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Mark Ferguson's avatar

When noon eastern games started becoming popular (gulp) three plus decades ago I recall being on a Big East message board where there were many unhappy that the conference was encroaching on high school football.

Did not know until then that Saturday morning high school football was a thing in some places

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Football Archaeology's avatar

My impression is that Saturday football was more common among urban parochial schools that did not always have their own football fields.

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Mark Ferguson's avatar

That would fit the fan base of the old Big East, at least the northern segment.

I was working for the Sun Belt and Commissioner Waters and I were talking about the early broadcast window. I mentioned the Big East fans objecting and he replied in the SEC the problem was it cut tailgating short and only had time for one pitcher of Blood Marys.

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Jon Crowley's avatar

Very accurate and well-researched! Question: is it true that the 5.5 day workweek (which was a largely in place before WWII) was a contributing factor to college games being played on Saturday afternoons rather than earlier times on Saturday? My Dad told me that when I was a kid…

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Football Archaeology's avatar

I wrote about the issue in September:https://www.footballarchaeology.com/p/todays-tidbit-the-house-of-the-setting

Whether transportation issues, working hours, or farm chores were the issues depended o where you lived, but each played a part.

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