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Will Kenan ever host on Thursday?
Submitted by rpickeral on 09/09/2008 - 17:38
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Butch Davis has said he'd like to see Kenan Stadium host a Thursday night football game someday. But whether that will ever happen remains in doubt.
The Tar Heels, who travel to Rutgers for a Thursday night game on ESPN, have never hosted a mid-week football contest in Chapel Hill since ESPN began televising Thursday night games in the mid-1990s.
Senior associate athletics director Larry Gallo said that because of the on-campus location of the stadium, the hospital nearby and night classes in session, it has become an "accepted practice" not to host because the traffic and parking flow would be disruptive to campus.
"It would be exciting to have a game here ... but we do have some limitations,'' he said.
"A lot of people say 'What's the big difference with basketball and football?' Well, 20,000 vs. 60,000. So, 40 [thousand]."
Davis said Tuesday he didn't know if upcoming expansions to Kenan Stadium will change the chances of holding a Thursday night kickoff.
But it would certainly help the program's reach and recruiting.
"There are programs in the country that have done phenomenal jobs on capitalizing on national exposure opportunities,'' Davis said Monday. "… Any time you get the chance to expose the country to what you’re trying to do, what you’re trying to build, the players who are playing, the type of schemes that you run, it attracts kids. So certainly part of that scenario is getting a chance to play on Thursday night."
UNC has played on Thursday five times since ESPN began televising the broadcast, going 3-2.
About the blogger
Robbi Pickeral has covered ACC sports for The News & Observer since 2003. She can be reached at robbi.pickeral@newsobserver.com.Want to post a comment?
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Comments
lol james. and there's
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 13:17 — mad_maxlol james.
and there's gvillegatr trying to take any shot he can at nc state. save it for the 20th!
MOST of you guys cant see
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 21:41 — gvillegatrMOST of you guys cant see the forest for the trees.
football
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 12:56 — stock picks (not verified)Forget about what day you are playing on and focus on the
task at hand, beating Rutgers. So far the ACC and the Big
East are the worst BCS conferences. I hate Rutgers and the
ACC needs an out of conference victory against a D1 team
to give it some or very little respectability.
hate??
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 16:20 — izzykareemWhy do you hate Rutgers? That's even hard to type. I mean, I didn't know you could hate them. Plus, they are playing the Tarholes so I'm an honorary alumnus as 8pm tomorrow till about 11:19pm.
Let's be honest...
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 12:38 — JamesinWillowSprings"A lot of people say 'What's the big difference with basketball and football?' Well, 20,000 vs. 60,000. So, 40 [thousand]."
Actually, it's more like 20,000 versus 20,000. So, no difference.
go sit in the corner and
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 21:38 — gvillegatrgo sit in the corner and stay there till the teacher tells you otherwise! then, before you go home, the teacher will pin a letter to your shirt ... please have your mommy sign it. thank you.
Anon, alot of teams,
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 12:04 — gvillegatrAnon,
alot of teams, including NC States (<---only b/c they get the next biggest voice here, if not the biggest), dont get face value on EBAY. whats your point??
you sound like a sheep in wolves clothing.
you get a cookie
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 16:22 — izzykareemdaz how we do gville. we attack wit da psychologies
Thursday games
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 10:34 — Anonymous (not verified)I'm sure Butch Davis would love to see a Thursday night game at Kenan, but you know coach, I would like to see a road win first and then maybe some performances better than the opener.
It's funny how new coaches come to UNC and want this and that. Hell, Coach Davis already wants an addition to Kenan stadium and we can't even sell that out. In fact, tickets for our next homegame aren't even getting face value on Ebay!!
Basically...
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 10:01 — scocca...having a Thursday night game in Kenan would require shutting down the university at noon on Thursday. There's no way to have the faculty, staff, and students on-campus and doing their normal thing until late afternoon and still clear them out in time to handle the football crowd. (And of course evening classes and events would all have to be canceled.)
Basketball is different--both because the crowd is 40% as big as for football (20K vs. 50K+) and because the Smith Center is off on one corner of campus (while Kenan is smack dab in the middle).
izzy
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 09:33 — gvillegatrb/c the University thinks of its students, hospital and traffic before athletics! <-----now that is sarcasm
UNC Thursday Night Football
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 09:07 — Anonymous (not verified)I don't think Larry Gallo is being completely honest. Has UNC been asked to host a Thursday night game this century. They have sucked forever it seems.
uhhh
Tue, 09/09/2008 - 23:35 — izzykareemi still don't know why, from reading the article, why there can't be a thursday night game in Chapel Swamp.
Thursday night game?
Tue, 09/09/2008 - 18:32 — jeromfitzThat might refresh the football team at UNC with a college game night at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. It would be a huge success no doubt especially televise on ESPN. What college university wants to come to Chapel Hill on Thursday night to play? It would be a good ACC game night or top 20 team to toast off a ESPN game night telecast from Chapel Hill. Who knows?