At about 7 a.m. before every Saturday home game, Chris Joroleman parks his orange-and-blue 1990 Suburban near Crouse-Hinds Hall. He drives from his home in Rochester, sets up his Syracuse flags, turns on rock music and grills burgers with friends and family on Waverly Avenue. Joroleman, an SU season ticket holder of about 10 years, prides his Saturday college football routine.

But the schedule for tailgaters like Joroleman gets thrown off when SU plays on Friday nights. He works during the week and is not permitted by the university to tailgate on campus on Fridays, when class is in session.

“I’ve been to some great atmospheres for tailgating,” Joroleman said, “and Fridays don’t promote that. You should be able to see all orange as you walk to the Dome.”

This is the quandary of Friday night games. As part of its acceptance into the Atlantic Coast Conference, Syracuse agreed to schedule some Friday night conference games to be televised nationally, including Louisville last year and Clemson on Friday. After the Orange (3-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) hosts the No. 2 Tigers (6-0, 4-0) on ESPN, SU will have played on seven Friday nights over the past four seasons, compared to only six over the previous 13 seasons. Yet since 2013, SU’s attendance for Friday games has been slightly lower than that season’s average.

Andy Mendes | Digital Design Editor

The debate over Friday games rages nationally. An Iowa legislator has taken legal action to ban Friday college football games. After the Big Ten announced last year that it would begin playing Friday games, Michigan and Penn State refused to sacrifice Saturday games, which many big-time programs see as the sacred day for college football. Northwestern lobbied to move its two Friday games this season to Saturdays.

The Friday-Saturday schedule conflict borders the line of those who seek giving programs the national spotlight with college football traditionalists who view Saturdays, and only Saturdays, as the day for college football. Syracuse second-year head coach Dino Babers, who coached four seasons in the Mid-America Conference, may be an anomaly. He doesn’t care when games are played.

“I come from the MAC, where we play games on Tuesday, Thursday and Wednesdays,” Babers said, “so for me, I really don’t have a preference.”

Syracuse players sided toward Saturday games, though they acknowledged the benefits of playing on a Friday. They generally said they like the idea of Friday games if it means friends and family can watch them on national TV, as will be the case against Clemson. For many, playing on Friday nights rekindles memories from high school, but it breaks up their typical Saturday routine and cuts down the amount of practice time that week.

American Football Coaches Association executive director Todd Berry issued a statement earlier this year condemning Friday night games. According to Berry, it was “unanimous” at each level of coaching that Friday nights should be reserved for high school football.

“We all have our own space,” Berry said in a statement, “and Friday nights are for high school football.”

The Nottingham High School football team stretches under the lights of a Friday night.
Bryan Cereijo | Staff Photographer

Berry noted that not only is high school football attendance affected when local colleges play on Fridays, but the revenues generated on ticket sales impact other sports and organizations. Meanwhile, across the country, coaches vary on which day they prefer. Most coaches who have addressed the issue are proponents of Saturday games.

“I like playing on Saturdays,” said Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino, whose Cardinals have played two Friday night games against Syracuse since 2013. “It gives you the week to prepare.”

Fans interviewed by The Daily Orange said they support the anti-Friday movement, complaining of work, traffic and limited time to tailgate. Friday ranked as the worst day for college football, a poll by SB Nation found.

Syracuse has played nonconference Friday games, such as Central Connecticut State this year and Colgate last year, to be “good stewards” with the community, said Herman Frazier, SU’s senior deputy athletics director. The intention for scheduling early-season games on Fridays is to provide fans the ability to attend the SU game and have the following Saturday for the New York State Fair and Labor Day activities.

The Orange has hosted at least one Friday ACC game each of the past four seasons because the conference requires it. In 2012, the ACC and ESPN agreed on a rights deal that extends through the 2026-27 season. The deal included the addition of 13 ESPN telecast games, including three Friday night games.

Therein lies the draw of Friday night games: TV revenue. There are 53 Friday games this fall, down from 56 last year. After the NFL began playing Thursday night games in 2006, college football has expanded to more Fridays. Every conference has at least one team with a Friday game in 2017. They’re here to stay for years to come, said Michael Strickland, the ACC’s senior associate commissioner for football.

“The teams playing Saturday afternoons and Saturday nights get the most national television exposure,” said Dennis Deninger, a former Emmy-award winning ESPN producer and professor of practice in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. “Syracuse-Clemson would not be a Friday night game if SU were a Top-20 team.”

That’s because, Deninger said, Friday games are generally sweet spots for programs looking for national attention they wouldn’t otherwise get on the crowded Saturday college football TV schedule. That includes Syracuse.

Penn State and Michigan play in 100,000-plus seat stadiums that fill on Saturdays. Both teams almost always play on national TV anyway, so they see no advantage to playing on Fridays, Deninger said.

Syracuse once played nearly all of its games on Saturdays, most of which were televised on ESPN or ABC. In 1998, for example, SU was ranked No. 25 in the country and played all but one of its games on either CBS, ESPN or ABC.

“Many say there’s not enough time to tailgate on Fridays or early Saturday games,” said Robert Malekoff, a lecturer at North Carolina’s Department of Exercise and Sport Science. “That’s the sellout to TV. You’ve got two critical revenue sources — TV or broadcasting and ticket revenue. They hurt each other.”

Michael Siiss, a Syracuse football season ticket holder since 1993, said he doesn’t mind Friday night games. He’s self-employed, so he can make time for the two-hour drive from his home in Schenectady, New York. As long as games are later in the day, he’s happy arriving a few hours early to hang out with friends, grab pizza at Varsity and watch warmups.

When SU played in the Big East, Siiss said the Orange tended to play earlier on Saturdays, which trimmed down his ability to enjoy game day.

“It seemed like every other week was a noon game,” Siiss said. “I prefer a late start so I have time to get parked, maybe get downtown, and eat. Now, more games are later in the day, which I’m very grateful for.”

Among Syracuse players, the general consensus is that Saturday reigns.

“Playing on Friday night does bring you back to high school,” SU graduate transfer middle linebacker Austin Valdez said, “but Saturday is the day for college football.”

Published on October 11, 2017 at 11:40 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21