Many people didn’t like HY in part because they believe he was a primary reason for many of our Thursday/Friday night and 11am football kickoffs. I have looked at our home schedule over the last 10 years. We’ve been in the AAC the past 5 years. The data shows that it wasn’t HY but rather our affiliation with AAC/ESPN TV rights giving us poor tailgate times. 2013 and 2014 were both not great for tailgating and that was before HY was AD and after we got in the AAC so its not logical to blame HY.
The outlier is 2015. 2015 was just a phenomenal year with a great team and lots of “quality” tailgates. With the hype we had that year and high ranking ESPN appears to have slotted us for a few more appealing time slots with a 6pm vs Vanderbilt (ESPN 2), 2:30 vs Cincinnati (ESPN 2), 6pm Memphis (ESPN2), and even our “early” Navy game on Thanksgiving Friday at 11am was at least on ABC. Basically we got the best AAC ESPN slots because we were THE hot ticket in the AAC but if we aren’t THE hot ticket in the AAC we will get the secondary start times.
I believe we can expect more years like 2017 while in the AAC under the current ESPN TV deal. If we have a team like this year it will likely make for an overall miserable experience for the fans at games due to frustrating team performance and having poor game times.
Anybody who thought that Hunter had anything to do with game time selection should have their heads checked.
Hunter was responsible for a lot of problems with the fan experience, but this isn’t one of them.
The AAC is nothing more than inventory for ESPN. AAC games will always take a back seat to P5 games unless a school is having a special season, like UH in 2015. Then that school will get preferred kickoff times.
So get used to those 11 am kickoffs - we’re going to see more of them.
15 Likes
Duce630
(DustinK - I Stand With Israel - Bring Them Home)
4
I will take them especially if we’re on ABC or ESPN so we can get the exposure. When were on one of the subsidiary channels, not so much.
We like all schools are beholden to TV for dates and times. UT et. al. has 11:00 a.m. kickoffs, so do other P5 schools.
HY is/was responsible for scheduling. He made excuses for not scheduling P5 opponents but did cave to TSU for the use of their basketball gym and scheduled them for football (brilliant). Boise State and BYU are high visibility P6 schools like us, so no credit there. HY was an overpaid chair warmer. Next.
All conferences and their schools have sold out their fans for TV money.
When UH played OU many of their fans on their site were complaining about how many early starts they had.
The exposure is my problem – exposure to heat stroke. I’ve had one heat stroke and barely survived; don’t know if I could survive another. If we were in a cooler climate, I wouldn’t care what time we play but the heat is really hard on me. I have to prepare with lots of electrolytes, potassium capsules, and hydrating.
If we are forced to play at 11 am in the heat of September and October then the University needs to dump the rules against bringing water into the stadium or dump the $5 per bottle water and sell it at a reasonable price since they felt the need to build the stadium without water fountains.
2 Likes
Duce630
(DustinK - I Stand With Israel - Bring Them Home)
16
They should allow one bottle of water per person. I think that is fair. However, I have seen big water coolers available has anyone used them?
