Football: "Turkey dump" should mean no Thanksgiving weekend games

Just one question: Why doesn't every team play on the Thursday before Thanksgiving?

You see, Thanksgiving weekend is the first long weekend after Labour Day. And it's the first opportunity students have to head home before reading week.

And trust me, the exodus is en masse Friday when classes end, leaving only dedicated locals, staff and road weary family members of football players on hand for a Saturday afternoon football game. -- Greg Layson
It's a legitimate question, both from a competitive and marketing perspective. On the latter count, the announced attendance for the three games played last Saturday in Guelph, Kingston and Waterloo was less than 5,000. That's not to say each school didn't try to get a crowd out -- in Queen's case, 2,100 on Thanksgiving weekend is almost double what they've had some years.

Greg's point is a good one. A team only has four home games, guaranteed. Why should one be a near write-off? Canada West actually took Thanksgiving weekend off entirely during the brief period when it had six teams, before Simon Fraser's addition to the league result in having to stagger each team's bye week.

Related:
Football fumbled by OUA (Greg Layson, Guelph Mercury, Oct. 15)
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2 comments:

  1. Totally agree. Playing CIS football on a weekend when next to no students are around doesn't make a lot of sense in my mind. It would make it a lot easier for us student journalists to cover the games if we're around as well...

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  2. @ andrew bucholtz

    So you're trying to tell me you have to be at an event to cover it? I don't buy that at all.

    Sincerely,

    Mitch Albom
    (or Tim in London)

    P.S. Hope I spelled his name right given the shot I just took.

    ReplyDelete