, not for Michigan, not for Penn State. No disrespect to Northwestern, but now they will have higher viewership. It benefits Northwestern in a big way.”
Smith maintained that he hasn’t received much pushback from high schools.
“I haven’t heard one word since it was first announced,” he said. “It’s something people have understood is happening and (there’s) not a lot we can do about it. We’re into the contract now, and it’s not like we’re going to go back and change it.”
But on the recruiting trail, Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he regularly hears complaints from high school coaches about the Big Ten playing on Friday nights.
“I’m sure they don’t appreciate it, but that’s out of our hands, out of our control and not much we can do about it,” Day said.
Snodgrass pointed out that fans can have their cake and eat it, too, this Friday night.
“At most, people will probably miss the first quarter of the OSU game,” he said. “Well, there’s also something called a DVR. And I’m sure an awful lot of people will follow along on their phones. Life will go on.”