Early last week, the American Athletic Conference (AAC) announced that the game between Memphis and Charlotte on October 26th in the Simmons Bank Liberty Bowl will occur at 11 a.m.
An 11 a.m. kickoff is fine. It's standard, as this is Memphis’ third early matinee kickoff of the year.
However, the weekend of October 26th is homecoming for all Memphis Tigers, including me, a freshman journalism student.
Sam McCormick, a junior sports journalism major at Memphis and head sports editor for The Daily Helmsman, says, “In a season with stadium construction ongoing, conference realignment rumors falling through, and a team that has not lived up to expectations putting homecoming at 11 a.m. seems incredibly cruel to fans and students.”
Devin LaTulippe, a sophomore sports journalism major at Memphis and Rivals staff writer, says, “Homecoming has pageantry that you can only get from a night game. It needs to set itself apart from a typical 11 a.m. kickoff. This could include a stripe out or a blue out, something of that nature. When you have a homecoming game at 11 a.m., it devalues the atmosphere created and doesn’t set the game apart enough.”
One critical part of a homecoming football game is the students who attend. However, the AAC does not seem to understand what college students do on Friday night during homecoming weekend.
I would love to be wrong, but I expect student and overall attendance to suffer.
Memphis’ only other home 11 a.m. game was against Troy, where the Tigers had a visibly barren student section.
For context, the Memphis Grizzlies' home opener is also on the 26th at 7 p.m., meaning there is no perfect answer for the Tigers.
Why not make Memphis vs Charlotte a 2:30 p.m. kickoff so that one of the conference's most prominent power schools can enjoy its homecoming?
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