Ohio State has a simple plan for hosting a Friday night football game, should the Big Ten ask.
“The weekend that we would host would be the autumn break weekend. The weekend for us is that because there would be no classes. So operationally we're not getting in the way of parking for class and things of that nature,” Ohio State Vice President and Director of Athletics Gene Smith told Eleven Warriors on Wednesday afternoon. “So it's easier for us to do so. Once every three years, if we would host, that would be the window in which we would host.”
Earlier Wednesday, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune of the conference's intentions to hold games on Friday nights starting with the 2017 season. The Buckeyes aren't a likely candidate to host but unlike Michigan and Penn State, did not tell the conference's governing body they refuse to do it.
| Year | Break | Game |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 10/12–13 | @ NEBRASKA |
| 2018 | 10/11–12 | MINNESOTA |
| 2019 | 10/10–11 | BYE |
Smith told Eleven Warriors that the only way Ohio State would play ball with the Big Ten and accept a Friday night kickoff is during fall break. The brief two-day hiatus from classes at the University started two years ago is held during the second weekend of October.
“If we didn't have a break, I would have been like Penn State and Michigan,” Smith said. “They have different challenges but there is no way we could have done it if we had classes on campus. That's the only reason we have that flexibility.”
Concerns are mounting over Ohio High School football losing attention if the Buckeyes were to host a game on a Friday night. Smith gets that, and called it a "concern," which is why he made sure the Big Ten informs him and the Ohio High School Athletic Association at least a year in advance.
There also is a concern for Ohio State's recruiting too, one that Smith said he and Urban Meyer already spoke about. But the chances that a Friday night game would be the lone affair under the lights for the Buckeyes over the course of the season is slim.
Saturday night's game against No. 10 Nebraska is the only home night game remaining on Ohio State's schedule, making it a massive recruiting weekend. That wasn't originally the case—last weekend's game against Northwestern was supposed to kick off at 5:30 p.m. until it was moved up two hours likely to accommodate the imminent Cleveland Indians-Chicago Cubs World Series.
“We'll have to be strategic. We'll know a year in advance and it's only once every three years,” Smith said. “And 99 percent of the time we're going to have more than one night game at home. It's rare that we're only going to have one a year like we have this year. But when we do, we'll have to be very smart about it, strategic. Because if we don't, it will exactly have that effect [on recruiting].”
A brand like Ohio State is better sold in television markets on Saturday afternoon or evenings. But if the Big Ten wants to sell it on Friday nights, the Buckeyes will only be involved if it coincided with one specific weekend in October.
