Report: Penn State football to play Michigan State on Black Friday to close regular season
One of Penn State’s games this season won’t be on Saturday, according to a report.
Penn State’s game against Michigan State — which is currently on the team’s official site as a Nov. 25 game — will reportedly take place on Nov. 24, Black Friday, as a concession the program is making due to in-flux negotiations concerning the Big Ten’s next media rights contract.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the news in a broader story about the state of the Big Ten’s media rights deal.
That game is the final one of Penn State’s regular season.
“While (issues with the deal are) being worked through, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State recently agreed to concessions to make short-term sacrifices to help the league make up for some lost revenue from the NBC deal,” Thamel wrote. “Penn State will play on the road in a short week on Black Friday against Michigan State, a game that was scheduled before Penn State agreed to it. Ohio State will host Michigan State on Nov. 11, the latest-ever home night game in Ohio State history, which is viewed as another concession to help the league through this moment.”
The switch comes as new Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti tries to solve the issues with the deal that was negotiated by previous commissioner Kevin Warren.
The report on the date change did not specify what time the game would kick off or what network it would air on.
Penn State is set to open its season on Sept. 2 at home against West Virginia in a night game that will air on NBC.
