With no more “WWE Smackdown,” Fox is turning its Friday nights over to college football.
Fox Sports announced Thursday that it will carry a weekly Friday night college football game on the FOX broadcast network starting this fall. (The Athletic reported the news shortly before the announcement.) The schedule will consist of games from each of the conferences to which Fox owns rights: the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West.
The Friday night slate marks the first time that there has been a regular weeknight package of college football games on broadcast television. To this point, the only weeknight games on broadcast have been one-offs on the opening night of the season, conference championship weekend, or holidays like Labor Day and Black Friday.
One can expect at least one off week during the season, as the World Series has included at least one Friday night game each year dating back to 2014.
Per The Athletic, Fox will still consider its Noon ET Saturday game — “Big Noon Saturday” — as its primary college football window.
Friday nights on Fox are open after the network lost rights to “WWE Smackdown,” which is moving to USA Network later this year. Fox has carried “Smackdown” on Friday nights since October 2019. Previously, the network aired the usual broadcast network fare of sitcoms, dramas and reality shows on the night. It is not clear what Fox plans to do with the other Friday nights that are now free.
FOX enters a Friday night college football landscape that has not been particularly competitive. ESPN has typically carried Friday night games early in the season and then moved those to ESPN2 with the start of the NBA season. The games have largely consisted of matchups that are below the quality one expects on a Saturday.
