Apparently the noon Black Friday game has gone over so poorly, Whit and LOLUVA's AD Carla Williams are going to coordinate their ACC schedule requests to get the game moved from Friday to Saturday for at least 2020 and 2021.
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Yes, please. This would be so much better for everyone.
Can someone please downvote this to 25. Thanks fam. I'm being a little stitious this week.
upvoted....then downvoted a second later. 25 it should be!! Looks to be at 24 now....I'm bad at math. Someone help!
A little stitious is ok just don't be super stitious.
Thank you ADs for making a correct call. This Friday noon game is for the birds.
but.... we are the birds.....
Doesn't make any sense, if you look at the other games on Friday, ours should certainly be in a more prime TV spot. Must be other stuff on ESPN that night.....
There are two hierarchies in ESPN TV times. One is timeslots, where generally the later the game, the better it is. (Although recent trends in ratings is pushing more good games to noon.) The other is channel, where ABC gets the best, then ESPN, then ESPN2, ESPNU, and the conference channels.
The problem is figuring out when those hierarchies cross. What is better -- Noon on ABC or primetime on ESPN?
If they would just move the available timeslot from noon to primetime on ABC, we wouldn't be having any issue.
I've been told (read: have not done he research myself) that noon on ABC (or Big Fox) gets more eyeballs than any other time/channel combination except for ABC evening slot, ESPN slot, CBS 3:30 (SEC game) or ABC 3:30.
My guess is that ESPN/ABC didn't want their best game to compete with Fox's line up (Iowa/Nebraska followed by UW/Wazzou), so they instead chose to slot UVA/VT at a time when it would be the only good game on, and could get all the available eyeballs.
whit pls
stop looking ahead to 2020 and 2021!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So is the UVAh AD for what it's worth...
I don't mind the game being on black Friday, but I do mind the game being at 9 AM my time black Friday 😕
I mean sounds to me like the simple solution here is for you to move to London.
#allnightgamesallthetime
Not sure how I'd feel about 4 AMers 😬
Noon game on the east coast is 5 pm in London. You can have your afternoon tea and crumpets and then watch the Hokies kick loluva's ass!
I can tell you with authority that 3:30 am games phucking suck
The last several games have been 2:15am for me. Makes for a long Sunday.
Or go to Riyad then it is really prime time .. except it may be blacked out.
8pm for me here in St. Petersburg
Don't hate.
At first, I didn't seem to mind the tradition that was developing, but the timing just sucks. The nooner this year just underlined how bad a day this is to get everyone back in town in time for the games. If they hit us with that next year, there's no way I would be able to attend after doing Thanksgiving with the family here in Raleigh the night before.
I read "don't hate" and fully prepared my pitchfork as I expected you to defend a nooner on black Friday.
I totally agree, and I generally LUV a good nooner.
The game in Charlottesville is one that I have always tried to attend when played on Saturdays, because my family lives 30 mins away - it was easy to make it. Now that marriage/wife/kids, my wife's family does Thanksgiving on Friday, so the it's been a no-go for me. Glad to see we're getting traction from the AD's about moving it back to Saturdays. This game was always on Saturday after Thanksgiving and no reason to change it.
I get the ratings side of things for TV but fans in seats matter.
6 days rest at the end of the season is nonsense. Give me Saturday.
Would it be better if both teams were off the Saturday before Thanksgiving? That would help with our student problem that weekend. But a late bye isn't great for the season.
It would also mean we'd have a 1-2 day rest before playing Clemson every year.
EDIT: Misread this. Dates are hard. Apologies. Will leave it up for shame.
Possibly, but I like playing a full November schedule. Get in the groove, and win win win.
Or if it's like last year, fall into a rut, and lose lose lose, and still somehow beat UVA on a miracle.
One of those wins is for the first week in December as well...
Just like last year, which is why I didn't mention it.
We don't want to waste a bye week on UVa.
I imagine this won't get a lot of support within the football offices.
