After falling 86-81 to Oklahoma State at the United Center on Thanksgiving, Northwestern coach Chris Collins met the media, at a time that was so late, it was already technically, Black Friday.
The game was scheduled to tip at 9:30pm local, or 10:30 EST. It didn’t actually start until 9:51 central, 10:51 eastern. The scheduling and the start time were both so absurd that it greatly overshadowed the actual result on the court.
The very first question in the press conference was this:
“This is a great venue; it’s an NBA arena, but it’s also 12:20 in the morning right now. Would you schedule a game like this again?”
Chris Collins responded:
“Well, that was all dictated by television. Initially, we were told we were going to play the first game and Oklahoma State and I we were both very disappointed in television’s decision to move the game where it was, but they had to go through it too, so it’s not an excuse, but when when we originally signed up for the game, we were told that we were going to be the first game.
“So both of us were frustrated about that, but in the NCA tournament, a lot of teams play late games, you know, and that’s how we kind of sold it to our guys.”
Chris Collins is spot on- he fielded that question perfectly.
The official attendance for the Thanksgiving double header (Duke beat Arkansas in the first game, which tipped at 7pm local) was 10,766. However, if you watched any portion of this game on television, you would have obviously noticed how empty the UC was.
It’s hard to estimate the actual attendance for Northwestern-Oklahoma St, but it was certainly no more than 2,000.
In the second half, it may have actually been in the hundreds, not the thousands.
That’s not a knock on NU, Ok St. or their fan bases. Why schedule a non-conference basketball game like this on Thanksgiving?
Why tip it off so late that almost half the country (47.6% of the American population lives in the EST time zone according to the latest census) can’t even watch it?
It’s also very very late in the time zone where it transpired and both teams are located. The central time zone contains 29.1% of the population, so there you have it- this was inconvenient for more than 3/4 of the country.
If this is made for TV, it was made quite stupidly for TV.
A sporting event made for television is one thing, but an event made just for television, and no one else is just plain dumb.
And then to schedule it at a time when few people can actually watch it is next level stupid. It’s fascinating that no one involved in putting this game on/televising it could come to these obvious realizations.
So how did we get here? Was it always like this? A former star player for Northwestern’s greatest rival actually said it best.
“(At age) 17,18, 19, 20- you’re just playing for the love of the game,” former Illinois Fighting Illini superstart Deron Williams said RG.org. “There’s no politics really involved. You’re not getting paid.
“It’s not like it is today.”
D. Will is totally spot on about just how much money has affected everything in college basketball these days. It wasn’t like that 20 years ago when he played.
And the money is all fueled by television, so that’s how we got to the point that we’re at right now- only the needs of TV are met.
In the sports industry today, here is the list of groups whose needs are deemed to have worth:
- broadcast television
- end of list
Sorry, players, coaches, fans, support staff and journalists, your welfare is not really being considered.
As for Chris Collins and the Northwestern Wildcats, they kickoff their Big Ten Conference slate Wednesday at the Wisconsin Badgers.
The Cats are currently 6-2 and ranked #53 in KenPom.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN.