FSU/Miami Game Being Played On Friday Night

by The Bird | ApopkaTimes.com
Posted September 3, 2004

University of Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee, Florida State Athletic Director Dave Hart, Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford, and ABC-TV officials have decided to pick a favorable TV time slot over the welfare of every high school football program in the State of Florida.

There is a long standing agreement between college and high school football in the State of Florida that Friday night is for high school football and the rest of the week is for college ball. But this week, FSU, Miami, the ACC and ABC TV decided that their money is more important than all of the high school football programs in the state combined.

In a statement of Thursday, September 2, Dave Hart, the FSU AD said in part, "... The Florida High School Athletic Associations' understanding and cooperation regarding this exception to our collective stance in opposition of playing our conference games on Friday nights is much appreciated. I hope the game will ultimately provide a temporary outlet for anyone who might be negatively impacted by the approaching storm."

Tony Eveland, the Apopka Quarterback Club President, read this statement and contacted Bob Hughes, the Commissioner of the FHSAA on Thursday night. Then, according to Eveland, "Bob Hughes called me back first thing Friday morning and told me that he had never been contacted by FSU, Miami, the ACC, ABC TV or anyone else concerning this. Bob is outraged about this and doesn't understand or cooperate at all. You can go to FHSAA.org to see what he thinks about it."

For the complete statement from FSU, Click Here.

"The statement by Hart also says that John Swofford of the ACC contacted Charlie Adams, the Executive Director for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. (Why he would ask North Carolina about it and not Florida was not made clear). Bob called me back later and said that he had called Charlie Adams. He said that Charlie confirmed that he did talk to Swofford, but that what he said was that playing on Friday night would hurt high school football in the state and that it was not a good idea."

"If Dave Hart is concerned that Floridians get a 'temporary outlet', how about 500 or so high school football games?"

"Charlie also told Bob that E. Carolina once played a Friday night game and they started the game after 9:00 P.M. and the high schools moved their games up a little and this helped a lot. So, if they can't do the right thing and move the game to Saturday, maybe they could at least move it to a later time, like 9:30."