As one who used to attend every VT/UVA game no matter the location, moving it to Friday bummed me out since it made it pretty hard for me to justify attending the game with my recently changing Thanksgiving plans now being married and now with a child.
As an outsider just watching the game on TV though, I can't say that I dislike the game being on Friday. With our name recognition, it usually gives us a national stage on a day where most adult males are staying at home, not doing much outside of getting off the couch to get food, get another beer, or use a bathroom.
Regardless...whatever day they play on, Hoo tears are just as salty Saturday as they are on Friday.
That works to our advantage for sure!
Not gonna lie, I've come around on the noon game. Can roll out of bed, make a leftover sandwich, watch the game, and have my whole weekend free
Dont necessarily have a problem with it being on Friday but make the game later in the evening like at 7pm. Then again I dont have to travel as far as some people.
I know this is Hoo week and I know I'll get downvoted, but Carla Williams and Whit Babcock are two of the Better ADs in the country, IMO.
Nah bro, have a leg, in the spirit of Thanksgiving.
Carla is fantastic. She has a lot of respect in the industry and in football circles in particular. As an assistant AD at UGA, she oversaw their football program. She gets it
Alright now, let's not overdo it. It is Hate Week. No need to pile on here.
Move along...move along.
A friend of mine in Pritchard told me she isn't even qualified to do her job!
This is more like it. Thank you.
If this info is coming out of Pritchard, then I'm not sure we're still talking about the same "job".
Friend is referring to the UVA AD, not him/herself. In case you missed that like I did on my first read.
Thank god. Fuck Friday games
I did not read the whole article, or this whole thread, but I would make cooperation with the UVA AD contingent on UVA not engaging in any Hokie fandom suppression at Lane North. No more Hokie tax!!!
Finding this out has actually pissed me off a bit for this one.
Its such a direct shot at our fans to charge a $100 donation for each ticket to this game if you aren't a part of their booster club. I wouldn't have much of a problem if they did it for their entire season, but it is literally only for this game.
I kind of hope we return the favor in both football and basketball going forward. You want to watch your precious Hoos in Blacksburg? Fine, prepare to be gouged.
Unfortunately the amount of Hoos fans that actually come to Lane Stadium south doesn't warrant the trouble.
I don't see why we would care that not many UVa fans travel to Durham or Chapel Hill, but ok....
I see nothing unfortunate about that.
So scale the surcharge accordingly.
If we send 20,000 fans and they surcharge them $100 each, then if they send 5000 fans we surcharge them $500 each.
Math looks right, right?
If "equal money" is what you're looking for, subtract either $100 or 1,000 fans and you're golden.
I added a revenge subsidy because Hate Week.
It's not a $100 donation for each ticket, it's a minimum $100 donation to be allowed to buy tickets, with a max of 6 at that $100 level. If you buy 6, it's only $17 per ticket, which while still an extra "Hokie tax" is a bit more reasonable than $100 each.
Don't give them any ideas
Its still petty bullshit, and we should be more than willing to return the favor.
Hell, now that I think about it, we should make that a policy in Cassell. Raise prices across the board, and offer discounts back to current pricing if you have a Hokie Club membership. Probably not a bad idea for Lane as well. Except don't specifically target certain games, do it for every one of them.
Also, as I said a earlier today in another thread, I've heard there's a glitch on their ticketing website that allows you to bypass the $100 donation if you do it right.
I believe it may be that if you hit the escape key as they try to redirect you to their "donation" site, you may be able to bypass it. I wasn't actually buying tickets, so I didn't follow it all the way through. I was on a macbook with popup blockers.
Worth a try if you're buying tickets.
Tickets were between $60 and $80 for uppers or end zones.
This system hiccup needs to be posted and shared! We need as many Hokie fans at the game as possible. And that extra Hokie Tax may cause some Hokie fans not to attend. e.g. a Hokie fan father that has 8 kids, single parent, a spouse that uses the Hokie Tax as a guilt trip not to go to the game etc. etc. (add other examples)
You can buy tickets for $100 each on stubhub right now. Or you can buy them directly on the UVa site, but you do have to contribute and extra $100 (in addition to the ticket price) which would permit you to buy up to six tickets at whatever the going rate is (looked like $80 per ticket).
