On Moving the Iron Bowl

…but there IS a contract in place. SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said “CBS has the first two TV picks for Thanksgiving weekend under a 15-year contract extension signed last August.”

On a personal note, I hope the game is inconvenient for some Barners now and it’ll be easier for me to get tickets.

I’m not so sure I buy the “damaging to Alabama’s economy” thing. It’s not like moving the Iron Bowl to black friday means that fans of the two teams are going to need to do less Christmas shopping. It just means they’ll be doing it on a different day.

…I have no problem with it whatsoever.

- fans that will have to adjust their Thanksgiving travel plans
it’s one day. and peoples families around here tend to be close enough that one day won’t make a difference. or they can re-arrange where they spend thanksgiving.

- people who aren’t fortunate enough to be able to take that day off to watch the game
College Football doesn’t care about when people can take off work anymore. Hence all of the new Tuesday through Sunday broadcasting. It’s April – if people want the day off, go ahead and request it NOW.

- the state of Alabama’s economy
Ok, so everyone will go shopping on Saturday now instead of Friday.

- players who will now likely be forced to miss out on Thanksgiving with their families.
players don’t get to leave to go home for thanksgiving even if the game was on saturday. this doesn’t make a difference.

Sorry, Todd. I’m gonna have to agree that this is a good move. There’s nothing better than beating the dog-piss out of Auburn, at their place, with a full national audience when there is no other games on. Not to mention the fact that it will give the guys one more day to start focusing on the SEC Championship game. This is a win-win for the program.

that the worst part is that Auburn has a bye week before the game and we don’t so we lost a day of practice.

you Todd. But let me tell you who it hurts the most, THE STUDENTS. (Players probably don’t get to go home anyway.) Isn’t college football somewhat about the kids that actually go to that college? My daughter is at UA and we live out of state. She doesn’t get Auburn tickets this year so it is not going to hurt her this year. But in 2010 she will not be able to come home for Thanksgiving. She will have to stay at school because she would need to leave at noon on Thanksgiving to get back for a game on Friday, especially an afternoon game.

The reason why this is so big is that for and many students Thanksgiving is about the only time they come home all fall.

Alabama vs. Auburn will always have good ratings. We don’t need to move it to get ratings. We don’t need it for exposure and when you talk about $500,000 extra profit that is about $6 a ticket. I say raise the tickets $6 and tell CBS they can meet us on Sat. if they want.

How do we get into a contract where networks tell schools what they can do? It stinks. (and Auburn does have the advantage in that we will not have a full week to get ready)

Horrible for the people of Alabama, those who HAVE to work. (and some have no choice, due to the nature of their jobs.) Horrible for the players, who can’t spend Thanksgiving with their families.

Also, this is just more evidence that football in the SEC isn’t amateur athletics. The University of Alabama is at the mercy of the best interests of CBS, not the best interests of the students who attend or the taxpayers who fund the university. And to some extent, why not, CBS paid a LOT of money for the right to do so. Its just weird the players don’t see part of this financial windfall. And yes, they get a scholarship, but CBS, ESPN, the SEC, the Athletic Department, Nike and various other sponsors are exchanging Billions of dollars here off the sweat of “amateur” athletes.

a little surprised by your stance on this one Todd. I, like you, shrugged by shoulders when I first read the news on Friday. Not once did I feel sorry for the “little people” who may miss out on the game solely due to it being moved back a day. But you know what? If people are real fans, than they’ll make due. They’ll adjust their schedules or whatever they have to do to see the game. It’s what fans do. I know this because when I got married in 2007 I reserved the place before the football schedules came out. And guess what? Yep, I set the date on Iron Bowl Saturday. I had already put down a cash deposit on the site, catering etc… for THAT day. Of course this sent me scrambling. I had also booked our honeymoon based on that date as well. Everything had to be changed. After some negotiating and thankfully some understanding people whom I’d given money to months earlier, I was able to move the date back to the Friday after Thanksgiving. I am not a season ticket holder or an alumnus of UA so I guess you could lump me in with the ‘regular folk’ you are sticking up for. The point is, if you are a fan, you’ll make the necessary arrangements. I just don’t see it as that big of a deal. And I also disagree with your assumption that UA has the ‘power’ to change or leverage a TV contract. As far as I know, on the federal gov’t has the power to null a contract (AIG, oh and zing!).

And don’t get too romantical over propping up the ‘average’ fan. UA football is primarily supported by TV and ticket revs as well as alumni with deep and generous pockets. Yes our support counts but lets not kid ourselves, this isn’t a democracy.

This is just another illustration that the University and its decision makers could really care less about its fans…they know we will watch regardless so why care what it means to us. And I say this while this move will not affect me at all.

P.S. what sux even worse is its a 1:30 kick off…that just took away alot pre-party festivities…who the hell wants a 1:30 iron bowl kick-off??? What, are we Ohio St. all of the sudden? In the words of Roy D. Mercer…“somebody needs to have an a*s whoopin’ for this I guarantee”.

I never thought I’d see someone on this site or in this university care about the students. Everyone gets so caught up in worrying about the well being of the talent on the field on Saturdays (Fridays) that they forget this campus is made up of students.
 I feel bad for the fans of this team because we are treated so badly by the university. Our interests are constantly being ignored, we are consistently being price gouged, and I haven’t found a single person who cares enough about the common fan to do anything about it.
But, no one takes it as hard as the students. You may not think about us everyday like you would a new recruit or the quarterback race, but maybe you should. Some of us bust our asses trying to impress this establishment and it’s obviously not working. I’m not going to make a list of all of the things the university is doing to accost its most repeat of customers because I love this place. I love it with every bit of passion that you love going to Bryant-Denny Stadium and sitting in the sun and cheering for the Crimson and White. But I will tell you this: it’s not pretty. So thank you 5026 and Bobby Briggs for the brief, and I’m sure short lived, mention of the lowly Alabama student. I appreciate the consideration.

…that the change was announced AFTER student ticket sales? I wonder how many upper classman would have skipped buying the ticket because of the day and time slot?

it has its pros and cons just like every other decision does!! we will just have to wait and see what happens!

certainly don’t begrudge people’s objection to the move. I’m just a bid taken aback by the fact that so many of you seem shocked to find out that sports is governed by the laws of economics.

They just need to look to Espn to see what high definition is supposed to look like. Their picture quality thru satellite is terrible. The other problem is the broadcasting of Verne with his inaccuracies and mis-speakings. Will he ever retire?
As far as moving the Iron Bowl to Friday, we just need to call Obama and have him declare Nov. 27 a holiday…but isn’t it already a holiday?

matter if the game was on a Monday the tix would sale, And from what I’ve read about this, The schools didn’t have much say it what happended, It’s said that this was all on the SEC and CBS, And personally I love ESPN’s coverage mainly because of the night games, CBS has games that play into the night rather than start at night, And yes ESPN has better HD.