How University of Colorado Students Are Dealing With Late Football Kick Times

Six of the University of Colorado football team’s first eight games this season will have kickoff times at 6 p.m. or later, including the October 26 matchup against Cincinnati.

All of the Buffaloes games have been on national television this season, partly because the team found success with a 5-2 record but also because of head coach Deion Sanders, who is a celebrity in the sports world.

Television stations may be trying to use Sanders’s popularity to keep East Coasters watching late into the night. So far this season, no CU game has had fewer than 2 million viewers — with an average of 3.84 million viewers per game. However, those numbers pale in comparison to the 2023 stats, when CU averaged 7.59 million viewers its first six games of the season.

Despite the dip from last year's highs, even the season low of 2 million viewers against the University of Arizona ranked as the eighth-most-watched college football game of the week and the highest-rated Big 12 game. Unlike in the Arizona game, which CU won handily, several of Colorado’s wins have come with late-game thrills — like when the team forced overtime against Baylor or swapped fourth-quarter touchdowns with Kansas State. Those late-game antics may also be helping boost late-night television ratings.

As the team heads into its second straight home game with an 8:15 p.m. start time, CU fans are becoming pros, too, learning how to train their bodies and minds for the late nights just like the athletes taking the field.

From electrolyte packs to compensate for extra tailgating time to actually doing homework on a Saturday so that they can sleep off the late game night on Sunday, students are making adaptions.

“It definitely makes it a little bit harder, because obviously you want to hydrate and you want to eat correctly if you're going to be in the sun for four hours,” says CU student Charlee Friedman. “If it's an eight o'clock game and we're pre-gaming at somebody's, then it is harder to hit dinner beforehand. …Sunset on Folsom Field is awesome, but I do think eight is a little much because that way the game doesn't end until about midnight.”
Kalyn Klee, a student worker for the CU Athletics Department, says she thinks late starts cause less fan engagement over the course of a game as people get tired and, unless the game is close, get tempted to leave early and get some sleep. And that vast amount of time before the game starts can be hard to fill for students uninterested in partying for eight hours.

“It's definitely a lot to prepare for, because what do you do all day?” Klee says.

Even official CU activities have made slight tweaks, with Klee noting that the kids' zone she usually mans on one of the tailgating fields until halftime of each game closed before the October 12 game against Kansas State had even started.

Some students have devoted more time to wholesome activities before the game, given the basically free Saturday a super-late kickoff time provides. For example, freshman Avery Milne and her friends made a trip to the Downtown  Aquarium in Denver before the Kansas State game to make sure they wouldn’t go out too early and get tired before the game.

Friedman says she’s started to do more of her homework on Saturdays before heading to tailgates or pregame parties because she knows she will need to get extra sleep on Sundays after being at a football game until after midnight.

Gigi Montgomery’s friends are regular concertgoers, so they have strategies to keep the momentum going for a day of fun, including portable fans they bring to the game to keep people cool in the packed student section.

The group starts with a big breakfast, packs snacks for the tailgates and brings electrolyte packs to mix in the water they drink.

“Music is also a super-huge part about keeping yourself going all day,” Montgomery says. “Dancing in the morning to get your body moving. ….A huge part about preparing for late games is to just eat lots of food and stay hydrated. It’s a long day, so it’s important to take care of your body but also allow yourself to have fun.”

When Montgomery’s group needs to get dancing and pick up everyone’s spirits, the go-to song is "Bangarang" by Skrillex; finding a song that gets you hyped is an important strategy for staying energetic before late games, Montgomery says.

Planning out meals is also key. Friedman has a big lunch before leaving her house so that she’ll be sustained through the tailgates. Though she doesn’t usually buy food at Folsom Field because she finds it too expensive, she says it's more likely she'll cave during a late game and get something to keep up her energy into the night.

Another impact of late games: it’s less likely that people will go out afterward. Both Milne and Friedman have gone out after earlier games to continue the fun, but they don’t see that as a possibility with an 8 p.m. or later start unless they leave the game early. 
“With the later game, it's going to be harder for people like me and my friends to think, 'Okay, should we stay until the end of the game knowing that it's going to end late,' and then potentially have a much later night?" Milne says. "Or end it early, depending on the score, and go change and then see what people are doing?"

But late games have some perks, too, as Friedman points out. The sun can't beat down on the student section if it has already set. And compared with some early morning starts the team had last year, it's much easier to stay up late.

“One of the games last year I remember was at like 8 a.m. and I think I was up at 4:30 a.m. and my friends and I were drinking by like 5 a.m.,” Friedman remembers. “That was absurd. Especially if we're comparing two ends, I would probably take the 8 p.m. game, but it would definitely be nice to have one in the middle ground.”

Students are split on whether they think late start times mean people show up to the game more or less drunk.

“I think less,” Klee says. “By the time the game starts, I think everyone's getting tired. …Everyone's just going to be worn out from the whole day.”

But Friedman thinks the passage of time will make people drink more without even realizing it.

“People can also be like, ‘Oh, I haven't had a drink in thirty minutes. Let me drink again,’” she says. “It just adds up and adds up before you realize.”

Either way, everyone agrees that by the second half, most students are sober because they’re averse to spending the money on stadium beers.

And the long days are worth it, especially with the team finding success this year.

“I would root for Colorado whether they were winning or losing, but it's definitely easier to be hyped about a team that's winning over and over again,” Friedman admits..

CU will look to earn its sixth win of the season at Folsom Field against Cincinnati on October 26; the game starts at, yes, 8:15 p.m.