Night games: yay or nay?
Posted 05-24-2010 at 11:56 PM by pffft
Priority No. 1 — let’s get a win.
Priority No. 2 — let’s have a good time, right?
Every single Saturday game day at Kinnick Stadium has the potential to fulfill both of those, but when it comes to the latter, night games can present an unmatched level of excitement for fans. One of the most electric atmosphere’s in Iowa football history occurred when Ohio State visited Iowa City in 2006 — a night game that made for an experience Hawkeye fans will remember for years to come.
But a top-10 team isn’t coming to town every week, and there are some definite drawbacks to the late start.
First, Kirk Ferentz has said many times that he is a man of routine and has done what he can to make his team the same way. Something can be said for having the same practice schedule week in and week out, getting up at the same time every Saturday and focusing on kickoff at the same time every game day.
While we’re on the subject of routine, I’ll go ahead and rule out the option of playing on Thursday nights (or any other day of the week games seem to be popping up). While those games can gain national exposure, it seems a bit forced and should be, in my mind, reserved for the MAC and Mountain West teams of the world. The advantages of the Big Ten Network, TV contracts with ESPN and simply having a program of national notoriety can offset some of those exposure concerns.
Plus, I can’t begin to express my distaste for a Thursday night game from the perspective of a fan traveling to the game.
Along with traveling concerns, night games are also going to lead to all-day tailgating that can increase the probability of problems both inside and outside the stadium. That’s the reality of the situation, and it can put the University in a difficult position.
On the positive side, night games can create an unmatched excitement, as we saw in 2006, and fuel the feeling of euphoria that may even funnel down to the players on the field. We also saw this last fall when a ranked Michigan team came to Kinnick.
If ABC is willing to put your game on its prime time slate, you take it. The national exposure those games give, including weeklong promos on ESPN and a possible visit from the College Gameday crew, cannot be matched.
However, I think the situation has to be right and I don’t like the idea of having a night game for the sake of having a night game. For example, the Big Ten Network’s 6 p.m. broadcast of Iowa’s game vs. Syracuse seemed to be a bit of a waste to me. Sure, the buildup was fun, but looking back, I think it may have been better to go for an 11 a.m. start and get on with it — a game that turned out to be a 35-7 Hawkeye victory.
While it’s nice to say that every game is as important as all the others and no opponent can be taken lightly, I think the honest-to-God truth says otherwise. Some games are more worthy to make into a special occasion, and that’s what I think night games should be.
In addition, 11 a.m. starts and Iowa football “feels right” together, which may have something to do with Ferentz’s demeanor and the attitude he wants to portray — let’s get down to business.
So, while I am certainly a huge fan of Kinnick Stadium under the lights, I think we should limit “true” night games to 1-2 per season as long as the situation warrants it. Also, I’m talking about “true” night games. 2:30 p.m. starts are also a good change of pace and can generate some excitement, but I would prefer that most games shoot for an 11 a.m. kickoff.
The reason being that the special never seems as special when it becomes the usual. If you take a vacation to every week, I’ll bet that you’ll never have as good of a time on any particular trip as you will if you save that vacation for once a year.
My aim would be to keep night games sacred — for lack of a better term — and truly have a reason to do something aside from the norm. Looking forward to this fall, I would be hard-pressed to turn down games vs. Penn State and Ohio State under the lights. Although Ohio State will make its visit on Nov. 20 and chilly conditions are sure to be present, we’re Iowans, I know I can handle it. Just as long as we take care of priority No. 1.
Priority No. 2 — let’s have a good time, right?
Every single Saturday game day at Kinnick Stadium has the potential to fulfill both of those, but when it comes to the latter, night games can present an unmatched level of excitement for fans. One of the most electric atmosphere’s in Iowa football history occurred when Ohio State visited Iowa City in 2006 — a night game that made for an experience Hawkeye fans will remember for years to come.
But a top-10 team isn’t coming to town every week, and there are some definite drawbacks to the late start.
First, Kirk Ferentz has said many times that he is a man of routine and has done what he can to make his team the same way. Something can be said for having the same practice schedule week in and week out, getting up at the same time every Saturday and focusing on kickoff at the same time every game day.
While we’re on the subject of routine, I’ll go ahead and rule out the option of playing on Thursday nights (or any other day of the week games seem to be popping up). While those games can gain national exposure, it seems a bit forced and should be, in my mind, reserved for the MAC and Mountain West teams of the world. The advantages of the Big Ten Network, TV contracts with ESPN and simply having a program of national notoriety can offset some of those exposure concerns.
Plus, I can’t begin to express my distaste for a Thursday night game from the perspective of a fan traveling to the game.
Along with traveling concerns, night games are also going to lead to all-day tailgating that can increase the probability of problems both inside and outside the stadium. That’s the reality of the situation, and it can put the University in a difficult position.
On the positive side, night games can create an unmatched excitement, as we saw in 2006, and fuel the feeling of euphoria that may even funnel down to the players on the field. We also saw this last fall when a ranked Michigan team came to Kinnick.
If ABC is willing to put your game on its prime time slate, you take it. The national exposure those games give, including weeklong promos on ESPN and a possible visit from the College Gameday crew, cannot be matched.
However, I think the situation has to be right and I don’t like the idea of having a night game for the sake of having a night game. For example, the Big Ten Network’s 6 p.m. broadcast of Iowa’s game vs. Syracuse seemed to be a bit of a waste to me. Sure, the buildup was fun, but looking back, I think it may have been better to go for an 11 a.m. start and get on with it — a game that turned out to be a 35-7 Hawkeye victory.
While it’s nice to say that every game is as important as all the others and no opponent can be taken lightly, I think the honest-to-God truth says otherwise. Some games are more worthy to make into a special occasion, and that’s what I think night games should be.
In addition, 11 a.m. starts and Iowa football “feels right” together, which may have something to do with Ferentz’s demeanor and the attitude he wants to portray — let’s get down to business.
So, while I am certainly a huge fan of Kinnick Stadium under the lights, I think we should limit “true” night games to 1-2 per season as long as the situation warrants it. Also, I’m talking about “true” night games. 2:30 p.m. starts are also a good change of pace and can generate some excitement, but I would prefer that most games shoot for an 11 a.m. kickoff.
The reason being that the special never seems as special when it becomes the usual. If you take a vacation to every week, I’ll bet that you’ll never have as good of a time on any particular trip as you will if you save that vacation for once a year.
My aim would be to keep night games sacred — for lack of a better term — and truly have a reason to do something aside from the norm. Looking forward to this fall, I would be hard-pressed to turn down games vs. Penn State and Ohio State under the lights. Although Ohio State will make its visit on Nov. 20 and chilly conditions are sure to be present, we’re Iowans, I know I can handle it. Just as long as we take care of priority No. 1.
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