Day Change For Final Four?

[Brad Palmer]

I think there would be more buzz and better ratings if the Women's F4 was played in a Friday-Sunday format. Better media coverage as Friday is a "dead night" in terms of other sports. Tuesday leads to a lot of post-men's coverage and the start of MLB.

You'd have to change the format of the first 2 weeks of the tourney to Weds/Fri and Thurs/Sat instead of the current Sat./Mon. and Sun./Tues. format, but that's also a better set of dates.

Thoughts?

 

[Wonkster]

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Maybe there's a good reason why Friday is considered a "dead night." Like maybe nobody's home.
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[UConnCat]

I think there would be more buzz and better ratings if the Women's F4 was played in a Friday-Sunday format. Better media coverage as Friday is a "dead night" in terms of other sports. Tuesday leads to a lot of post-men's coverage and the start of MLB.

You'd have to change the format of the first 2 weeks of the tourney to Weds/Fri and Thurs/Sat instead of the current Sat./Mon. and Sun./Tues. format, but that's also a better set of dates.

Thoughts?

The Women's FF used to be played on Friday-Sunday. I believe the 2002 FF was the last to be played in this format. I don't recall the rationale for the change but I'm sure it was to attract a larger TV audience.

 

[Brad Palmer]

Women's F4 was held on Saturday-Sunday forever and then a change was made. Not sure if it was Friday-Sunday for a while. Tuesday finals just seem like such an afterthought...unless we win.

 

[Vowelguy]

How many people are home at 6:30 ET on a Friday night?

You've got people still at work (especially anyone in the West), in traffic, and out at bars/restaurants.

fyi, It was Sat-Sun until 96, when it switched to Fri-Sat

The Sun-Tues format was done in part to allow more time in between the Regional Finals and the Final 4. One impetus was the 2000 experience of Rutgers (?) which played a Regional final late on Tuesday in the Pacific Northwest, didn't get back home until late on Weds, and then had to play a final 4 game on Friday.

Sunday is the most watched night of TV, and the weekend is more amenable to airing two games - people have more time.