There has been a change to the Gryphons 2016 schedule. Elisabeth Verboom was the first one to bring it to my attention. I never should have doubted her when she pointed out that the Laurier game was scheduled for a weekday morning. Friday, Oct 14 at 11 a.m. to be exact.
As stupid as it sounds to play a game on a Friday morning, I really can’t be critical. I’m all for innovation and trying new things when it comes to growing the game. It will inconvenience alumni and the families of players but perhaps it helps somehow with generating revenue and bringing OUA football to a new audience.
Laurier has shifted the game in order to make it possible for local school children to attend. I know that some AHL hockey teams [Hamilton Bulldogs & Toronto Marlies] have done the same thing, so there is precedent for it.Thousands of school children also attend mid-week, daytime MLB games as school trips.
It should be interesting. I imagine that there could be a large contingent of school kids, perhaps 75 or 80% of the crowd on hand. That would make the expected crowd far bigger than at the typical mid-October, non-Homecoming game.
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One other thing to mark on our Gryphon Football calendar … the Gryphons will host the McMaster Marauders for a combined practice and scrimmage at Alumni Stadium on Sunday, August 21. I haven’t heard a time for the scrimmage yet.
It’s wonderful when you think that that is just over 5 weeks from now.
Off the top of my head … the last time Guelph and Mac hooked up in the pre-season was back in the Kyle Walters era. I think it was 2007. The teams met two more times that year. Mac won a close game at Guelph with a crazy finish. They punted for a rouge if I’m not mistaken. The 5th-seeded Gryphons took their revenge with a Q-Final upset win in Hamilton.
Newly hired head coach – Kyle Walters 2006
Photo: Dave Carter, Guelph Mercury
Gryphons Football Blog 
I know Laurier and UW have used this type of school outreach previously, with hockey. They fill up the arena when they do it, but, obviously, FB bleachers are significantly larger. It will be interesting to see what happens.
I planned and budgeted for many school trips in my years as a teacher including trips to OHL games. I think that Laurier is probably dealing directly with the local school boards on this and not individual teachers. If that’s the case they could easily have a sellout crowd for their game. My best guestimate is that they would get 8 or 10 dollars per pupil as transportation has to be included in the trip price for students. The overall ticket price would only be 14 or 15 dollars range.
Wow! That could be a lot more lucrative than I first thought. Definitely worth a try.