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When college football is confined to Saturdays, the best real estate gets occupied quickly. But the thing about college football is that it’s massive, with 130 teams in the FBS alone. People will still turn on games on their TVs and watch them live, boosting ratings and putting money straight into the networks’ pockets. Live sports are the most DVR- and Netflix-proof thing a TV channel can offer. TV networks love having games every night, and spreading them out gives more games the chance to be a huge deal on their own. It’s similar to how the NFL schedule spreads into Saturday once college football is done. Spreading out the slate from Thursday to Monday is just an extension of that point. That’s always been by design - a chance for the schools and the kids to have a few minutes with the spotlight.

The NFL’s regular season starts the weekend after Labor Day, and college’s starts the weekend before (with a few games going on the weekend before that). The NCAA and its schools have money, but NFL owners have money, and they use it to make their league the most ubiquitous thing in the American sports landscape. Its biggest fan bases are spread throughout all sorts of areas, but the NFL has a team (or two) in all of the country’s biggest media markets. It’s about cramming before the NFL season.Ĭollege football is a popular sport, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the national penetration the NFL has. TV has been the driving force behind that shift. There’s been at least a game or two on Sunday and Monday for a long time, but the sport didn’t always have blockbusters showing each night. These long Week 1s with primetime games at the tail end are still new. Monday has Virginia Tech at Florida State (8 p.m. Sunday has Miami-LSU at AT&T Stadium in North Texas (7:30 p.m. The later weekend brings two marquee games. It also includes more games on Thursday and Friday has most weeks, though none those nights are blockbusters.

College football’s opening weekend is upon us, and it’s staying with us for two nights that traditionally belong to the NFL: Sunday and Monday.