Iowa lawmaker looks to block Hawkeye football on Friday nights

IOWA CITY — Just months after the Big Ten announced its new television contract includes Friday night games — an idea University of Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta said the Hawkeyes are open to — a lawmaker has proposed legislation that would prohibit that scheduling option.

The proposed bill, introduced Tuesday by Rep. Peter Cownie, R-West Des Moines, would specifically prohibit Board of Regents institutions — University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and University of Northern Iowa — from scheduling football games on Friday.

Cownie, a former high school football player and UI fan, said he believes Iowans prefer college teams play Saturday, as is the norm, to avoid competing with the tradition of Friday-night high school football.

University of Iowa Friday night games, for example, would force fans to pick between local high school teams and the Hawkeyes — and make it impossible for high school players to attend the collegiate games. The Iowa High School Athletic Association also has expressed concern about traffic, the logistics of getting opposing teams and referees to their games, and potential lost revenue.

'High school football is such a fabric of Iowa society all the way from the small towns up to my community,' said Cownie, Commerce Committee chairman who said he was encouraged to offer the bill by former Board of Regents member David Fisher.

Although Cownie said he doesn't necessarily expect his proposal to become law, he wants the Hawkeye athletic department to opt out of the Big Ten's plans to schedule Friday night games.

Steve Roe, a spokesman for the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, said Athletic Director Gary Barta doesn't comment on pending legislation and directed The Gazette to the Board of Regents Office. Regents President Bruce Rastetter on Tuesday told The Gazette the universities will need to work with the state on scheduling concerns.

'We've historically stayed out of scheduling the football games,' Rastetter said. 'And I think the board will continue to stay out of that.'

Back in November, when Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany announced the league's new TV agreement included a package of six prime-time Friday games starting next season, Barta said UI had 'agreed that we would be willing to occasionally host a Friday night game surrounding Labor Day weekend.'

Delany said no team will play more than two Friday games a season, and UI was not picked to host a Friday night game in the first year of the new TV agreement — although Iowa joined the tradition of playing the University of Nebraska midday on Black Friday in 2011.

The move creates a new broadcast window for the Big Ten, which is set to divide its games between ESPN/ABC and Fox, along with the Big Ten Network.

Acknowledging the pushback, specifically from high schools, Barta in the fall said, 'We truly understand and appreciate the significance surrounding high school football in the state of Iowa.'

But, he added, 'The Big Ten Conference, like many other conferences, will begin hosting a limited number of Friday football games.'

Alan Beste, executive director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, told The Gazette on Tuesday his constituents — specifically Iowa high schools and their athletic directors — worry Hawkeye games on Friday night could decrease crowd sizes, cut into ticket revenue, and add to traffic woes.

'We've certainly had schools and administrators who have contacted us with concerns,' he said. 'And I believe some of them have — at least they have told me they were going to — contacted the University of Iowa with their concerns as well.'

In a position statement, Beste said his association's understanding is that UI 'does not want to host Friday night games, except on Labor Day weekend.'

'It is also our understanding that such games would not be an annual occurrence,' he said, but added, 'Almost certainly Friday night Hawkeye football games will have a negative impact on high school football games across the state.'

Although Iowa City and Coralville would be most directly impacted by Hawkeye football games on Fridays, Beste said other schools could be impacted by smaller crowds and less radio, print, and television coverage.

Iowa high schools, on average, host four to five football games a season, Beste said.

'So even impacting one of those could have a huge impact,' he said, 'because the schools use some of the revenue from their revenue-generating sports for some of the other programs that maybe don't generate revenue.'

The Iowa High School Athletic Association has vowed to work with UI and the Big Ten to 'mitigate the damage' on high school football. But, he added, 'It would be a huge plus for us if the University of Iowa did not play on Friday nights.'

Craig Huegel — athletic director for West High School in Iowa City, which sits just down the road from UI's Kinnick Stadium — said he, too, is willing to work with the university to minimize the impact.

'Obviously we cannot force the university to do one or the other,' he said. 'All we can do is try to make some plans.'

But between 1,500 and 3,000 people attend the average West home football game, generating as much as $10,000. Huegel said conflicting Hawkeye games could dig into that revenue and make it hard to get those fans, players, and game officials who are heading to West High there safety and on time.

'My bigger concern is the logistics of, OK, we literally cannot get people into West High School because traffic is backed up all the way to the interstate,' he said.

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