OU football: No games on Sundays
Back in the 1980s, during the two work stoppages of the NFL, there was much talk about college football being played on Sundays. Never really went much of anywhere. We missed one week of pro games in 1987 and seven weeks of games in 1982, but college football never tried to fill void.
But now 24 years later, things have changed. Schools do a lot more to accommodate television than they did a quarter century ago. Starting times as late as 9 p.m. Games on Thursday nights. Friday nights. Tuesday night. Wednesday nights. Heck, Sunday nights.
So anything is possible. But games being moved to Sundays aren’t likely for most traditional powers and aren’t going to happen at OU. Bob Stoops, who usually defers all those kinds of questions to his administration, didn’t even hesitate the other day when asked if OU might consider playing on Sundays to fill the void.
“I doubt we’d do that,” Stoops said with an assurance in his voice that meant there was no doubt about it. Stoops referred to fans having booked hotel rooms and set schedules and everything else that goes around a college game on campus. “I wouldn’t think we’d do a whole bunch of that.”
Sunday football, with the NFL dark, would be a boon to the college game. A big college game played on a Sunday night in September — pick one, I don’t care; OU-Florida State, OSU-Texas A&M, Georgia-Boise State — would be a huge ratings grabber.
Of course, such scheduling would be problematic. The NFL labor issue could be settled at anytime in September, and the games would start quickly. If in mid-August the OSU-A&M game was moved back a day, from Sept. 24 to Sept. 25, then the NFL settled its labor dispute the first week or two of September, it’s very likely the NFL would be playing ballgames Sept. 25.
So college football on Sundays is not likely to happen, except for the occasional Conference USA game.
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