Kickoff Time Question

-Painted Fan- · April 12, 2007, 10:26:13 pm

Why do the larger school football games start at 7:00, while the smaller classifications are at 7:30?

Miner Nation · April 12, 2007, 11:09:58 pm

Good question. Bauxite's non-conference games begin at 7:30 but the conference games begin at 7:00. I don't know the logic behind all of that.

not ray · April 13, 2007, 10:24:12 am

The travel question and 30 minutes is ridiculous. Now that there are so few schools they are traveling a very short distance. Especially, the 7A west.

Richard Hayden · April 13, 2007, 02:02:15 pm

It was a rule change took keep the passing game shootouts from lasting unit 11 o'clock or later. I know back in the Peacock days at Greenwood, it was nothing for the third quarter to start at round 9 p.m.
I wish everyone went to the 7 p.m. start times, even the smaller schools. I've got friends in the newpaper and television business and it makes their jobs a lot easier when games end at 9:30 rather than 10:30 or 11.
Plus, it allows the schools to get more coverage and better coverage if the writers and TV folks are in such a hurry to make their deadlines, which are often at 10:30 p.m. at the latest

not ray · April 14, 2007, 11:03:36 am

Then they need to start the games at 6. Thirty minutes is just not that much time. Now days things are instant with internet access as far as the paper is concerned. I have been around the Lunney teams for years and they never failed to have good coverage of them the day after. Honestly, I could not care less, but what they have to do is get a time and stick with it. Coaches are creatures of habit and do not like the time being moved around year to year.

Rulesman · April 14, 2007, 02:53:05 pm

You can start placing blame with the National Federation Football Rules Committee. The rule change which starts the game clock on the snap (rather than on the ready for play) following a change of possession, added some 15 minutes to the length of a typical high school football game. That, coupled with more and more teams employing pass-happy offenses, gives you high school football games that now regularly last well over 2 1/2 hours, sometimes approaching 2:45, or more.

While travel is always an issue in some areas, pressure from the media to get the games over with before 10:00 is the real reason many of the larger conferences now start their games at 7:00. This includes print media so they can meet their press deadlines.

I know first-hand even some coaches, athletic directors and principals within given conferences (and individual schools) can't agree on a standard time, so they aren't blameless, either.