COLUMBUS – Buckeye football fans could see Friday Night Lights at the ‘Shoe.
The Big Ten will play six Friday night football games a year starting in 2017 and continuing through at least 2022.
The games are being added as part of the conference’s new television agreements with ESPN/ABC and Fox, senior Associate Commissioner Mark Rudner said. The six games will be spread over September and October and allow more Big Ten schools to get national exposure, he said.
Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith told the website elevenwarriors.com that the only way the Buckeyes would host a game on a Friday would be if it coincided with the university’s autumn break, which falls on the second weekend in October.
Ohio State is scheduled to travel to Nebraska on Oct. 14, 2017, and will host Minnesota on Oct. 13, 2018.
Michigan and Penn State already have declined to host Friday night games on their campuses.
The Big Ten already has had Friday night games on Labor Day weekend. Those games will continue and be counted among the six each year.
Rudner said the conference expects to announce the 2017 Friday night schedule within the next week.