America's insatiable appetite for college football is being satisfied now almost on a daily basis with networks broadcasting more games on weeknights. Saturday may still be college football's primary spotlight, but for the last two decades Thursday night has become an accepted alternative, and now Friday -- and even Tuesday and Wednesday -- are regular slots for prime-time telecasts.

Critics cite the trend as an example of out-of-control commercialism in college sports. Others say, though, that the weeknight exposure is good for the smaller schools not regularly televised on Saturday. At any rate, with networks willing to provide the slots and member conferences and institutions willing to fill them, there doesn't seem to be much of a push to put the genie back in the bottle.

There is some debate, however, about who let the genie out.

The cork officially popped when Proposal No. 2000-126 was adopted in April 2001. That legislation eliminated all regulations related to football telecasts and gave conferences the authority to negotiate their own playing dates. The proposal at the time was meant specifically for Friday, but it in effect opened the gates for other weeknights as well.

Proposal No. 2000-126 did not escape debate. Opponents didn't want college games competing against high school contests, which depend largely on gate receipts to generate revenue. Some even called for legislation to reinstate the restriction on televising college games on Friday nights, but the Division I Management Council at its July 2001 meeting did not take action because of potential restraint-of-trade concerns.

The Council released a statement, though, indicating that Fridays "should be reserved for high school football games, and that NCAA institutions should be sensitive to the possible impact that scheduling and/or televising their games on Friday nights would have."

Mike Cleary, executive director of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, was one of the more outspoken opponents. He cautioned in an NCAA News editorial that "while televising Friday night games may help some institutions in the short term, in the long run, the television industry would need to start scheduling the big-name programs to be successful, thereby eliminating the schools that were looking to benefit from this revenue stream in the first place."

Four years later, the debate has shifted from Friday to earlier in the week. In the last two years, Tuesday and Wednesday have entered the football TV lineup, featuring games from leagues that include the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA.

WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said ESPN made Tuesdays and Wednesdays a condition of the contract. The network guaranted the WAC at least nine games, but none was required to be on a Saturday. Benson said that while WAC presidents were reluctant, they understood the reality.

"Our league members recognize the value of the exposure," Benson said. "If you could play every game at 1 o'clock or 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, that obviously is the most preferred time. But we really don't have a choice if we are going to take advantage of the power of ESPN. We're going to have to accept what days and what time they want to televise our contests."

ESPN's family of networks is broadcasting 67 weeknight college football games this season, most of them involving Division I-A teams. That's more than ever before, which may mean that college presidents -- at least those in the participating conferences -- aren't bothered, since they're the ones telling commissioners that it's OK to pursue the deals in the first place.

Benson isn't the only commissioner to acknowledge that for their leagues to gain the exposure, they have to take what networks give them.

"Ultimately, ESPN programs its network," said Mid-American Conference Commissioner Rick Chryst. "They are making the programming decisions. To make that work you need good communication between the two."

Philosophical differences

Conferences and institutions appearing in those telecasts say it allows the kind of exposure normally reserved for high-profile athletics departments, which helps with recruiting efforts and adds dollars to the schools' athletics operating budget.

Critics, though, say playing football games on weeknights hinders student-athlete academic pursuits because of additional missed class time. Weeknight games also inconvenience fans who may not have the same flexibility as on weekends to attend. What opponents find most bothersome, though, is that the principle of playing football games on weeknights contributes to what they say is an over-commercialization of intercollegiate athletics.

The Knight Commission has been perhaps the most outspoken critic. Former commission chair Bill Friday in fact testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection in May 2004, saying, "Institutions have given away too much for television exposure and money. One week during (the 2003) regular season, college football was nationally televised for five consecutive nights -- Tuesday through Saturday. This is not about the students who participate and their needs; rather it's about show business and money."

Current Knight Commission member and University of Georgia President Michael Adams concurs that the entertainment industry has put athletics schedules in direct conflict with academic priorities. He said the Southeastern Conference has tried to resist the trend, but Adams acknowledged there were games played on a Sunday, Monday and Thursday in his league this season.

"Nearly a third of our conference revenue comes from broadcast royalties, and nobody is immune to the pressures of the marketplace," Adams said. "As you know, schedules in baseball, basketball and softball are even more disruptive not only to campus life, but also to the academic life of the student-athletes involved."

