Channel 4 televising CIF Thursday Night Football

Sometime in the near future Fallbrook High School will be playing on Thursday night in front of television cameras.

Thursday Night Football made its debut August 31, and the goal is to have all CIF San Diego Section teams rather than just specific teams appear on the telecasts.

“We’re excited that Channel 4 put it all together,” said CIF San Diego Section commissioner Dennis Ackerman. “The excitement’s there and it’s going to be a first-class affair.”

Channel 4 has previously broadcast CIF championship games, and this is the seventh year in which the CIF and Channel 4 have worked together. “We’ve just had great success with the high school football championship games every year,” said Channel 4 station manager Dennis Morgino. “This is a great next step.”

Various issues, including sponsorship and advertising, had to be resolved before the weekly Thursday Night Football games could come to fruition, but the concept had been in the discussion phases prior to this year. “We believe that there is great interest in high school football,” Morgino said.

Other details which had to be worked out included avoiding schedule conflicts due to Channel 4’s contract to telecast San Diego Padres games. If the Padres have a Thursday night game, the CIF telecast is tape-delayed and shown immediately after the Padres game. “Which provides it a super lead-in,” Morgino said.

The details took a number of years to take the telecasts from concept stage to reality, but other than issues involving specific schools or sites Thursday Night Football is now part of high school football in San Diego County. “I think we’re finally there this year. I think it’s a great way to add to our stable of sports programming,” Morgino said.

Some issues remain to be resolved. The San Diego Unified School District prohibits regular-season games at night before a school day, so the initial schedule which had included several San Diego City Schools had to be revised. Another issue is that the telecasts are restricted to geographic areas where the microwave truck can transmit without interference from mountains. The microwave truck of ITV, the cable station of the San Diego County Office of Education, is used for the telecasts.

“I just think it’s off to a great start,” Ackerman said. “It’s just a great event, and it’s only going to grow and get better as we go.”