College Football Belongs on Saturday, Not When It’s Convenient
The 2023 college football season is officially in the books. As I am typing this the blue and maize confetti is falling inside NRG Stadium in Houston as Michigan has just beaten Washinton in the National Championship game.
Depending on what time zone you are in, this game could have ended as late as 11 p.m. I bring that up because the day after the national championship game is always Tuesday, which means most people with normal jobs are going to work.
This brings me to my next question, why is college football hosting their biggest game of the season on a Monday? For a sport based on tradition, it seems pretty silly to play your championship game on a day that is better known for Monday Night Football.
Just take a look at the NFL. They play a majority of their games on Sundays and guess what day the Super Bowl is. A Sunday. In fact, when the big game rolls around everyone calls it Super Bowl Sunday. What am I supposed to call the national championship game being played on a Monday? Championship Monday? Gross.
If you are reading this, you are a college football fan like me. Saturdays are for college football while Sundays are for the NFL. I know things are going to look different next season with a 12-team playoff. The first round is going to be played on December 20th and 21st (Friday and Saturday) while some of the quarterfinals are going to be held on New Year’s Eve (Tuesday).
Of course, you will have your traditional New Year’s Day football fix with the quarterfinals as well. After that, the semifinals will be played on January 8th and 9th which falls on a Thursday and Friday. You know why? Because the big bad NFL controls the big networks on weekends during the month of January due to the playoffs.
I get that the NFL will always be king and that networks will just about do anything to have a chance to air their games, but college football should try and work something out with the NFL. Maybe they can’t do anything for the other playoff rounds but why can’t college football squeeze in their championship game on a Saturday night?
Next year the national championship game will be played on Monday, January 20th. The weekend before the 20th the NFL will have the Divisional Round of the playoffs going on. There will be a total of four games (two on Saturday and two on Sunday). Why not get with the NFL and see if they could bump up the time slots on the two Saturday games so you could host your championship game on Saturday night?
Imagine a world where the football fan at home can enjoy two NFL playoff games and then go right into the national championship game to cap off their night. I don’t know about you but that sounds like a perfect day to me. Maybe college football should consider giving the NFL a cut or something because we deserve better than to have the biggest game in our favorite sport to be played on a day that means absolutely nothing to it. College football belongs on Saturday, not just some random day of the week when there are no NFL games.
