University of North Carolina Athletics
Planning For Thursday Night Football
September 23, 2009 | Football
Sept. 23, 2009
By the time Carolina takes the field against Florida State on Oct. 22, a task force headed by senior associate athletic director Larry Gallo will have met nearly a dozen times. The group's charge: facilitate the campus's first Thursday night home game in history. That group has identified several specific challenges for members of the University community and fans coming to Chapel Hill for the game.
Adam Lucas: How did Thursday night football in Chapel Hill finally come about?
Larry Gallo: The Atlantic Coast Conference has had a longstanding contract with ESPN that calls for its football teams to participate in Thursday night games. We have a beautiful stadium which is located in the middle of campus, and that presents challenges for us to host Thursday night games due to classes in session, parking, and access to campus during the work week.
When Coach Davis became our head football coach, he expressed his desire to host a Thursday night game. During the last year, Coach Davis, Chancellor Thorp, and Dick Baddour thought we could host this game during our University's fall vacation period. They discussed this possibility and worked with different University constituencies to gauge and assess their thoughts and opinions. The tremendous cooperation of the different departments and groups on our campus that continue to collaborate and assist in making this Thursday night game become a reality has been nothing short of phenomenal. ESPN has wanted us to host a Thursday night game for years, so they were very excited about the possibility. They were willing to push the start time back to 8 p.m. rather than the normal 7:30 or 7:45 p.m. We really want our students and fans to experience a Thursday night game, and we think it will prove to be both a great atmosphere and football game.
AL: What has changed regarding our scheduling philosophy of hosting Thursday night games to make this game become a reality?
LG: A few years ago, NCAA legislation allowed the permissible number of regular season games to increase from 11 to 12. Having that 12th game means that most likely every other year we would be playing a home game on Thanksgiving Saturday when students would be at home for the holiday. The ACC typically allowed each of its members one football scheduling request. Each year our request has been not to have a home game on the Saturday of the fall vacation period since our students would be away from campus. So now with the addition of the 12th game, there is no way to avoid a home game with students away. Given that conclusion, hosting a Thursday night game during the fall vacation period started to make sense.
AL: As your group met, what challenges did you anticipate?
LG: First, Chancellor Thorp was very sensitive to these challenges and wanted to explore how we could make this happen. It was decided that the University and Chapel Hill communities could be minimally impacted if the game was to occur on the Thursday evening of the fall vacation period. Chancellor Thorp did a great job in conferring with and explaining our hosting of Thursday night football to the faculty and staff, as well as to the leadership groups that represent these constituencies.
Next, we were very concerned about how this game would affect the operations of the hospital. Vice Chancellor and CEO of the UNC health care system, Bill Roper, understood our strong desire to host this game, and both he and his staff moved forward with the tremendous attitude of we are going to make this work, let's see what we have to do. Their efforts and cooperation throughout our planning process have been just terrific.
We also needed to impact the academic schedule of the University as minimally as possible. Having the game on the Thursday of the fall vacation period afforded us this opportunity.
Lastly, another important matter to work through was the fact that, for many University employees, this beautiful campus is their workplace. We needed to address how to handle the University workday. Our University's Human Resources staff has been just terrific in working through this challenge, and they have devised some plans that will be communicated to our employees to inform them of their October 22 workday options.
AL: As you've gone through the process of getting ready for this game, what have you learned about Thursday night football?
LG: It is obvious that those institutions with an off-campus stadium, may possess less of a challenge in hosting this type of game. When you start preparing to host a Thursday night game, you realize how many different moving parts are involved in making this game a success. There are employee welfare matters, parking challenges, law enforcement and emergency response details, and concerns regarding the functionality of the entire University and Chapel Hill communities. Whether a game is played on a Thursday night or on the traditional Saturday, we have learned how much cooperation is involved in staging a football game of this magnitude.
AL: How will a Thursday gameday be different for fans than a Saturday gameday?
LG: Parking lots on campus will open at 5:30 p.m. We know some of our fans may take the entire workday day off and come to Chapel Hill and its downtown areas and make a day of it. Fans need to be aware that some festivities around the stadium may materialize a little later than usual. Other than these operational matters, we expect the game day experience to be all systems go as usual, and, frankly, with all of the excitement surrounding this game and our football program, we expect this game day experience to be better than ever. Tar Heel Town will be in full operation, and the Old Well Walk will still occur at its usual pregame time. The October 22 game day experience will really be special and full of excitement for our students and fans.
AL: Having never had to do this before, how did your group go about anticipating the biggest challenges presented by a Thursday night game?
LG: Luckily, because of our football operations and public safety staffs' expertise, we did not have to reinvent the wheel. They are already well-prepared and so professional in their planning and approach. There are a lot of departments involved in the planning of this game day's operation that have to foresee some different challenges. You may notice that some game day operational matters may be a little different, but we are confident that we planned well and hopeful that all will go smoothly.
Remember, this is the first time that we have had the opportunity to host a Thursday night football game, so one could say that this is a test, an audition, if you will. We believe that our preparation, along with having an outstanding game day staff, will help us "pass the test." Now the only remaining piece is for our fans and students to "pass the test" and be at the game in force to support the Tar Heels. October 22 will be a great day to be a Tar Heel.
