They really shouldn't have to play more than 1 home game mid-week. Having only 5 home games isn't uncommon.

(08-21-2018 03:36 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  ^ Because of the rules. ‘99 Marshall (10th) and ‘03 Miami-OH (10th) had the ranking. They just didn’t have the rulebook.

Thats why I said since then. MACtion got them eyeballs that wouldn't usually watch those games if they were on a bloated sat afternoon TV schedule. MACtion helped NIU and WMU get into their big time bowls. Folks who vote in polls now have the chance to see how MAC teams look.

24 games is to much
1 game yr would be nolvity
schools real close might work during the wk, espeically warm weather

I like weeknight MACtion, but there are drawbacks in the execution. The conference tends to schedule a lot of rivalry games on November Tuesday nights, it probably reduces as much 10K butts in the seats versus an early October Saturday afternoon (depending on the host and weather). MAC rivalry games probably don't boost TV ratings that much since there really isn't much of a difference the general public sees between BG-Toledo and BG-Buffalo. We'd be better served by highlighting secondary rivalry games (e.g. Miami-Ball State) and non-rivalry matchups of solid programs (e.g. NIU-Ohio) on weeknights.

The second drawback is where the games are shown. Most weeks they're on ESPN2 or ESPNU, but a fair amount are only on ESPN3 and that's unacceptable. Either put them on Saturday or space them so that every game gets some kind of national distribution, and try avoid Thursday and Friday to steer clear of the NFL and high school competition.

Every now and then when the MAC has a nationally ranked team that's competing for a big time bowl, the stars align and the team/conference look great. When Miami hosted BG and Marshall on weeknights in 2003 we drew over 28 and 26K butts in the seats, it looked amazing. WMU's last home game in the Cotton Bowl season was in front of 24K against Toledo on Black Friday. Stuff like that really boosts our profile.

I'll probably go to the Miami-NIU game in Dekalb this November unless the weather is garbage, we only play them there every so often. But I'm a glutton for punishment, can get out of work early if necessary, and work in the west suburbs not terribly far away, it's a lot different for Joe NIU Alum who works downtown until 5 PM every day.

(08-21-2018 11:30 AM)Fthechips Wrote:  

(08-21-2018 10:06 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  The MAC has 12 schools.

These are the non-weekend (Monday through Thursday) conference games scheduled per school:

Akron: H
Ball St: AAHA
Bowling Green St: H
Buffalo: HHA
Central Michigan: N/A
Eastern Michigan: N/A
Kent St: AAH
Miami OH: AHAH
Northern Illinois: AHHA
Ohio: HAAH
Toledo: AHAA
Western Michigan: HHAH

If MACtion could catch on, I'd recommend one home and one away game for each school with one game played per week saving rivalries for Saturdays. I'd even say MACtion games should be cross-division games.

Mildly unrelated, it would be better for the MAC to drop schools in favor of more competitive programs if those schools would even be willing to join the MAC. Better programs may eliminate the need for midweek MACtion.

Could not agree more. The MAC should thin itself out, starting with EMU and Kent St.

Kent State was a game away from the Orange Bowl and you want to get rid of them? C’mon man!

Most MAC teams just need to schedule around when Ohio State or Michigan play and they’ll be fine.

To answer the original question, I don’t think schools should sacrifice too many Saturday tailgate games for MACtion, although it is a great concept because it showcases some pretty good football teams during the week.

Kent State in the Orange Bowl would’ve been the craziest and most unlikely major bowl placement of all time. They should’ve hired Darrell Hazell back in a heartbeat. That program could exist for 200 years and no one might ever do what he did.

MACtion is one of THE most douche-chilling tag lines ever invented.

Umass is no great shakes but I am really glad we got out of that.

(08-21-2018 09:33 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(08-21-2018 11:30 AM)Fthechips Wrote:  

(08-21-2018 10:06 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  The MAC has 12 schools.

These are the non-weekend (Monday through Thursday) conference games scheduled per school:

Akron: H
Ball St: AAHA
Bowling Green St: H
Buffalo: HHA
Central Michigan: N/A
Eastern Michigan: N/A
Kent St: AAH
Miami OH: AHAH
Northern Illinois: AHHA
Ohio: HAAH
Toledo: AHAA
Western Michigan: HHAH

If MACtion could catch on, I'd recommend one home and one away game for each school with one game played per week saving rivalries for Saturdays. I'd even say MACtion games should be cross-division games.

