Two Mountain West football games in 2021 have been moved to weeknights, the conference announced on Monday.
The San Jose State Spartans at UNLV Rebels football game, previously scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 23, has been moved up two days to Thursday, Oct. 21. The game will be televised live by CBS Sports Network at 11:00pm ET/8:00pm ET from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A second contest involving a UNLV home game has also been moved. The Rebels were previously slated to host the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday, Nov. 20, but will now host them at Allegiant Stadium in Friday, Nov. 19. CBS Sports Network will televise the game at 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT.
Both games were previously scheduled for late night broadcasts on CBS Sports Network, so the moved wasn’t made simply for television. The NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders do have home games on both weekends, Sunday, Oct. 24 and Sunday, Nov. 21, so they could have requested the move to have additional time for stadium turnover.
The 2021 Mountain West football season kicks off in Week Zero on Saturday, Aug. 28 with three teams facing non-conference opponents — Fresno State hosts UConn (2:00pm ET, CBSSN), Hawaii travels to take on UCLA (3:30pm ET, ESPN), and San Jose State plays host to Southern Utah (10:00pm ET, CBSSN).
First thing I thought was TV but yeah likely the Raiders wanted more time to convert the field
Wow those are late start times, but I guess since the stadium is indoors it doesn’t really matter. Plus they are weeknights, so the late start allows fans going to the game to get there on time.
This is one reason as to why I wanted UNLV to keep Sam Boyd Stadium!!!!
Plus it’s Vegas baby!