An Ohio state legislator has reportedly drafted a bill that would make it illegal for colleges to host football games before 3:30 p.m., except for special circumstances.
Republican state Rep. Tex Fischer is looking to ban the earlier kickoffs particularly because Ohio State is frequently booked on Fox’s “Big Noon Saturday.”
‘I said it would be a crime for FOX to put Ohio State vs Texas at noon. Promises made, promises kept!’
The bill, shared by Fischer through an account called the Rooster, explained that “no college football game” in Ohio would start before 3:30 p.m. unless one team is from a state university and both teams are ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll.
If a game does start earlier than the prescribed time without the stated provisions, a $10 million fine from Ohio’s attorney general would be handed down to either the host team’s football conference or the television network, “whichever party scheduled the earlier start time.”
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Ohio Stadium prior to the Ohio State Spring Game, April 12, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
According to USA Today, the earlier games are generally an annoyance to traveling fans and regular attendees who are forced to get up earlier and have their tailgating time cut into.
Blaze News asked Fischer if he thought the earlier start times cut into tax revenue surrounding merchandise or liquor sales and if the tailgating time was a hot-button issue for him. Fischer’s office did not immediately reply to Blaze News’ request for comment.
The Buckeyes have played 35 games in the noon time slot since 2019, when Fox began broadcasting the Big Ten conference games. The conference typically has allowed Fox to schedule more high-profile games in the earlier time slot without having to compete with the popular 3:30 slot dominated by CBS and ESPN.
Now that Ohio State is the defending national champion, the bill hopes to change the likelihood of more early games, especially considering their schedule included seven in the past season.
Fischer boasted about the bill’s text in his accompanying post: “A few weeks ago, I said it would be a crime for FOX to put Ohio State vs Texas at noon. Promises made, promises kept!”
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Another caveat was carved out for rivalry games, which includes Ohio State vs. Michigan, which has a traditional start time of noon.
“Division (B) of this section does not apply if an earlier start time of a college football game between two teams is a college football tradition,” the proposed legislation read.
“For this purpose, a ‘college football tradition’ is a start time of a game between the teams of two institutions whose football teams have competed against each other at least fifty times and the start time has been the same for at least ninety-five per cent of those games.”
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