A change of venue for Michigan State vs. Penn State is impacting Michigan high school football

Yesterday, Michigan State announced that their season finale game against Penn State, originally set to take place at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, is moving to Ford Field.

The game is scheduled for primetime on NBC Friday night, November 24th.

There's just one issue with that, and it's one that isn't making many friends among fans of Michigan high school football. Eight MHSAA State Finals games have traditionally taken place at Ford Field all day Friday and Saturday that Thanksgiving weekend.

The change of venue for the Spartans, which is being sold as part of an accommodation with the Big Ten's television deal with NBC, means the MHSAA had little choice but to move their state finals games back a day, and the eight games will now take place Saturday November 25th, and Sunday November 26th.

In a statement provided by the MHSAA, executive director Mark Uyl shared: “The MHSAA has enjoyed a long relationship with two of our best partners, Michigan State University and Ford Field. Our athletes have incredible experiences both on the Michigan State campus and Ford Field with our championship events. Given the unique opportunities of this fall, the MHSAA was proud to play a small part in making the puzzle work with Ford Field, Michigan State Athletics and the Big Ten Conference, while still preserving all eight of our games on Thanksgiving weekend at Ford Field.”

Pushing those games to a Sunday presents a unique conflict for faith-based teams who have pushed against Sunday face offs in the past, plus teams who may face a long day of travel to Detroit and with school starting back up on Monday.

For those teams, the MHSAA says that they're willing to be flexible and move their games to Saturday instead.

“Absolutely. There have been faith-based schools that have said they won’t play on Sundays in the past," MHSAA director of communications Geoff Kimmerly shared with MLive. "There have also been some that have said they won’t play on Sundays but will make an exception for a one-time only thing.

‘We are going to be as flexible as we can with this, knowing this is going to put some of our teams in a spot. Not only who can play but teams facing some tough travel having to go back to school on a Monday.”

The MHSAA has pushed back on this type of Saturday-Sunday finals scenario to accommodate the 8-man state finals at Ford Field, and that game is instead played at the Superior Dome in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, located in Marquette, MI, but clearly the Big Ten strong arming their way in was enough to get the games pushed back.

The move will mean a jam packed weekend of games in Detroit where workers of Ford Field will definitely be racking up some overtime hours.

The Lions will host the Packers at 12:30pm on Thanksgiving Day, followed by MSU vs. Penn State on the 24th and then eight MHSAA state finals games stretched out through Saturday and Sunday.