Seems kinda weird that we get our 8 matches all in the same time slot each day, and then have to wait 2 weeks. Couldn't they play in a couple different time slots early in the competition? Or even play alternating weeks with 4 matches each Tuesday and Wednesday? I get that toward the end of the group stage, you want all the teams playing at the same time to avoid one team getting an informational advantage, but it can't matter on Matchdays 1 and 2, or even 3 and 4. Thoughts?
The reasons Champions League games aren't played alternating weeks are to leave room for domestic midweek games such as the English Capital One Cup and because some of the midweeks are used by national teams.
Yeah, for instance there is a full slate of La Liga and Serie A matches next midweek. But what they could do is have four matches lick off at 19hoo CET and the other four kick off at 21h00.
which is exactly what they do on Europa League Thursdays. Don't some lower-level leagues try to squeeze in a match between 6 pm to 8 pm, and the UCL games start at 8:45? (Which, BTW, is a more reasonable 7:45 in England.) I've seen make-up games played at this time-slot. And games in Moscow have to kick off at 6:00 pm CET.
Right (which is 8:00p to 10:00p Russia time, depending where in Russia the game is). Yes, some leagues schedule matches on the same day as CL matches (even the same time), but obviously that wouldn't work too well for leagues that have multiple teams involved in the CL.