As Fox Sports reportedly plans to expand its college football broadcast schedule to include high-profile games on Friday nights this fall, the decision to host games on a night traditionally dedicated to high school football has sparked concern and opposition from the National Federation of State High School Associations which urges broadcasters to refrain.
The shift will likely feature leading teams from the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences, with the Big Ten expecting to schedule at least nine Friday night games on Fox networks in 2024, a notable increase from the previous year.
Several Big Ten teams, including Ohio State, Penn State, and Iowa, have shown reluctance or outright refusal to host home games on Fridays, citing logistical challenges and a desire not to compete with high school football traditions.
Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti has emphasized the move as a significant boost in national exposure for the conference’s Friday night games. On the other hand, former Indiana University coach Tom Allen and Austin Westlake High School football coach Tony Salazar have both voiced strong opinions on preserving Friday nights for high school games.
NFHS CEO Dr. Karissa Niehoff said, “High schools should not have to compete with colleges for that revered and time-honored space of Friday night. In the past, some high schools have had to move games to earlier in the day or to other days of the week to accommodate conflicts with colleges playing on Friday nights. This should NEVER be the case.”
“Instead of flooding every day of the week with college football games, we urge the major conferences and TV networks to leave Friday nights alone, because in the fall, those nights should be spent in the stands, not on the couch.”
The NFHS has previously adopted a resolution urging college and professional teams to avoid scheduling Friday night contests, highlighting the importance of preserving high school football’s place in the community.
Media protection of high school sports is nothing new. Since 1961, federal law has prohibited NFL broadcasts after 6p on Fridays and all day Saturdays until mid-December to protect high school and college football attendance, following Congress granting the NFL an antitrust exemption for broadcast rights.
There has been a thawing on those ideas in recent years, most notably with Amazon Prime’s Black Friday afternoon game which circumvented the law by having a 3p kickoff and by being on a streaming-only platform.
As discussions around the new broadcast schedule continue, the debate underscores the value placed on high school football across the country and the potential consequences of shifting collegiate games to compete for attention on Friday nights.
