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As a senior Utah linebacker Kepa Gaison will enjoy his Friday night before his last home game hanging out with his teammates.
They'll have their walk-through today then check into the University Marriott hotel where they'll enjoy a dinner together. Afterward, he might watch the movie of the night or game film.
Then, about 10:30 p.m., he and his teammates will converge on a lavish buffet of food and treats before turning in for the evening.
The nights spent sequestered in hotels before home football games, which are a ritual for the majority of the teams in the country, are cherished nearly as much as the games themselves by Gaison.
"We call it the best Fridays of football," Gaison said. "Everybody loves
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However, the long-standing tradition could be endangered in the future as schools look for ways of trimming budgets.
Recently, the Pac-10 introduced a proposal that would have banned institutions from housing football teams in hotel rooms the night before home games. The Division I Legislative Council was to vote on the proposal at the 2010 NCAA Convention in Atlanta in January, but the proposal was withdrawn by the conference after a lack of support.
Schools on an individual basis still could decide to do away with the added hotel expense to save
"As long as it's league-wide it might be a good idea," he said.
Cutting out hotel stays for the Utes would save $3,200 for each Friday night's worth of lodging for a total of $19,200 for the season according to Utah associate athletic director Pete Oliszczak. BYU refused to reveal how much it spends for its players lodging prior to home games.
Javan Hedlund, an associate commissioner for the MWC, said the league decided to vote against the proposal because it didn't have the support of the majority of coaches.
Count Utah's Kyle Whittingham and BYU's Bronco Mendenhall among them. Whittingham didn't have the experience of staying in hotels when he was a player at BYU before the Cougars' home games, but as a coach he has come to appreciate the advantages.
"It's keeping the team together and spending time with teammates and accessibility for meetings," he said in listing the advantages. "You get them away from distractions. Living in the dorms, you may not have that peace and quiet you get in the hotel."
Mendenhall cited similar reasons for favoring the practice.
"I think it is one of the things that they have certainly earned," he said.
Normally, football teams are the only programs who stay in hotels before home competitions, although teams sometimes elect to stay in hotels for special events, such as when Utah's gymnastics team hosted the NCAA Championships.
"The team decided they wanted to do that," Utah coach Greg Marsden said. "It's a little like comparing apples to oranges though. If I have 80 guys to keep up with and away from distractions, I would probably keep them together at a hotel too."
The players don't see the nights as a dent in their social life though, most support the practice because checking into the hotel symbolizes that game time is only hours away.
"It's like a lockdown and you should be locked down with nothing to worry about but the next day and getting ready to play," defensive lineman Lei Talamaivao said. "When we hit the hotel, the No. 1 thing is to worry about the game and nothing else."
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