I recently watched the movie “Friday Night Lights” and I must admit, I had no idea how big high school football is, particularly in the South.
But it seems that ESPN is more interested in greed than the relative well-being of our youth and high school sports around the country simply because of the manner in which it takes advantage of sports leagues by forcing certain playing times and dates. ESPN just signed a new six-year agreement to televise college football on Friday nights.
True football fans, looking for a game to watch, might be persuaded to stay at home and watch TV on Friday nights instead of going out to watch a good high school football game.
It would be nice to give the high school players, coaches and fans a break and let them have their glory moment. College football games on TV are plentiful and more than enough to choose from. In fact, there are so many it is hard to determine which ones are important, which ones are good, and which games are just there to fill a TV quota.
There are still other days during the week which can be used to televise college games, but give back the lights to prep football on Friday nights.
Jaime Orejan
Elon, N.C.
