I ran college cross country a quarter century ago. Almost all meets were on Saturdays. Now it seems most are on Fridays. When did this change? Is it because football so thoroughly dominates Saturdays that athletic departments can't be bothered with other events on that day?
That’s true for on-campus meets, but I think the main driving factor is that coaches want to have Saturdays off (or open for recruiting for the few who would bother to go to a high school meet).
The weekday meets are yet another reason that it’s difficult to be a fan of the sport.
Saturday. In the park. I think it's usually used by high school XC meets.
Friday's at the park are more open for collegiate meets.
Northside Drive wrote:
That’s true for on-campus meets, but I think the main driving factor is that coaches want to have Saturdays off (or open for recruiting for the few who would bother to go to a high school meet).
The weekday meets are yet another reason that it’s difficult to be a fan of the sport.
Football and cheaper travel costs.
100% football. Parking and hotels are the issue for Saturday meets.
Plus Game Operations and other support staff. Friday's gives it an identity. On Saturday's it would get lost in the shuffle.
DI has been doing Friday meets for a while now, I assume its because of football activities.
I think the rest of the divisions have adopted it because they want to be like DI, same with the significant reduction in competitions.
Then I think they all seemed to like having the weekends off, and institutions aren't as focused on having students in the classroom, and more focused on having student stay on campus on weekends. So their is no pushback from educators.