College football is in the middle of a major upheaval period. Not only is the sport trying to manage NIL collectives in the transfer portal, but conferences are doing whatever is possible to keep viewership and attention high.
Now, everything is leading to a perfect storm where the sport could decide to takeover Friday nights, which have traditionally been dominated by local high school games.
As Manny Soloway of Awful Announcing noted:
Prior to 2020, before streaming services were abundant, scripted programming dominated over-the-air television. The idea of airing sports on weeknights—when these scripted programs were cheaper to produce and often attracted more viewers—would have been laughed out of the room. Even the NFL wasn’t spared from this. It’s part of the reason Fox ended its deal to air Thursday Night Football a year early in 2021.
Now, however, the audience for scripted television is much older, and these days, younger audiences are mainly tuning in live to enjoy sports, now that most scripted television can be enjoyed on their own time thanks to streaming services.
Conferences such as the MAC, Conference USA, and Sun Belt already air games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and the power conferences are moving there as well. As of now, there are typically two Power Four games on Friday nights: the ACC or Big 12 on ESPN, and the Big Ten or Big 12 on FOX.
Friday nights could also help networks such as TNT with the Big 12 and The CW with the ACC and Pac-12 grow their college football audience.
As the fight for visibility continues, Fridays may make the most sense. Fans reacted to this looming reality on social media.
“Keep Friday Nights for High School Football,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“Nobody that actually attends wants this,” someone else added.
Incredible that these median ages are considered young for TV viewership. The sports fan is graying … but apparently not as fast as the typical TV watcher. https://t.co/4oIzBT2zBJ pic.twitter.com/oqSXBWFa4d
— Matt Gajtka (GITE-kah) (@MattGajtka) November 14, 2025
It’ll be interesting to see how college football continues to evolve.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.