I’m not sure what to make of next year’s
Civil War football game, which, thanks to Fox Sports Net, will be under the glow of Friday afternoon lights.
Assuming you haven’t heard yet, the Ducks will not be playing the Beavers on Saturday for the first time since the Coolidge administration.
According to ESPN.com, Fox Sports Net spearheaded the change in plans for viewership reasons. It’s always nice having 90 percent of the nation watching you play.
Both schools’ students may have to think twice about flying home for Thanksgiving weekend.
In all of this my biggest concern for Oregon is attendance. Because the game will be played during a holiday break, class schedules obviously aren’t going to play a factor.
But what about the out-of-state Ducks? They’re in a bind trying to do the impossible: Decide whether spending turkey day with your folks is more important than taking your general admission seat to watch Oregon play Oregon State at a revamped Reser Stadium.
I honestly thought that my fellow students were going to blast the move to Friday and the thought of breaking tradition to make a couple pennies (up to $250,000) and pick up a few more viewers.
Surprisingly, I’ve only heard good things about this. People I’ve spoken with like the idea of relaxing at home for Championship Week and having only the bowl season to look forward to. As well, they like knowing Oregon will have the nation tuned in when it needs it most. BCS officials and East Coast pollsters will have no excuse for missing this one, especially since the game will start at 3:30 p.m. EST. That means they’ll have plenty of time to watch the tail end of Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan … what a day.
Unfortunately for the Ducks, they might lose viewers that day to big-time match-ups like this. Wow, Central Michigan’s playing Buffalo too, what time?
Then there’s the $250 grand. Oregon can think of it as severance pay for losing its BCS invitation in the mail last season.
As Oregon State athletic director Bob De Carolis told ESPN, the biggest win both schools are going to get out of this is audience. If the Ducks and Beavers met on Saturday, Nov. 25, as originally planned, viewers would be flipping channels between them and, you guessed it, Notre Dame and USC. They kickoff at the Coliseum at 8 p.m. EST. No two seasons are the same, but if 2006 shapes up anything like last year, this will be significant.
At the expense of 78 years worth of tradition, I dare say that Oregon walked away from this schedule change better. The team now has the chance to win at Oregon State for the first time in eight years and in front of what will no doubt be the biggest crowd to watch the Civil War at Reser.
All eyes coast-to-coast will be on Corvallis Nov. 24.
What a difference a day makes.