Hey college football - before we expand the playoff, lets get the championship off Monday nights
Jake Wimberly
Monday afternoon, part of the country will rush off work, grab the kids, run home and dunk little Bobby and Maria Sue in a bath - turn on the TV and do their best to catch the 2022 National Championship game between Georgia and Alabama.
If you are on the West Coast - good luck! You may be stuck in rush hour traffic, and get home to watch some of the game.
Sure! Monday night brings big TV ratings for the Network and a champion is crowned, but let’s have a serious talk that has been brewing.
College football oh how I love the; you are the greatest sport on earth with your traditions, tailgating, good times and more. While college football dabbles now adays on MACtion Tuesdays, and some PAC 12 after darks on Fridays; College football is a Saturday spectacle.
The first ever college football game was played on Saturday November 6, 1869 for god sakes! College football is a Saturday sport and it’s championship should be as well and the powers that be need to fix this before expanding the playoff.
So why does college football play all year long on Saturday’s and then throw the biggest game on Monday night, messing up your kids school schedule, your work schedule, burying the service industry and complicating things for student athletes?
Money - and it ain’t your money or the local wings spots money or the half off ribs sale at the local grocery. It’s television revenue and that’s what it’s all about.
If you know anything about media sales, you know week days, and nights are more expensive to buy shares of inventory inside any media vertical - more so than the weekends. Per Sports Casting dot com, CNN reported the very first College Football Championship game sold ads inside the game at one million dollars a pop and ESPN’s original deal to carry the game was about 7.3 BILLION deal.
Now the suiters will tell you they don’t want to interfere with the NFL playoffs on Saturday and the likes, but that’s an easy schedule fix. Hell this Saturday is wide open and it’s the last weekend of the NFL regular season - so there goes that excuse. This is simply another money grab by the powers that be and be damn of your schedule or your business if you entertain football watchers all year long.
This isn’t a new topic, this has been a point of contention for years now and back in 2012, then BCS commissioner Bill Hancock had this to say about a Monday Championship Game. “Moving the game closer to the weekend makes it a little more fan-friendly in terms of travel,” Hancock said, according to CBS Sports. “Plus, although the national championship game always enjoys blockbuster television ratings, moving it to Monday night may provide even more people a chance to watch the game.”
Oh good hell Bill! Sure on Monday’s fans can travel over the weekend, but they are still traveling back during the week after it’s over, so traveling before or after gets you zero advantage from a fans perspective.
He told you in that quote about the ratings and it’s more about the inventory sales during Monday nights. More fans cannot watch a game on Monday afternoon versus weekends. Sure people will cut on the television as they are getting ready for the next day of school and work to catch what they can.
But this is just dumb. 89 percent of the employed working force works weekdays versus just 31 percent on the weekends.
So you are telling me Bill or any of the Championship brain trust a Saturday kickoff of Alabama and Georgia around say 6:30 PM EST with a full day of build up wouldn’t pull great ratings and more people couldn’t watch it? Of course they could, but again, this isn’t about the consumer at all.
This isn’t about the athletes either, as Forbes reports - about players having to miss class to participate - so get off my lawn with again, “it’s about the players”.
What about the service industry? You know, your local wings spot or bar and grill that love football Saturday’s and Sunday’s, because they stay packed and they make money and people have fun. They don’t care about you either.
Courtesy of Consumer Reports dot com, consumers spend an average of $58 per weekday and $69 on the weekends. Saturday’s are the highest average spend of the week, while Monday’s are the lowest of the week.
Then as Consumer Report states, it’s a paycheck affect, “Further, there appears to be a "paycheck effect," with spending during typical payday weeks (around the beginning and the middle of each month, for those who are paid once or twice a month) significantly higher than that during weeks without a payday. For the most part, this may reflect the fact that many Americans who are paid on a semi-monthly or monthly basis -- like many who are paid weekly -- still live paycheck to paycheck. However, this situation may be intensified in the current economic climate as Americans make fewer shopping trips, buy relatively more when they do shop, and purchase more necessities and fewer impulse items.”
So not only do people struggle to get home, get the game on, less people are getting out and spending on a night out of football and our service industry is missing out on a massive day, had the game been played on Saturdays.
People struggle to get home, get kids fed, in bed and school and work struggle the day after - check
Service industry struggles due to lower dollars to spend and less frequent visitor ship - check
Football honks make lots of money on revenue by placing game on Monday night - check
Again - just follow the money and it ain’t yours. Before we expand the playoff, and have another round of filibustering about amateurism, the love for the game and pageantry, let’s start with getting the championship back on Saturday’s.
College football was made for Saturday’s - not Monday night while trying to bath baby Johnny or teach 4th grade math to Bailey just as Alabama scores.
Fix it college football - You’re better than that and your fans deserve better.
Note: images courtesy of 247sports.com
