Plenty of kickoff times and scheduling news for the 2024 college football season were announced on Thursday, and among them was major news for Mississippi State football. After being played on six of the last seven Thanksgivings (with the lone Saturday game only happening because of a pandemic), the Egg Bowl is moving away from football's favorite holiday.
The 2024 Egg Bowl, between Mississippi State & Ole Miss, is shifting off Thanksgiving and onto Black Friday, sources tell @YahooSports.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 30, 2024
The Rebels & Bulldogs kick off at 3:30 pm ET on Nov. 29 & will be televised on ABC - a major viewership spot for deeply rooted hate.
The annual clashing between MSU and rival Ole Miss will instead take place on Black Friday this season. The game, played in Oxford, will kickoff at 2:30 pm CT on ABC. It will be the first Egg Bowl broadcast on one of the four major television networks since the 2014 game was broadcast on CBS.
We've seen Black Friday Egg Bowls in the past
Though the Egg Bowl has most frequently been played on Saturdays and Thanksgiving Thursdays, there have been a few Friday Egg Bowls. Most recently, the game made appearances on Black Friday back to back seasons in 2007 and 2008.
The 2007 Egg Bowl was an all-time classic in the series, with the Bulldogs coming back from down 14-0 midway through the fourth quarter to win 17-14 in Starkville and secure their first winning season and bowl appearance since 2000.
Will the move to Friday afternoon help attendance?
The biggest complaint from fans about the Egg Bowl being on Thanksgiving has been that it makes attending the game more difficult. Many families travel for the holidays, and even those that don't aren't always thrilled at the idea of having to set aside their usual Thanksgiving plays to attend a game.
Last year was the first Thanksgiving Egg Bowl with a reported sellout since 2013. So could the Black Friday move get more fans at the game?
You'd think so, as it gives people within reasonable driving distance freedom to have their usual Thanksgiving festivities before heading to the game on Friday. Although, what little history we have for Black Friday Egg Bowls doesn't suggest an uptick in attendance compared to Thursday.
Both the 2007 and 2008 Egg Bowls featured high stakes for the home teams, and yet neither game was a sellout. In fact, what had been the most recent Thanksgiving games played at those stadiums in the years leading up to those seasons both saw bigger crowds.
Can we take anything from that? Probably not, but it will be interesting to see how attendance looks in Oxford this year.
Leaving Thanksgiving isn't a true break from tradition for the Egg Bowl
Many college football fans expressed their disappointment with the Egg Bowl moving off of Thanksgiving. It's somewhat understandable, as the game has become the go-to event for diehards of the sport to watch on Thanksgiving. And it's even more celebrated because of the chaotic nature of the series.
Remember - nothing that you love is sacred.
— parker fleming (@statsowar) May 30, 2024
College football will trade on nostalgia and tradition while ripping the studs from everything that made the game great in favor of more lucrative advertising spots. https://t.co/dbGAPilJ3p
Where outsiders to the rivalry are off-base, though, is the idea that this is some massive break from tradition. Yes, the Egg Bowl has been played frequently on Thanksgiving, upwards of 30 times depending on which side of the rivalry you ask.
But the reality is the game has been played on a day other than Thanksgiving far more frequently than it's been played on that day. Between 1938 and 1997, the game was on Thanksgiving just three times. Then the game was played on Thanksgiving just once between 2004 and 2016.
The Egg Bowl certainly has had plenty of history on Thanksgiving, and it adds to the allure that some the rivalry's best games and biggest moments happened on that day. But moving it to another day isn't ruining some longstanding tradition.