Why NCAA champs on a Monday?!

The D1 and D3 mideast regionals are usually held one after the other at Lehigh. D1 coaches don't freak out because 5 D3 guys beat their 7th men, and D3 coaches don't worry that Bobby Curtis is like 2:00 faster than some of their #1 runners. Everyone gets along just fine.

A while back,...NCAA D1 coaches hoped to get more media coverage by having the meet on a Monday rather than competing against all the big football games (many,many rivalry games at this time of the football season sucks up a LOT of column inches of newspaper space on saturday and sunday.)

They still hold to this idea today...and I believe it does have merit.

D2 & D3 & NAIA schools are usually small towns,...smaller newspapers,...football isn't that big a deal there....neither is XC.

D1 coaches aren't afraid of getting beat by a few Kenyan d2'ers or d3'ers....if anything, it highlights to other kids how ridiculous it is be to go to a d2 and waste your talent instead of fighting with the big boys on a regular basis.

guys, they've already done the d1,d2,d3 thing circa 1990's.

I know that NCAA basketball and football championship games are on Mondays. I don't know whether the other sports also have Monday championships, but if they do it would lend credence to the idea that the NCAA just wants to have its championships on Mondays.

Me, Too, and the rest of my Gang Green are going to leave webbed foot prints all over everyones grills.

When our 5th comes in with the rest of the top 10 then you will feel the might of the Men of Oregon.

Pre and Bowerman will be smiling from above and all will be right with the world once again.

Peace to ya

If I recall correctly, The D1 & D2 races were held in Kansas several years back. Parking and just getting to the venue was a huge problem with the added number of runners, fans, etc. Great meet though!

Also, my favorite NCAA Indoor Track National Meet was when they held it in Indy at the RCAA Dome- they had D2 & D1 the same weekend - great to watch a lot of quality track in one weekend.

Back in the day the individual winner of d2 and d3 nationals would be invited to compete 2 days later in the d1 meet. This was when d3 still did the 10k. I think historically that's the reason for the 2 day separation between the meets. Why they stopped running the 10k and inviting the individual champs to move up, I really don't know.

1) Media attention on a Monday is far more likley than competing with other big events on a Saturday

2) Costs - Flight and hotel costs are significantly less on a Sunday night than on a Friday night.

3) Travelling on a Saturday or a Sunday has less traffic.

This answer has key points. Another factor not noticed so far is that it is on Monday, which cuts the week down by one day -- down to a two-day week. It is the week of Thanksgiving. I think people would travel to the meet and then travel home, often by car, in the early days. It certainly would not be a high priority for CSTV on Saturday, although it might work for them if it was Sunday. Is this the first time that it has ever been covered on TV live?

simple answer wrote:

A while back,...NCAA D1 coaches hoped to get more media coverage by having the meet on a Monday rather than competing against all the big football games (many,many rivalry games at this time of the football season sucks up a LOT of column inches of newspaper space on saturday and sunday.)

They still hold to this idea today...and I believe it does have merit.

D2 & D3 & NAIA schools are usually small towns,...smaller newspapers,...football isn't that big a deal there....neither is XC.

D1 coaches aren't afraid of getting beat by a few Kenyan d2'ers or d3'ers....if anything, it highlights to other kids how ridiculous it is be to go to a d2 and waste your talent instead of fighting with the big boys on a regular basis.

Part of the reason is many of the teams that bid for championships cannot host on Saturday because of football games. Administrators who travel with their teams for championships cannot leave on a home football game day. Also hotel rooms are booked on football weekends. I know Iowa and Iowa State have had issues when considering bidding for the championship meets because they would prefer to not host them on football weekends. Also, having the meet on Monday gives in a bit of a showcase, while if it was on a weekend it would be even more obscured.

This answer has key points. Another factor not noticed so far is that it is on Monday, which cuts the week down by one day -- down to a two-day week. It is the week of Thanksgiving. I think people would travel to the meet and then travel home, often by car, in the early days. It certainly would not be a high priority for CSTV on Saturday, although it might work for them if it was Sunday. Is this the first time that it has ever been covered on TV live?

simple answer wrote:

A while back,...NCAA D1 coaches hoped to get more media coverage by having the meet on a Monday rather than competing against all the big football games (many,many rivalry games at this time of the football season sucks up a LOT of column inches of newspaper space on saturday and sunday.)

They still hold to this idea today...and I believe it does have merit.

D2 & D3 & NAIA schools are usually small towns,...smaller newspapers,...football isn't that big a deal there....neither is XC.

D1 coaches aren't afraid of getting beat by a few Kenyan d2'ers or d3'ers....if anything, it highlights to other kids how ridiculous it is be to go to a d2 and waste your talent instead of fighting with the big boys on a regular basis.

This answer has key points. Another factor not noticed so far is that it is on Monday, which cuts the week down by one day -- down to a two-day week. It is the week of Thanksgiving. I think people would travel to the meet and then travel home, often by car, in the early days. It certainly would not be a high priority for CSTV on Saturday, although it might work for them if it was Sunday. Is this the first time that it has ever been covered on TV live?

simple answer wrote:

A while back,...NCAA D1 coaches hoped to get more media coverage by having the meet on a Monday rather than competing against all the big football games (many,many rivalry games at this time of the football season sucks up a LOT of column inches of newspaper space on saturday and sunday.)

They still hold to this idea today...and I believe it does have merit.

D2 & D3 & NAIA schools are usually small towns,...smaller newspapers,...football isn't that big a deal there....neither is XC.

D1 coaches aren't afraid of getting beat by a few Kenyan d2'ers or d3'ers....if anything, it highlights to other kids how ridiculous it is be to go to a d2 and waste your talent instead of fighting with the big boys on a regular basis.