TEPPER'S TAKE: What does the future hold for Texas high school football on TV?

The atmosphere on Friday night at D.W. Rutledge Stadium in Converse, with more than 8,000 fans packed in, was sizzling. The action was white-hot early, with defending state champion Lake Travis and perennial state championship hopeful Converse Judson lobbing haymakers at one another in a frenetic scorefest. With a couple of defensive stops — including a pivotal interception returned for a touchdown — the homestanding Rockets took control of the matchup, and a rowdy red-clad crowd descended into delirium. It was all so exciting that it was easy to forget the history being made — history that, at one time not so long ago, would be considered verboten. The Judson-Lake Travis game was the co-headliner of Fox Sports Southwest’s “Texas Football Days” extravaganza, a weeklong celebration of football in Texas. The Friday night game in Converse, paired with Shallowater vs. Idalou out on the South Plains, were the first Friday night Texas high school football regular season games ever televised live. Now, there are a lot of qualifiers there, so let’s parse. “Friday night” — yes, games can be broadcast on Thursdays and Saturdays. “Regular season” — yes, Friday night playoff games can be broadcast (see: the state championship games). “Televised live” — yes, games can be broadcast on Friday night on tape delay. But make no mistake: Friday night’s broadcasts on Fox Sports Southwest were historic. The UIL made a one-time exception for the network to broadcast two games on the first Friday night of the season, eschewing decades of hardline resistance to televising Friday night games. The UIL’s reasoning for its opposition is easy to understand: regular season games belong to the individual schools, and schools make money off of fans at the games; broadcasting games live on television, it’s believed, will drive down attendance, thus negatively impacting the schools’ revenue stream. The UIL’s reasoning for its one-time exception for “Texas Football Days” is also easy to understand: the single-site state championship games have been such a monumental success at driving buzz around Texas high school football; having a similar made-for-TV celebration of the sport can only buoy interest. It’s worth mentioning that all four schools — Converse Judson, Lake Travis, Idalou and Shallowater — had to sign off on the broadcast, and were closely involved in the inner workings as the event came together. It’s also worth mentioning that Fox Sports Southwest and the UIL adjusted some of its procedures for televising games — specifically, fewer of the dreaded TV timeouts, and truncated ones at that (90 seconds as compared to the usual three minutes). (It’s also worth mentioning, in the interest of transparency: I am an analyst on Fox Sports Southwest, meaning I’ve cashed their paychecks before. So, grain of salt.) Did the game being televised drive down attendance? It certainly didn’t in Idalou, where it was standing-room-only at the 1,200-seat Riddell Stadium. And I don’t think it did in Converse, either — the Judson side was jam-packed, and while the visiting side had its share of seats available, those who follow the program closely say the good-not-sellout crowd is about par for the course for Lake Travis on the road. Not everything was perfect — the second game kicking off at 8:30 p.m., an hour later than usual, was certainly a downside, especially considering the 110-point affair lasted nearly four hours. But my conversations with folks at the UIL and Fox Sports Southwest have all been glowing about “Texas Football Days” and the inaugural foray into Friday night TV lights. That said: I do not anticipate this being the beginning of any significant rule change regarding the Friday night television ban. You probably won’t have the option to watch 50 different Texas high school football games from the comfort of your couch anytime soon. But this was a dipped toe. And while I don’t think the UIL will be cannon-balling into the television pool in the near future, it appears the water feels fine.