I'm wondering if the move to ESPN+ will provide more opportunities to play on Saturdays, like the Sun Belt did this past season. I think the midweek games for 2018 were scheduled before ESPN+ really got ramped up and put MAC games on that platform.

I think you might be forgetting something important: very few Ohio alums/students care about Ohio football. And that was the case back when every game was on a Saturday, too. Student attendance at football games has always been poor. When I was there (01-05) people were way more likely to be on Court Street or watching Ohio State than they were to be at Peden. Nobody really cares, and that's not because the games are on a Wednesday.

It's because the games don't matter even a little bit. Nobody at OU grew up watching OU football. They don't have any sense of the rivalries, or any real emotional attachment to it. It doesn't represent anything, and the team plays in a minor conference against unsexy teams, none of whom are eligible for a national championship. There are simply not stakes that anybody cares about. The best case scenario is you win a game in an empty stadium in Detroit for the right to play in an empty stadium in Mobile or Boise.

So that being the case, they should play the games whenever there's the most money to be made. Anytime OU's on TV, the vast majority of eyeballs come from gamblers. Very few people actually care about Ohio football. It's a tiny market that doesn't generate enough revenue to matter to anybody. And so, to drum up eyeballs they need to play when nobody else is so gamblers and football junkies choose to watch Eastern Michigan vs. Ball State because there's not a Big 10, SEC, or ACC game to be found.

It's been explained to me that logistically this isn't feasible, but you know what would actually garner student interest? If Ohio were an FCS powerhouse that competed for a championship. What do you think would be better attended? Or watched by more alums? Ohio in the national championship game against James Madison, Colgate, or North Dakota State or Ohio's bowl game against whoever we're playing wherever we're playing them?

You raise a good point, BLSOS. Yes, I’d have to say that 99% of Ohio students and alumni don’t care about Ohio football. But I don’t think it’s because the games don’t matter. I think it’s because most just don’t care, period. Students didn’t care when I was there in the early-mid 80’s like they don’t care now. And students left after the Marching 110 played at halftime then too. Ohio’s just not a football school. We BAers are the outliers. And if Ohio went FCS even fewer people would attend games or even care.

Averaging 20k per game would still put us in the bottom quarter of FBS teams. That we consider that an accomplishment is kind of the point. Our fan support maxes out at filling the 10th smallest stadium in the country.

Given that lack of interest, 700k from ESPN is a god send. I'm sure the AD would play at 4am on Christmas morning if ESPN asked them to.

Yes ... because NIUs commuter campus is just like Athens. Your ability to look past the context is great.

NIU fan base so incredibly different than Ohio's. But you wouldn't notice.

Applaud the competition. Both fan bases should hold their head up high.

miles for a midweek game?i guess the midweek stuff isn’t really a problem, if people really want to go they will.

Paying the penalty, ticket buybacks, to bring sales to 15K per will cost em some more dollars.

Except you miss the fact that Chicago as a whole is a Big10 city, with more Big10 alums than any other city in America. So maybe Northwestern does not cast a huge shadow, 10% of 6 Big10 teams alumni live there. Only 2 schools in the Big10 have fewer than 1% of their graduates in their market. So Northern has to compete against, Wisky, UofM, OSU, IU, IL,.

Nope, they will not compete with just 1 dominate program in their fan base, they have a LOT of schools with in that fan base that carves them up. Not hard to understand.

I can't stand those "dominate" programs.

For what it is worth, I think Peden is nice. Of course there are some really easy improvements that the university should make. Spruce the place up, a couple coats of paint, new wood at certain places and redo some bricks. It has a cool feel to it and the region around is stunning.

I know there were a lot of doubters but the Sook Center is awesome. They did a great job with it and I am proud of the design and thought put into it.

Peden is just the size we need and a few times a year it is packed and looks great. Sure the mid-week games suck for in person experience but the TV it brings is an overall positive. If we were undefeated or near it, there would be a bigger crowd but sadly, we have lost games we should not have each year for years and years. If we were rocking, the narrative would be that students "need to go."

One thing that I suggest each of you season ticket holders is to do what I do and what one of my mentors did. Reach out to current students that are at OU that you have a connection to. Reach out to your former fraternity, the college or graduate program you attended, a club or organization you belonged to and see if there is any motivated young kid that would be interest in sharing a meal or a beer before the game and would attend the game with you. But their ticket and take them with you. The concept is not hard, kids enjoy it and you feel good for giving back. I have found it to really help my professional and personal network.

Just a few thoughts.

Sense of Shame....you are exaggerating your points. Student attendance has been respectable in recent years. And you speak of empty stadium in Detroit for the title games, but the last time Ohio was there, the attendance was right at 50,000.

Even though gone The Rubber Bowl should still get honorable mention, nothing could be that bad.