BleedGopher
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per Shama:
Thursday night P.J. Fleck makes his debut as the Gophers head football coach but there will be a lot fewer eyeballs on his 2017 team than there should be because the Vikings are also playing their final preseason game. It’s ridiculous that the two teams are playing home games in Minneapolis within a couple miles of one another on the same night.
That was also the reality in 2016—and two years ago the teams again played on the same evening, but at least that time the Vikings were out of town when the Gophers lost to TCU in front of a TCF Bank Stadium record crowd.
The scheduling conflict will happen in the future too, unless Gophers leaders move away from nonconference opening games on Thursday nights. The NFL mandates that its teams play the last of their four preseason games on Thursdays that usually are in late August.
The University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Fair authorities made an agreement before TCF Bank Stadium opened in 2009 that created these Thursday night conflicts. The agreement runs through June 30, 2022, and requires that any Gophers home game prior to Labor Day be played on a Thursday evening.
The reason for the agreement is during the State Fair drivers can park their cars for free on the University’s Minneapolis campus and ride free buses to the fairgrounds in nearby Falcon Heights. The Gophers usually play at home on Saturdays but because of larger fair-going crowds on the weekends, U officials agreed to switch games to Thursday evenings.
The Thursday night conflicts don’t work very well for local football fans, and that problem begins with season ticket holders. There are companies and individuals who buy season tickets for both the Gophers and Vikings. That’s a dilemma on Thursday evenings, and it also is for the general football population who want to follow both teams either in person or on TV. There are also high school football games this Thursday evening, causing another conflict.
http://shamasportsheadliners.com/
Go Gophers!!
Thursday night P.J. Fleck makes his debut as the Gophers head football coach but there will be a lot fewer eyeballs on his 2017 team than there should be because the Vikings are also playing their final preseason game. It’s ridiculous that the two teams are playing home games in Minneapolis within a couple miles of one another on the same night.
That was also the reality in 2016—and two years ago the teams again played on the same evening, but at least that time the Vikings were out of town when the Gophers lost to TCU in front of a TCF Bank Stadium record crowd.
The scheduling conflict will happen in the future too, unless Gophers leaders move away from nonconference opening games on Thursday nights. The NFL mandates that its teams play the last of their four preseason games on Thursdays that usually are in late August.
The University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Fair authorities made an agreement before TCF Bank Stadium opened in 2009 that created these Thursday night conflicts. The agreement runs through June 30, 2022, and requires that any Gophers home game prior to Labor Day be played on a Thursday evening.
The reason for the agreement is during the State Fair drivers can park their cars for free on the University’s Minneapolis campus and ride free buses to the fairgrounds in nearby Falcon Heights. The Gophers usually play at home on Saturdays but because of larger fair-going crowds on the weekends, U officials agreed to switch games to Thursday evenings.
The Thursday night conflicts don’t work very well for local football fans, and that problem begins with season ticket holders. There are companies and individuals who buy season tickets for both the Gophers and Vikings. That’s a dilemma on Thursday evenings, and it also is for the general football population who want to follow both teams either in person or on TV. There are also high school football games this Thursday evening, causing another conflict.
http://shamasportsheadliners.com/
Go Gophers!!