REPORT: Michigan State-Penn State Game Moved To Black Friday
It appears that Michigan State football will play two Friday night home games this fall, one to begin the regular season and another at its conclusion.
On Sunday, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that the Land-Grant Trophy game between Michigan State and Penn State was being moved up a day from Saturday, Nov. 25 to Friday, Nov. 24 — which is "Black Friday". The Spartans open the season on Friday, Sept. 1 at home against Central Michigan.
This schedule change has not been confirmed by anyone at Michigan State University but, according to Thamel, MSU and Penn State are making concessions to help the Big Ten Conference complete its new proposed television deal with FOX, CBS and NBC.
Thamel reports that former Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren left key issues of the new deal unfinished, and went above his own authority in negotiations with NBC and CBS, prior to departing to become the new president and CEO of the Chicago Bears. This has left newly hired Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti in a difficult position, as he attempts to navigate the remainder of the negotiations to solidify the conference's new TV deal.
According to the ESPN report, Warren promised NBC the rights to broadcast the Big Ten Championship game in 2026. This was not cleared with Fox, who owns the broadcast rights for the conference's football championship game. Because of this, Big Ten schools will reportedly have to pay back Fox a sum of $40 million. The conference schools are on the hook to pay Fox an additional $25 million for games lost during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
All in all, around $70 million of the proposed seven-year, $7 billion agreement with FOX, CBS and NBC is in flux over various issues.
Another source of frustration has been the Big Ten's long-standing tradition of not participating in night games during the month of November. Warren, apparently, sold NBC on the idea of November night games without first consulting Big Ten athletic directors beforehand. Thamel's report cites Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State among the schools opposed to playing November night games on NBC. The report also says that Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State were willing to make concessions to cover lost revenue with NBC.
Ohio State will host Michigan State on Nov. 11 in a game that kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast by NBC. According to ESPN, that is the latest home night game in the Buckeyes' history.
This year's game between Michigan State and Penn State will be the 37th meeting overall and the 28th meeting between the two schools for the Land-Grant Trophy. The overall series is tied 18-18-1, with the Nittany Lions holding a 17-10 edge in games played for the rivalry trophy (since 1993).
