Yawns, it’s been scientifically proven, are contagious. So perhaps what coach Chris Petersen saw from the sideline of his University of Washington football team’s games early in the 2017 season was a series of gaping mouths circling the stadium. Like the wave, but with less energy.
Whatever lethargy he saw, be it in the fans or his players, Petersen saw it fit to apologize for how late Huskies games began. Midway through the season, the team hadn’t played a single game before 5 p.m. with some beginning at 7:30 or later. He called these late start times “painful.”
So what does that make an 8 p.m. kickoff? In Utah, some would say ... perfect.
The combination of a TV contract that mandates Pac-12 teams play in the late Saturday slot and the emergence of the Utes as a power player in the conference as well as nationally has led to one thing: A string of Utes games that start long after the sun has sunk behind the Oquirrhs. Yet while these post-bedtime pursuits were abhorred by most involved as recently as five years ago, they are starting to find favor — with fans at least.
“It’s a different atmosphere, and I really think that Rice-Eccles is awesome at night. It’s a completely different atmosphere and it’s just fun,” said Utes season-ticket-holder Roz Jensen of South Jordan. “It feels louder. It feels like there’s more people there for some reason. And it may be that there are actually more people.”
Jensen, it seems, is part of a new wave of Utes fans who now prefer their football after dark.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A night game versus Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019.
That’s an about-face from just a few years ago. An “unscientific poll” reported in a 2017 Tribune article written shortly after Petersen’s apology showed fans were split between liking early games vs. late ones. An equally informal poll of fans this season showed much stronger support for night games
In addition to the electricity that naturally accompanies after-dark activities, Jensen said the tailgating is better. But she also has more practical reasons for preferring the late games. As a single parent of two active kids, ages 12 and 14, the later games fit better with her schedule. Almost all of her kids’ competitions are played on Saturdays. So when the Utes play at night, she doesn’t have to choose between watching her children’s matches or her alma mater.
This season she has had to give away her tickets for both of the Utes afternoon games — against Southern Utah and Oregon State — because of conflicts.
“Anything before 2 p.m.,” she said, “it’s not going to happen.”
She’s safe for now. This week is a road game with an 8 p.m. start Thursday at Washington State. The final four games of the regular season are TBD. Just a few years back, though, afternoon conflicts would have cost Jensen at least half her tickets.
Back when Utah played in the Mountain West Conference, from 1999-2010, a 6 p.m. kickoff was about as late as a fan could expect. A year after the Utes joined the Pac-12, however, then-commissioner Larry Scott entered into a TV deal with ESPN and FOX that will require the conference to provide matchups for the networks’ late Saturday slots until at least 2024. What few saw coming, though, is that window would quickly become a factory for upsets. From 2014 to 2019, according to Athlon Sports, an average of nearly six teams per season lost to lower-ranked squads in games played after 6:30 p.m. Eastern time.
In October 2014, following USC’s upset of No. 10 Arizona in a 10:30 p.m. EST slot, the phenomena earned a name: #Pac12AfterDark. Over the next two years, it would be tweeted 56,000 times.
Scott touted the TV deal he brokered for bringing the league both money and national exposure. Within the first five years, night games drew an audience that was on average 12% larger than the audiences for day games, he said. Yet, criticism rained down from fans and coaches alike.
“It hurts us tremendously in terms of national exposure,” Petersen said in his 2017 apology to fans. “No one wants to watch our game on the East Coast that late, and we all know it.”
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham agreed with his Washington counterpart.
“Nothing you can do about it,” he said in 2017. “That’s why I’ve never really addressed it or made a big deal about it. … One thing I can say is we’re used to it.”
Now the Utes are practically experts. Since the start of the 2021 season, they have played six games after 8 p.m. In the three seasons before that, they played seven.
Through Scott’s eyes, the late games were to be a reward for playing well. For a few hours, just a couple of Pac-12 teams would have the nation’s attention all to themselves. That is, if fans could keep from dozing off after a full day of college football and perhaps a few frosty beverages. The #Pac12AfterDark games have become such a phenomenon that they have even been floated as the vessels that will potentially save the conference from collapse once USC and UCLA jump ship for the Big 10 in 2024.
Whittingham’s opinion on them, however, hasn’t changed. He seems torn in choosing what he likes least about them. Is it waiting around all day in a hotel room for game time or getting home in the wee hours of the morning, especially from road games? And that’s not the out-of-touch take of a 62-year-old. He said he also felt that way as a player and his players echoed similar sentiments.
“I like waking up and just hitting the ground running, let’s start playing football,” said sophomore receiver Devaughn Vele. “I feel like when we have the night games, you’re sitting there, you’re thinking about the game for so long, maybe you start overthinking. Or who knows, maybe you’re not thinking enough about it.
“There’s a lot of factors, but personally, I prefer day games.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Some fans and football players still prefer day games, like the scenes at this one in September.
Not all Utes fans are on Team Late Night either. Some, like Mike Murry, an offensive lineman for the Utes from 1986-1990, still stand staunchly behind day games — especially once the weather turns cold.
“Even on the best, the best of nights, you’re still freezing cold,” said Murry, 54, of Sandy. “And all for what, right? It’s all about just being able to put more games [on TV].”
Murry said he thought it would be difficult to find a Utah fan who actually likes the late games. Apparently, he hasn’t met Jensen and her crew. She said they all prefer their football after dark, because at least that means they’ll get to see it.
“I mean,” she said, “I have yet to attend one that was so bad that I wish I wasn’t there.”
And even after a full day, she’s bringing the energy. Don’t bother asking the self-described night owl about yawns. If her mouth is open, it’s because she’s giving the Utes her full-throated support.
Tribune reporter Joshua Newman contributed to this article.
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