Go and dominate their house, my little Hokies.
Pretty sure the $100 is for any purchase from 1 to 6 tickets for the VT game. Agree it still sucks but in reality if you are buying six tickets as we did it is cheaper per ticket (just under $17 each) than the convenience fees on Stubhub are! And the reason its only for the VT game is that's the only one that ever comes close to selling out for them!
The principle is that you need to buy 6 tickets.
Dominating UVa at their house: priceless.
Yeah, I would rather pay a little extra to a second or third party on stubhub than knowing that my money is going directly into the athletic fund for uvanus.
Pretty sure party of the deal for being the "official secondary market" for so many things is that some percentage of the proceeds get sent back to the team. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Is it only UVA Booster Members that don't have to pay the donation?
I wonder how UVA folk that aren't boosters view this donation charge when they have to buy tickets.
Interesting question.
Not really. Wahoos don't attend games!
Literally any non-season-ticket-holder has to join the UVA athletic club with a minimum $100 donation to be eligible to buy tickets. Anyone who is already a paying member or season-ticket holder is exempt. But there may be a glitch in their online storefront that'll allow you to remove the donation just prior to checkout...
Saturday! The Friday game is just a pain for any time other than 8 pm kick.
Honestly, I actually liked the concept of a Black Friday game as long as it is a night game. I like being able to watch this game and then have the entire Saturday to watch the other rivalry games. I missed the Kick Six because I was sitting in a car trying to get out of the parking lot in Charlottesville.
Agreed. Totally fine with a late Friday game.
I think it helps us that its during the day in Cville. In Blacksburg, night game every time.
Yes, Saturday is better. Make it so.
I honestly prefer having this game on Black Friday, but for the love of God not at noon. I'd greatly prefer a Saturday nooner over noon on Black Friday.
Now that we know the noon slot is an option for our game, might as well ask to move it back to Saturday, unless we can get written confirmation from the Mothership that we won't be dropped back to the noon slot again.
Saturday or a late Friday game are the only acceptable options. None of this Friday Noon crap and really, I'm not even down for 3:30 on Black Friday
TSL had a good article on this a few years ago - Noon Friday games actually get better TV ratings than noon Saturday games, which is what the UVA / Tech game would be this year or most years. It sucks for commuters maybe, but better for TV revenue I guess.
I don't give a flying F?#$ about ESPN's TV ratings. We get the revenue from them either way and it should be about us fans that are paying the donation fees and season tix. Anybody that travels 4+ hours to get to the burg hates Friday games.
Lol No. They get more money from TV. They don't truly care much about fans if they are going to get paid better. But hey - looks like that might change next year
While Carla and Whit are at it, request that all the games are played in Blacksburg from now on because fuck Charlottesville.
It's easier if you think of it as a field trip to Lane North.
Yeah I always figure that the years we play there it is a seventh(or eighth) home game for us. Kinda similar for Duke and UNC. All three of those games its a shorter drive from Richmond than Blacksburg is. If it's gotta be Black Friday I do prefer night games 'cause for me tailgating is a PREgame thing not POSTgame -though it does make for a really LONG day trip since we drive up and back for the game most every time. The game three years ago in Blacksburg (the "ice bowl" game), we left Richmond at 630 AM or so Friday, started tailgating at 10am and we got back to Richmond at 6 am Saturday morning! Plenty of alcohol to act as antifreeze!
Pro tip-do NOT drink ice cold water late at night after drinking heavily-it does NOT agree with an alcohol upset stomach. (Note-throwing up out the car window going down Christiansburg mountain at 70 mph when its 20 makes for a -50 or so wind chill-not recommended for the faint of heart!)
I don't mind black Friday games, ... just not at noon. Lol.
I plan on taking advantage this year though. I haven't been drunk in a looking time. I plan on getting pretty liquored up Thanksgiving night, rolling out of bed late on black Friday and watching the game (since it'll be on at 9am here)
I do like the move though.
