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The much anticipated move to the SEC will come one day earlier as the University of Oklahoma announced a date change for their week one matchup with the Temple Owls.
Originally slated to play on Saturday August 31, Joe Castiglione announced Oklahoma and ESPN have agreed to play the season opener on Friday night, August 30 at 6 p.m. CT. The game will take place on ESPN.
“We were asked to consider moving up the season opener by a day so ESPN could televise our first game as a member of the SEC in a primetime window,” Castiglione said in a statement released by the Oklahoma Athletic Department. “It’s a unique and exciting opportunity for us, as it will be our first Friday night game in the history of Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and will give our team tremendous visibility nationally. Another major plus is, given the kick time, our players and fans should benefit from a cooler temperature. It’s reasonable to expect that playing in the evening will significantly mitigate some of the heat issues we typically deal with during early season day games. Our first-ever ‘Friday Night Lights’ will undoubtedly be one for the books, and we’re excited to open the season and our first year in the SEC in such a spectacular fashion.”
Oklahoma and its fan base has longed to play more primetime games. Under the Fox grant of rights with the Big 12, the Sooners were relegated to a number of 11 a.m. kickoffs, which was Fox Big Noon Kickoff’s No. 1 playing window.
The move to the SEC created hope that Oklahoma would get more opportunities under the lights at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. And the SEC and ESPN are already delivering on that hope.
While Friday’s have regularly been reserved for high school football, the Sooners week one matchup against Temple in primetime on ESPN will provide…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oklahoma-sooners-moving-2024-season-173040526.html
Author : Sooners Wire
Publish date : 2024-04-09 17:30:40
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