Missouri football moves 2024 season opener to Thursday night

Get that PTO in pronto.

The date for Missouri football’s 2024 season opener has changed, the team announced Tuesday morning. The Tigers will now kick off their new campaign on Aug. 29 at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, where they will face Murray State. The game will begin at 7 p.m. and will air on SEC Network.

The game against the Racers originally was scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 31. Labor Day is Monday, Sept 2.

It’ll mark the third straight season that Mizzou has opened its season on the Thursday before Labor Day. The Tigers began the recent trend in 2022 against Louisiana Tech, and it was repeated in 2023 for their opener versus South Dakota.

Back in 2022, television opportunities and the chance for fans to watch the team before potentially traveling for the holiday weekend were cited as reasons for the switch.

"Holding our season opener on the Thursday night of Labor Day weekend has been huge from an attendance standpoint the last two seasons and it has helped us create a big-time atmosphere from our fans and student section," Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a news release. "This doesn't happen for us without Murray State and the SEC, so we appreciate both accommodating the change. I'm excited to keep this new tradition going with Mizzou football on Thursday night leading into Labor Day weekend the Missouri way."

Mizzou will play four straight home games to open the 2024 campaign. After facing Murray State, the Tigers are slated to face Buffalo, Boston College and Vanderbilt on Faurot Field in succession, all in a more traditional Saturday slot.

Missouri is coming off an 11-2 season that ended with a Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State on Dec. 29 in Arlington, Texas. The Tigers are likely to be ranked among the top 15 teams in the nation come opening day.

And with the schedule switch, that’s now coming a couple of days quicker.

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