Mildly unrelated, it would be better for the MAC to drop schools in favor of more competitive programs if those schools would even be willing to join the MAC. Better programs may eliminate the need for midweek MACtion.

Could not agree more. The MAC should thin itself out, starting with EMU and Kent St.

Kent State was a game away from the Orange Bowl and you want to get rid of them? C’mon man!

But they didn’t get to the orange bowl and they are historically one of if not the worst college football program in history.

(08-22-2018 07:27 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  MACtion is one of THE most douche-chilling tag lines ever invented.

Umass is no great shakes but I am really glad we got out of that.

I thought they should have gotten the WAC involved. Its MACky, Its WACky. Its Mid-Week football.

(08-21-2018 08:13 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  I like weeknight MACtion, but there are drawbacks in the execution. The conference tends to schedule a lot of rivalry games on November Tuesday nights, it probably reduces as much 10K butts in the seats versus an early October Saturday afternoon (depending on the host and weather). MAC rivalry games probably don't boost TV ratings that much since there really isn't much of a difference the general public sees between BG-Toledo and BG-Buffalo. We'd be better served by highlighting secondary rivalry games (e.g. Miami-Ball State) and non-rivalry matchups of solid programs (e.g. NIU-Ohio) on weeknights.

The second drawback is where the games are shown. Most weeks they're on ESPN2 or ESPNU, but a fair amount are only on ESPN3 and that's unacceptable. Either put them on Saturday or space them so that every game gets some kind of national distribution, and try avoid Thursday and Friday to steer clear of the NFL and high school competition.

Well said.

I love to watch these games as an outside fan. If I were a fan of one of these schools...that's a whole other story.

A few years ago, I was working on a project in Toledo, and went to the Toledo-BG game at the Glass Bowl with a group of co-workers. These are archrivals, but the game was played on a Wednesday night in November with a 0 degree wind chill. There was a decent crowd, but would have been better attended on a Saturday earlier in the year. We left at halftime. The MAC did the right thing last year by moving the game back to a Saturday in October.

These games are fine as long as there are fewer of them, and archrivals aren't playing. Play the rivalry games on Saturdays when they can draw a bigger crowd. Schedule the marquee teams on Wednesday nights in November, but don't schedule more than 1 home game per team on a weeknight. And, don't move games to weeknights only to show them on ESPN3. If you're going to show them only online, you may as well play on Saturday. Limit the weeknight games to ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU. Seize the exposure, but don't put your schools' gate at even further risk by moving all November games to Tuesday or Wednesday night.

(08-22-2018 02:04 PM)johnintx Wrote:  

(08-21-2018 08:13 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  I like weeknight MACtion, but there are drawbacks in the execution. The conference tends to schedule a lot of rivalry games on November Tuesday nights, it probably reduces as much 10K butts in the seats versus an early October Saturday afternoon (depending on the host and weather). MAC rivalry games probably don't boost TV ratings that much since there really isn't much of a difference the general public sees between BG-Toledo and BG-Buffalo. We'd be better served by highlighting secondary rivalry games (e.g. Miami-Ball State) and non-rivalry matchups of solid programs (e.g. NIU-Ohio) on weeknights.

The second drawback is where the games are shown. Most weeks they're on ESPN2 or ESPNU, but a fair amount are only on ESPN3 and that's unacceptable. Either put them on Saturday or space them so that every game gets some kind of national distribution, and try avoid Thursday and Friday to steer clear of the NFL and high school competition.

Well said.

I love to watch these games as an outside fan. If I were a fan of one of these schools...that's a whole other story.

A few years ago, I was working on a project in Toledo, and went to the Toledo-BG game at the Glass Bowl with a group of co-workers. These are archrivals, but the game was played on a Wednesday night in November with a 0 degree wind chill. There was a decent crowd, but would have been better attended on a Saturday earlier in the year. We left at halftime. The MAC did the right thing last year by moving the game back to a Saturday in October.

These games are fine as long as there are fewer of them, and archrivals aren't playing. Play the rivalry games on Saturdays when they can draw a bigger crowd. Schedule the marquee teams on Wednesday nights in November, but don't schedule more than 1 home game per team on a weeknight. And, don't move games to weeknights only to show them on ESPN3. If you're going to show them only online, you may as well play on Saturday. Limit the weeknight games to ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU. Seize the exposure, but don't put your schools' gate at even further risk by moving all November games to Tuesday or Wednesday night.

