Saturdays in the fall are sacred for LSU fans. Games are marked on calendars months in advance to prepare for the day-long celebrations of college football, friends and food.
But Sunday, typically reserved for church and the NFL, could become the new Saturday for college football next season.
NFL owners and players remain divided on labor issues like revenue distribution, an 18-game regular season and a rookie wage scale.
The two sides are no longer negotiating and will take the dispute to court April 6 to settle an antitrust suit the former NFL Player Association filed against the NFL a couple weeks ago.
College football, especially the scheduling of games and attention given to the sport, could be impacted by the NFL’s unresolved labor issues.
“If in fact the NFL went into September and October without a deal done, without question college games would be moved to Sunday,” said Rene Nadeau, college football analyst for ESPN and TigerVision.
Nadeau said the exposure of the national stage would be too enticing for teams to pass up.
“If there’s not NFL games, you couldn’t keep college football from playing on Sunday,” Nadeau said.
LSU senior quarterback Jordan Jefferson had mixed reactions about possibly playing a day later than usual.
“I really like Saturdays,” Jefferson said. “If we have to play on Sunday, it’s what we have to do, but it would be very awkward.”
College football has recently extended games to Thursday, Friday and even Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
LSU will join the ranks of teams playing Thursday when it faces Mississippi State on Sept. 15, four years after playing the Bulldogs on a Thursday.
LSU coach Les Miles already has experience coaching on Sundays as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys from 1998 to 2000.
“Moving games to Sunday — yeah, I could [see it],” Miles said.
Miles said he thinks players and owners will come to an agreement before the season starts. But for now, both sides are working to get the best deal.
“It’s a fundamental negotiated strategy,” Miles said. “If you have a pair of aces down, you bet those suckers, or you’re making a mistake.”
The seventh-year LSU coach doesn’t see the positive side of stalled negotiations.
“If there isn’t an NFL season or if it looks to be a little bit less … that’s not good for anybody,” Miles said. “Of all the NFL guys I know, nobody’s happy about it.”
Nadeau said it would be more likely for less nationally known schools to want the chance to play on Sundays instead of a team with LSU’s reputation.
“You’d see the smaller team looking for exposure,” Nadeau said. “Teams in Conference USA or a conference similar … they would jump at that.”
The backlash from die-hard LSU fans would be another reason to keep games on Saturdays, Nadeau said.
“It’s too big of a tradition,” Nadeau said. “They would irritate their fans if they [switch to Sunday].”
Regardless if the schedule changes, Mike Detillier, local NFL draft analyst, said a possible extended lockout could benefit college football.
“College football has to be thrilled,” Detillier said. “Once the draft is over, you’d have to cover college football.”
Jefferson is open to the possibility of a new college football fan base.
“You can’t have a life without sports,” Jefferson said. “People that may have not watched college football before … would probably start watching if there was no NFL.”
Nadeau said there could be more attention given to college football spring games. LSU’s spring game will air April 9 on ESPN.
“You have some hardcore NFL fans, and they will always be NFL fans,” Nadeau said. “It may have affected people on the border. They may have shut the door on the NFL and switched to college football.”
Follow Michael Lambert on Twitter @TDR_Lambert.
 
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Contact Michael Lambert at [email protected]