MANSFIELD, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Mansfield University hosted the first-ever night football game in 1892, a contest that ended at halftime when the ref declared it “inconvenient to continue.”
Why? Because the lighting was so poor.
This weekend, the spotlight will shine far more brightly on Mansfield as it plays a home game under the lights for the first time since that shortened contest more than a century ago.
Saturday night’s opponent, Princeton, took part in the first-ever college football game in 1869.
Mansfield is heavily promoting its long-delayed return to night football – and even poking a little fun at itself in the process. Its athletic director jokes that Mansfield wanted to wait till all the bugs were worked out of electric lighting before taking another chance on them.
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