Apologies if this has been covered in another thread.

The FCS national championship game is moving to Monday night, January 6 on ESPN. Good TV slot, the night after the end of the NFL regular season.

I'm not sure how this will impact attendance. This game has been well attended by traveling fans from South Dakota State (defending champion) and North Dakota State.

good for visibility, placing it on a Sunday was a terrible decision.

It may be good for viewership but will be lousy for attendance.

Unless a team is within easy driving distance of Frisco, its fans will have to miss multiple days of work to travel back and forth to the game, so fewer will be able to attend. Also sitting through a night game will be a lot less appealing than attending an early afternoon game. Overnight temperatures in early January in Frisco typically drop into the mid-30s, almost 20 degrees colder than average mid-day highs.

That sucks for the people attending. More days to take off, temperatures in the 30s with no sun.

There trying to create reasons to move the game...

(04-13-2024 11:09 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  It may be good for viewership but will be lousy for attendance.

Unless a team is within easy driving distance of Frisco, its fans will have to miss multiple days of work to travel back and forth to the game, so fewer will be able to attend. Also sitting through a night game will be a lot less appealing than attending an early afternoon game. Overnight temperatures in early January in Frisco typically drop into the mid-30s, almost 20 degrees colder than average mid-day highs.

I was at the game in 2016 with a noon kickoff and froze my butt off.

(04-14-2024 08:32 AM)AssKickingChicken Wrote:  

(04-13-2024 11:09 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  It may be good for viewership but will be lousy for attendance.

Unless a team is within easy driving distance of Frisco, its fans will have to miss multiple days of work to travel back and forth to the game, so fewer will be able to attend. Also sitting through a night game will be a lot less appealing than attending an early afternoon game. Overnight temperatures in early January in Frisco typically drop into the mid-30s, almost 20 degrees colder than average mid-day highs.

I was at the game in 2016 with a noon kickoff and froze my butt off.

I was just thinking I had the same experience at the FCS championship I attended and realized it was the 2016 game, too!

Back when it was 16 teams when App Stae played its championship games (‘05-‘07), the game was in December on a Friday. It was in Chattanooga, not Frisco, and just a week after the semifinals. It was fine for App because the drive wasn’t very long, but for the Dakota schools, the lead time was not very long to make arrangements for.

But a Friday is easier for most people to get off work for than a Monday because Monday night also requires fans to take off Tuesday as well, whereas a Friday game doesn’t require Thursday to be taken off for, necessarily.

(04-13-2024 11:52 PM)lion1983 Wrote:  There trying to create reasons to move the game...

Where are they trying to move it to? It’s cold in most places on January nights.

Is a Monday night game really going to increase viewership? On Saturday afternoon it’s on and people will tune in because it’s football and there’s nothing else to do. Schedule it around any NFL that day and you’re good.

Monday night? I have to get up for work Tuesday, I’m not staying up late for that.

All positives to me. The FCS fans are not different than FBS fans when it comes to work. Work will be slow as its the first time back from the holidays for several companies and lots of folks get more PTO at the beginning of the year. Avoiding the NFL will be huge.

Now if a better site for the game was available.

Good idea. IMO the games in the past have been too often buried going head to head with higher profile events.

we need fewer championships on Monday not more

I grew up 10 miles from Frisco, the weather there in January is highly unpredictable. It might be 20 or it might be 70. Still, on average it's better than most places, and it's not common to have rain at least that time of year.

I wonder Frisco is getting rewarded for always being ready to step in to help host games when necessary? I bet the players enjoy it b/c they get to check out the Cowboys training facility/complex. I'm not aware of any connection between Jerry and Toyota Stadium, but it wouldn't shock me to find out he was involved in this somehow.

(04-14-2024 09:02 AM)AssKickingChicken Wrote:  Is a Monday night game really going to increase viewership? On Saturday afternoon it’s on and people will tune in because it’s football and there’s nothing else to do. Schedule it around any NFL that day and you’re good.

Monday night? I have to get up for work Tuesday, I’m not staying up late for that.

NFL has a double header on the last Saturday that’s directly on ABC and ESPN. ABC and ESPN get higher ratings with NFL studio shows before and after those games, so they’re not putting the FCS game on that day at all.

So, there is no avoiding the NFL that weekend. Monday is the only option.

I know most sports fans conflate ease of attending a game in person with ease of watching a game on TV, but TV ratings from the very beginning of the start of the medium have constantly shown that the two worst TV ratings days of the week are Saturday and Friday, in that order. Football gets good ratings on those days *despite* the time slots as opposed to them.

The “getting up for work” the next day is the whole point for TV executives. The fact that you have to get up for work the next day means that you’re more likely to be home watching TV the night before as opposed to being outside of the house for other events.

The championship has benefited from large state schools in the Dakotas traveling to warmer climates. The day that an eastern or private school team makes the final, attendance will not be good.

Good idea.

Tell Delaware & UMass to go back to FCS while we’re at it.

(04-14-2024 05:12 PM)AuzGrams Wrote:  Good idea.

Tell Delaware & UMass to go back to FCS while we’re at it.

That's like trying to put spilled milk back into the bottle. It can't be done, IMO.

(04-14-2024 10:59 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(04-14-2024 05:12 PM)AuzGrams Wrote:  Good idea.

Tell Delaware & UMass to go back to FCS while we’re at it.

That's like trying to put spilled milk back into the bottle. It can't be done, IMO.

Didn’t say it will. I do not find entertainment value in Delaware, UMass, or Sam Houston State in FBS, though.

(04-14-2024 11:37 PM)AuzGrams Wrote:  

(04-14-2024 10:59 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(04-14-2024 05:12 PM)AuzGrams Wrote:  Good idea.

Tell Delaware & UMass to go back to FCS while we’re at it.

That's like trying to put spilled milk back into the bottle. It can't be done, IMO.

Didn’t say it will. I do not find entertainment value in Delaware, UMass, or Sam Houston State in FBS, though.

If you're in the mid-Atlantic, you might like Delaware. I'm sure Delaware has fans in the Philadelphia metro in addition to the state of Delaware, and they could have fans in other states/areas as well.

If you're in New England, you might like UMass. Basically, I don't expect someone from the south, west, or the midwest to like UMass or UDel. At least UMass has specialty license plates in the state of Massachusetts. BC doesn't even have that, and they're in the P4!!

Sam Houston State I'm inclined to agree with you on, although some Texans on here might feel differently. For any Texans reading this, please do chime in. It's for that reason I will hold off on making an evaluation on SHSU.