NFHS Voice: Fall Fridays for HS Football
October 28, 2019
By Karissa Niehoff
NFHS Executive Director
Some of the top football matchups featuring Ohio teams Friday, Oct. 18, were Mentor vs. Shaker Heights, Cleveland St. Ignatius vs. Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller, Cincinnati St. Xavier vs. Massillon Washington and Northwestern vs. Ohio State.
That’s correct, Northwestern University vs. Ohio State University, on Friday night. While the game was in Evanston, Illinois, and not Columbus, it was televised on the Big Ten Network. Ohio State, one of the nation’s top-ranked college teams with one of the strongest fan bases, played on Friday night in direct competition with the several hundred high school games across the state.
And that wasn’t the only college football game on Friday night. There were three other FBS (I-A) matchups, including an Atlantic Coast Conference game between Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Through the first eight weeks of the season, there have been about 25 major college football games on Friday night.
A number of high schools in Ohio moved their games earlier in the hope of finishing before the start of the Ohio State-Northwestern game. Others moved their games to Thursday or Saturday. At least one school – Ursuline Academy in greater Cincinnati – urged its fans to not watch the Ohio State game:
“Please make a statement to Ohio State by NOT watching their Friday night game this week. Friday nights are for HS football. Let’s keep it that way. Support your local team. We play Boardman, and would love to have you in our stands, but that’s not the point. Support HS football.”
High schools should not have to adjust their schedules to accommodate colleges playing on Friday nights. High school coaches, administrators and fans are opposed to colleges playing on Friday nights. The NFHS and its member state associations are opposed. Even leaders in the Ohio State administration did not initially support the idea of the Buckeyes playing on Friday night. Friday nights are for high school football and should remain that way.
Two years ago, the NFHS membership adopted the following resolution:
“Be it RESOLVED that every Friday night during the fall in America is ‘High School Football Night.’
“Be it FURTHER RESOLVED that college and professional football teams should refrain from scheduling contests on Friday nights. Such restraint would be an investment in their own future success. It would also demonstrate that high school football has value well beyond the field of play. Schools, communities and scholastic teams for girls and boys all benefit when football is strong.
“THEREFORE, the National Federation of State High School Associations urges all parties to observe the central premise of this resolution.”
In addition to the Big Ten Conference, teams in the Pac-12, Mountain West, Atlantic Coast and American conferences, as well as Conference USA, have played on Friday nights. When these current television contracts expire, it is the desire of everyone within the high school community that new deals would preserve Friday nights for high school football.
Friday nights offer communities a traditional time and place to congregate and support their students. As was the case last week in Ohio, a college game on Friday night impacts interest and attendance at high school games.
Let’s maintain Friday nights in the fall for high school football. It is a win-win for everyone.
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff is in her second year as executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the first female to head the national leadership organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities and the sixth full-time executive director of the NFHS, which celebrated its 100th year of service during the 2018-19 school year. She previously was executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference for seven years.
Football's Status
June 16, 2017
Football has enjoyed a status within our schools that is unmatched by any other sport.
It attracts more participants than any other interscholastic sport.
Unlike many other sports (think especially of ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer), football began in the high school setting and was not imported from community programs.
And until the past decade, football has not had to cope with out-of-season programs run by non-school groups and commercial entities that are so troublesome – think especially of basketball, ice hockey, soccer and volleyball, but really all sports except football, until recent years.
The growth of 7-on-7 passing leagues and tournaments is the most obvious concern as commercial interests move in to profit from a mostly unregulated summer environment, as began to occur in basketball 30 years ago and has spread to many other sports since.
The Olympic movement has fueled some of this as national governing bodies have engineered programs for younger athletes in efforts to increase medal counts on which the U.S. Olympic Committee bases funding.
The quixotic pursuit of college scholarships is another powerful stimulant; and while the NCAA could have banned its coaches from recruiting away from school venues, it has not done so; and non-school entities have begun to tailor their events toward convenient although costly recruiting venues.
We can expect these events to spread like an invasive species through football unless, learning from the past, the NCAA makes these events off-limits to its coaches, and/or organizations like ours across the country will not only regulate but also conduct programs during the summer.