ANN ARBOR — The first night game in Michigan Stadium history was played in 2011, back when then-athletic director Dave Brandon was still Jay Gatsby and things were changing — everything shiny, everything new. Brandon orchestrated an evening kickoff against Notre Dame and, in front of 110,000 pom-pom pumping diehards, the Wolverines stunned their rivals, 35-31. It was pure theatre, complete with an absurd last-second ending. The game, which was originally met with apprehension, was an amazing success. 

With that, the lights installed atop Michigan Stadium looked like an awfully shrewd investment. And while Brandon later proved to be comically unfit to be athletic director, his foresight to put the Wolverines in prime time was equal parts enterprising and ingenious. 

That was almost six years ago. A long time. Obama’s first term. Since then, Michigan hosted night games in 2013 and 2014 — posting wins over Notre Dame and Penn State. The 2013 game against Notre Dame drew a college-football record 115,109 fans. Smashing successes, all around.

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I joined the Michigan beat in the fall of 2013, coming from Tennessee, where SEC football on Saturday night is part of the natural order of things. Upon arrival in Ann Arbor, I was taken aback by the neurosis surrounding night games at U-M and the utter infatuation that coincided with their scheduling. Incredibly, nothing has changed. In my estimation, no question has been asked more often to Michigan athletic directors, from Brandon to Jim Hackett to Warde Manuel than, “Will there be a night game next year?” In-season, out-of-season, doesn’t matter. If a Michigan AD is speaking publicly, he will be asked about the next night game at Michigan Stadium. The best part is, it doesn’t matter if there’s an answer or not. If a Michigan AD says he doesn’t know when the next night game is — that, in and of itself, is a story. One would think Edison himself installed those lights at the stadium.

Why is this such a novelty? What’s the big deal?

The answer likely lies somewhere between the epochs. It’s old vs. new. It’s tradition vs. change. It’s Schembechler vs. the 21st century. Some fans obsess over night games out of loathing. Some fans obsess out of loving. 

Either way, the obsession is real and it is stupefying. In 2017, to grapple over a nighttime college football game is akin to basketball fans still coming to grips with the 3-point line. 

On Wednesday, Manuel, the school’s second-year AD, was asked five questions — five — about night games at Michigan Stadium. The stadium, of course, is a structure that had lights installed in 2010, back when Manuel was still the AD at Buffalo. 

The news, or lack thereof, is this: There’s no update at this point in time, but Michigan could play Michigan State and/or Minnesota under the lights. 

Under the Big Ten’s new television contract, conference schools have agreed to host upwards of three night games every two years. This essentially assured, back when the deal was done, that evening football is coming back to Ann Arbor in 2017. 

“If we have two (night games) this year, we would only have the potential of one next year,” Manuel said. “If we only have one this year, we have the potential of two next year.”

Additionally, Michigan could play at least two regular-season road games at night, similarly to last year at Rutgers and Iowa. The year before, the Wolverines also played two road night games.

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The difference between playing prime-time games on the road and at Michigan Stadium, though, is apparently, well, night and day. A night game isn’t just a night game if that night game is played in Ann Arbor. 

At one point, Manuel was asked, hey, what’s the difference of hosting a night game? As if the game is played on the moon itself. 

It ended up being Manuel’s longest answer of the afternoon. 

And here it is, in its entirety: 

“Well, I think it’s different from the standpoint of increased staffing levels that we need to have for safety and the fan experience of getting around. We add additional lighting to our areas, our parking lots. I think the people at Pioneer High School, Ann Arbor Golf & Outing, all of those places have additional expenses to assure that people are safe in this environment. Obviously, the police forces — both the university, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw (County), the State of Michigan — are in increased vigilance. At night, it’s not as well lit in the streets for traffic and pedestrians walking around. So you have all of those things that come into play.

“Obviously, the longer that people have to tailgate, you have more issues around alcohol and issues related to that, so that’s a concern. … There’s a concern around our fans and travel at that late hour. … The number (of fans) from outside of a four-four radius, in terms of driving, is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-to-60 percent of our season-ticket base. So I have great concerns around that, in terms of night games, and in terms of the increased amount of time that you have one-hundred-and-ten to one-hundred-and-fifty or two-hundred-thousand people in Ann Arbor in the evening time. It just puts a lot of stress not only on the gameday staff, but also on the city itself. …

“So those are things that I would say increase (the difficulties). You know, there are a lot of great people [working]. I had the chance to talk to our external group that manages our game experience … and just thanked them for the hours and time that they put into it. Some of them folks will get here, you know, between 7, 9, 10 o’clock in the morning for an 8 o’clock (night) game. They won’t go home until 1 or 2 in the morning, after everything is settled. It just makes for a very long day for the staff and for those who are keeping our fans safe and the experience safe for all.”

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Got all that?

You’ll find the same complications exists for night games at all major stadiums, including the 100,000-plus seat facility at Penn State, which annually hosts one of the best under-the-lights environments in the country.

So now we wait.  If a night game is to be played at Michigan this season, the school will learn of the decision at least 12 days in advance of the game. Those decisions come down from the wizards behind the curtains at the TV networks. By comparison, Michigan sometimes doesn’t know whether a home game will be played at noon or 3:30 p.m. until just six days before kickoff.

One way or another, at least one game at Michigan Stadium will be played under the stars, the moon, and the lights. It will be a historic event … until the next one is scheduled.

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