Couldn't agree more.

(08-22-2018 02:04 PM)johnintx Wrote:  These games are fine as long as there are fewer of them, and archrivals aren't playing. Play the rivalry games on Saturdays when they can draw a bigger crowd. Schedule the marquee teams on Wednesday nights in November, but don't schedule more than 1 home game per team on a weeknight. And, don't move games to weeknights only to show them on ESPN3. If you're going to show them only online, you may as well play on Saturday. Limit the weeknight games to ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU. Seize the exposure, but don't put your schools' gate at even further risk by moving all November games to Tuesday or Wednesday night.

I don't disagree with any of this, but the MAC decided to sell its soul to ESPN and is now reaping what it has sown, both positive and negative.

I don't think ESPN cares whatsoever about what the MAC and its member schools want, but if I had one recommendation to add, I think each MAC school should be able to pick one game that it gets to guarantee will be a late September or October game on a Saturday (NOT a MACtion game). If, say, WMU and CMU both pick each other, that's fine; both schools would be cool with it.

A school like Toledo would have an interesting choice to make under this scenario. Do you MACtion-protect your longtime rivalry game (BG) or the game that's usually been the most important game over the past decade (NIU)? It probably wouldn't matter since NIU would almost certainly MACtion-protect the Toledo game and, therefore, both games for Toledo would be MACtion-protected.

My thought is if the MAC is getting 800k for it while CUSA is getting 500k for a CBS that at least at this point it could get on TV without the Midweek.

Back in 2008 when the MAC was down and out following Marshall leaving the MAC moving to midweek and adding Temple seemed like hope for growth. Then as you go into the early realignment era 2010 to 2012 that was a lot of uncertainty. In retrospect midweek football seemed like a great choice plus they were subsidizing a broadcast equipment upgrade as part of the deal.

With the maturation of streaming services perhaps there is more money in the future for streaming over a linear deal with ESPN when it comes to MAC football.

If there's a high scoring game with no defense I may stop and watch. It may sound weird but the lack of people in the stadium makes it hard to hold my attention. C-USA has the same problem, I have a hard time watching games in empty stadiums. If it directly affects Marshall then I can watch though.

Few thoughts.

I don't understand G5 leagues scheduling rivalry games in November, especially post-Thanksgiving. Attendance is too linked to success and half the teams are going to have a poor record and diminished interest. Playing in October makes more sense. Combine the rivalry passion with the not yet dashed dreams for the season and get a bigger crowd.

MAC made a choice. I think they understood the trade-off and took it. My personal experience with AState's scheduling has been one weeknight game at home isn't a bad thing. It's the second one that sort of sucks the fun out of it. But I LOVE weeknight road games. I can come home from work have supper and settle in to watch the game and I get a free Saturday out of the deal.

The timing of the MAC games is the real pain. Late season it can be uncomfortably cold in Arkansas so I can't imagine having similar temps earlier in the year and having the game at night isn't a fun combination. Been a few times for late season day games that I've abandoned my seats and crashed the other side of the stadium to sit in the sun. Ain't no sunshine for late season MACtion.

(08-21-2018 09:17 AM)Fthechips Wrote:  Is it good for the MAC? We all know it kills attendance, but it does give national exposure and is potentially a decent recruiting tool.

There are only so many D1 football schollies out there. I think being slotted too many Wed and Tues night games would hurt recruiting. Last year the MAC has 0 Saturday November conference games. That totally sucks for a fan base.

(08-23-2018 11:47 AM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(08-21-2018 09:17 AM)Fthechips Wrote:  Is it good for the MAC? We all know it kills attendance, but it does give national exposure and is potentially a decent recruiting tool.

Last year the MAC has 0 Saturday conference games.

huhhh?

It needs scaled back. One home and one away weeknight game per team. Let ESPN mix in C-USA and SBC games on weeknights if that's not enough content for them.

(08-23-2018 12:02 PM)Fthechips Wrote:  

(08-23-2018 11:47 AM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(08-21-2018 09:17 AM)Fthechips Wrote:  Is it good for the MAC? We all know it kills attendance, but it does give national exposure and is potentially a decent recruiting tool.

Last year the MAC has 0 Saturday conference games.

huhhh?

My bad, in November!!!!!!!!!!!