We've won 15 in a row. Friday's seem to be working.
I think a big part of the issue for us is that it's been three in a row and 4 out of 6. And the game time is never guaranteed until the last couple of weeks. At least with any other Friday game of the season, you know it's in primetime.
This year, I have family in town, and I was hoping for primetime so I still had all day Friday to do whatever and then settle in for the game. Even 3:30 would be workable. But noon just turns me and my dad into assholes watching the TV not wanting to be bothered.
As someone who has to watch the Iron Bowl and anOSU vs Michigan games every year due to familial obligations, it has been nice being able to get the TV to myself on Fridays for our game, I definitely understand the ratings argument for keeping it on Friday and the travel/logistics argument for moving it to Saturday, not easy either way
Well, put us on primetime Saturday, and you're pretty much set!
Glad this will be fixed for the future, and UVA will be the one punched in the gut for it this year...
I love the game on Friday especially if it is in Charlottesville because I have to travel with my family every year and it gives me an excuse to leave on Saturday instead of feeling obligated to stay and watch the game. Plus you avoid Sunday traffic. I don't mind the relatives but the house is small compared to mine and hanging around for more than 2 days makes you think about all you could be doing at home in North Carolina.
I'll take Saturday over noon Friday, but this game is barely going to be a blip on the radar on Saturdays. You are always going to be competing with Michigan-Ohio State at noon, the Iron Bowl at 3:30, and a whole slew of other good games at night. If getting a national audience to pay attention to our games is in any way a concern, this ain't it.
Idk if it's feasible to make a demand that the game be Friday at 3:30 or 7-8 but if I were Whit that's the ideal spot for it really.
Was the Iron Bowl really such a big deal outside of the state of Alabama before ESECPN mania went crazy? I don't remember it being that important growing up, but I may not have really been paying attention. Ohio State-Michigan has always been huge nationally though.
Alabama and Auburn being simultaneously good through this decade also helped it become a big thing outside of Alabama. As soon as one or both of them returns to complete mediocrity it'll go away.
I think Bama may lose this one. I at least hope they do. Of course, the chaos that would surround Bama winning, and LSU losing a close game to UGA in the SECCG and OSU or Clemson losing 1x as well would be fun to watch. May cause the current system to implode if 3 SEC teams got in.
Don't care if we are opposite other rivalry games or ESPN's eyeball count. Saturday is much better to fill Lane, period, and last I checked the players can't hear those watching on TV. They do hear those of us in the stands, like last weekend against Pitt. I want to see us get back to 2011 when we actually filled Lane.
We filled Lane on Black Friday in 2017. Friday isn't the problem, it's noon on Friday that's the problem.
Didn't Texas and Texas A&M happen ON Thanksgiving Fay? They didn't seem to have issues filling up the place.
Yup, until A&M left the Big 12.
Although to be fair in that situation, it is Texas. Just pull a football out of a bag and half the state has shown up to watch.
Historically, this was done because the hoos represent your average HS program and high school football belongs on Friday.
I don't have a problem with the Friday game, but the noon start is a huge PITA on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
I like it on Friday. It breaks up the holiday weekend nicely and I can still watch the other rivalry games on Saturday.
Eh. I can stand this since I am not traveling to go to the game. But if it were moved to Saturday we'd be in the same time slot as some of the other biggest hugest games of the year. I think we can win our time slot on Friday.
Made comment in wrong thread...
I kind of like having them on black friday. The noon timeslot is the issue more than the day.
330 isn't terrible (still not great if you dont have the day off) but 7:00 on Friday is great. It just gets lost in the scramble on saturday with all the rest of the rivalry games.
I like Friday tbh. I fucking hate nooners on Fridays though.
About frickin time Whit addressed this. This game should be on Sat, period. That's best for the fans and gives many more of the students a chance to get back, not that I want the wahoos to be back this year. I really don't give a crap about ESPN's eyeballs, its much better to fill the stands. We're going to get the check from the ACCN either way.