Thursday Night Spotlight

Playing Two Days Before Saturday Seen As a Boon to Schools, Conferences, ESPN

Thursday night college football was stagnating, and there wasn't a whole lot the folks at ESPN could do about it. Coaches didn't appreciate having to alter their teams' weekly routines just so they could play on short rest. University administrators were reluctant to deal with the traffic and parking issues caused by an influx of fans wanting to get into campus areas and a throng of 9-to-5 workers desperate to get out.

Most critically, sports television viewers were less interested in the low-profile matchups that frequented the channel's Thursday night lineup. Then in 2003, the desperate-for-attention Big East turned to ESPN, and the network was waiting with welcoming arms.

In the years since, the caliber of contests consistently featured on Thursday nights has improved, leading to a domino effect that has turned what once was considered an annoyance into a marquee event for all involved.

As fans grew more enticed, ratings improved. As ratings improved, university administrators became more willing to ensure that their teams would share in the national spotlight. And scheduling adjustments eased coaches' concerns over limited preparation time.

"It's become the 'Monday Night Football' of college football," said Dave Brown, vice president of programming and acquisitions for ESPN. "It's one night a week when you know everyone is watching."

That's exactly the type of arrangement Big East associate commissioner Nick Carparelli Jr. sought for the football programs that remained in the conference after the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech in 2004 and Boston College a year later. Without three of its key football attractions, the general consensus was that the Big East no longer was worthy of its status as a BCS conference.

Well aware of how crowded a college football fan's television viewing schedule can be on Saturdays, Carparelli grew concerned that even the Big East's best games would get lost amid the blur of choices.

"We needed to showcase ourselves to maximize our exposure, so we elected to put our best matchups on Thursday nights," said Carparelli, who is responsible for the Big East's football scheduling. "Whether we could compete or not, we wanted to show people that we would put ourselves out there. It was a risk. If we couldn't compete, people would see that, too."

With several Big East programs undergoing resurgences at the time, midseason contests pitting teams such as West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers against one another on Thursday nights suddenly became more appealing.

In 2006, West Virginia was ranked No. 3 in the BCS ratings when it visited No. 5 Louisville for a matchup on a Thursday night in early November. The telecast earned the highest television rating ever for a Thursday night game on ESPN. Louisville won, climbed to No. 3 in the BCS ratings and then traveled to Rutgers, 13th in the BCS ratings, the following Thursday night.

"It's given us tremendous exposure and launched us to where we are now," Carparelli said. "I like to think that [Thursday night] spot has kind of become the Big East's showcase spot."

The ACC could make that claim, as well. North Carolina State will kick off this year's Thursday night ESPN slate tonight at South Carolina. It will mark the 58th time an ACC team has been featured on ESPN's Thursday night broadcast.