Many stakeholders who choose to compete in the weeknight games respect the Knight Commission's reservations, but they say the arguments against the idea are too broad to apply to unique situations.

"It varies from circumstance to circumstance," said Britton Banowsky, commissioner of Conference USA. "For example, at some of our urban universities -- and we have several -- the fans are right there. They typically don't have to drive two hours to get back to campus. If you're at a rural university or a land-grant university in a small town, fans may have to drive (a significant) distance, and it's hard to do that on a weeknight and get back in time to go to work the next morning. In an urban setting, that's really not a problem."

According to Chryst, the MAC doesn't see a negative academic effect on student-athletes, either.

"We lead the country in graduation rates," he said. "Six of our programs this past year had 70 percent (graduation rate) or better. It's about perspective. Our people are comfortable with what we're doing. That's not to say we don't recognize some of the challenges."

Proponents of weeknight games note that provisions are in place to limit the number of times an institution can appear in a weeknight game during a season or over the span of two or three years. They also believe most institutions will agree to the idea sparingly, primarily because of the disruption weeknight games can create for the campus community (parking, logistics, etc.).

The Mountain West Conference has appeared regularly in weeknight telecasts since the league's inception in 1999. MWC teams have appeared in 32 Thursday night games, but the league's presidents are drawing a line about playing earlier in the week.

League Commissioner Craig Thompson said his board was uncomfortable with ESPN asking the MWC to consider playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

"Our presidents said they weren't going to do it. They wanted us to find an alternative," Thompson said.

That alternative ended up being an agreement with College Sports Television (recently purchased by CBS Sports) in which Tuesdays and Wednesdays are not an option.

Thompson said an MWC survey of football fans showed they prefer to attend games on Saturdays during daylight hours. The contract with CSTV still provides for occasional games on Thursday or Friday, but most MWC games will be played on Saturday where fans say they belong.

"We're going to play between noon and 6 p.m. on Saturdays," Thompson said. "Those are the windows. We've played in the past at 10 a.m. because of television, and we've played at 8 p.m. because of television. In the Rocky Mountain states, particularly at night in November, it gets a little chilly."

Student-athlete perspective

Some student-athletes say that playing under the lights and being the only game on television is a scenario they cherish. Even though it takes them out of their normal routine of preparing for a Saturday game, many say making the adjustment is worthwhile.

"Thursday games are a lot more fun," said Boston College junior quarterback Dan Berglund. "It's the only game of the night, it's nationally televised, it's a great atmosphere and you want to be in that situation. You're willing to make a concession, especially if it's just one game out of the schedule."

For their October 27 game at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the Eagles left campus on Wednesday at 3 p.m. and returned by 3 a.m. Friday. Berglund, who is president of Boston College's student-athletic advisory committee, said the only day he missed class was game day.

"The good thing was that I went to class (Friday), and I know a bunch of other players who went, too," said Berglund, who will graduate in December with a finance degree. "They realized they can get up and go to class, knowing that they had Friday night and Saturday off to catch up on sleep."

On a normal Saturday game, Berglund said players have only Monday off before having to report back to practice to prepare for the next opponent.

University of Memphis junior offensive lineman Blake Butler shares Berglund's perspective. Butler's Tigers played a recent Tuesday night game against the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"It was exciting knowing all your friends and family members who live in different parts of the country were going to be able to watch you play," said Butler, who went to high school outside of Cleveland. "You have a chance to have the spotlight on your team so you can go out and represent your school in a positive light for the rest of the nation to see."

Butler, whose father Keith is the linebackers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, missed classes on game day, but he was able to attend class on the days immediately before and after the game.

When compared to most other athletes on campus, Berglund believes his sport is best situated to balance academic and athletics concerns.

"Football is in a unique position," he said. "We're not like basketball that has to play in the middle of the week all the time, which I can't even imagine. For hockey, basketball and baseball, it is their routine. Those players are used to having to miss class. We haven't discussed it much in SAAC, because student-athletes in other sports are more adjusted."

More and more administrators are seeing the midweek games as a non-issue, too. Conference USA's Banowsky said he'd be surprised if the trend slowed.

"With each passing year there is greater acceptance of the games being played midweek," he said. "It's disruptive to the involved institutions only on an occasional basis. No team plays every game on Tuesday night -- they play one or maybe two games a year in midweek. They view the midweek game as an occasional inconvenience, but necessary to ensure a viable television package and necessary to showcase their teams to a national audience."