Can you say whether we indicate a preference to when our home games with Miami take place? Saturdays vs November weeknights. I can see both sides as putting Miami on a weeknight could boost what would otherwise be a thin turnout. I'm on the side that it's better for the rivalry and conference to put all major rivalries on Saturdays.
That I don't know. I can tell you that the hospitality folks in town would rather it be on a weekend - and I'm sure they have told the university so. Not because the hotels are dead empty on weekdays (they do pretty well with general business travelers) but because they lose a full-house weekend (and ticket sales are obviously better on weekends as well). My gut tells me that playing Miami on a weekday is more of a conference and ESPN decision/dictate - Since the TV deal was extended beyond 2017 - every Miami game has been a weekday game on ESPN - that doesn't sound like a coincidence. Hopefully they throw a weekend bone to us occasionally.
on the broader discussion beyond your question...
As BTC mentioned, the decision for homecoming is made outside the athletic department (to be honest, the football program doesn't care who they play), and includes input from the community (business and civic). As a point of reference, the town I help promote has a very large festival the same weekend each October. There is a standing request from the local university to their conference to not have a home game that day (and we would never have homecoming that same weekend) - simply no hotel rooms left for alumni and fans due to the festival goers. That request has been honored every year.
As anyone involved can attest, there is a great deal of planning that goes into a homecoming weekend (Ohio generally calls for volunteers and chairs in January), I actually have a meeting this Friday with the local university to begin planning how the community (and hospitality industry) can coordinate events including their homecoming (and parent's weekend) in 2023. "We" know dates but...gasp... not the opponent.
A look at Ohio scheduling over the past decade shows the university trying to get consistency with homecoming. Since 2013 it has been the first home game in October. Almost always the 1st or 2nd weekend. So it looks like that is the 1st question they ask the conference ("when's our first October home game?") The obvious second part of that question and answer is who we are playing - again, since we know there's a home game, we know who the opponent is - just not public info yet.
As I said, the football program doesn't care who we are playing for homecoming and most fans don't really care either. they just want to know the weekend so they can book rooms / start making plans with old friends, etc. Very few (and not enough to be concerned about) go "oh no brother Bluto we're playing..." or "I just saw them a few years ago..." Do we want to see a win? sure, but the need to play a doormat (thankfully) left the building years ago. In fact, when the schedule formally comes out we will be favored in all of our home conference games (especially since CMU and Kent lost their QBs - I did not know Gabbert decided to return to F Miami). And besides, I would challenge anyone to show a correlation between winning the homecoming game and donations.
So homecoming is the first weekend of October - opponent to formally be announced at a later date. Might be Central, has been 3 times since 2013. Doubt it's Miami, Kent would be a nice change. Central (as we know) travels well so from a business standpoint (university and town), it would b good to have Kent as the homecoming game and Central as another good commerce weekend (and of course, Miami back on a weekend as well) We'll see..