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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will end the season on Black Friday once again in 2022, as expected.
The SEC officially announced Thursday afternoon that the Razorbacks’ regular-season finale at Missouri has been moved up one day to Friday, Nov. 26 — the day after Thanksgiving. It is set for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff and will be televised on CBS.
As has been the case in the past, the annual Arkansas-Missouri matchup — which has been dubbed the “Battle Line Rivalry” — was originally scheduled for that Saturday before the change.
Playing on Black Friday is nothing new for Arkansas. It will be the 11th time in 12 years it has played its final regular-season game the day after Thanksgiving, with the lone exception coming in the pandemic-altered 2020 campaign.
Missouri — the Razorbacks’ permanent SEC East foe — has been their final opponent of the season since 2014. It replaced LSU, which had been in the slot on Arkansas’ schedule since joining the SEC in 1992.
From 1996-2008, the Battle for the Golden Boot was played on Black Friday. It shifted to Saturday for two years, in 2009 and 2010, before moving back to the day after Thanksgiving.
With the exception of 2009 (ESPN) and 2020 (SEC Network), CBS has picked up the Razorbacks’ final game and moved it into that Friday slot. It’s unclear if the tradition of playing that day will continue beyond next season, when CBS’s contract with the SEC expires.
ABC and ESPN will take over all of the SEC’s television rights beginning in 2024.
