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Pac 12 After Dark

Dark Bohner

Dark Bohner

Cooler than a Popsicle Stand.
Club Member
Many here already know my personal opinions on the very late kick offs for Colorado, but I was listening to ESPNU radio on the way to work this morning and apparently I am not alone in my opinion.

Chris Peterson basically ripped Larry Scott (without naming names) about the late kick off times in the conference. There is only one Pac 12 game this week that kicks off prior to 8 PM ET.

The hosts were talking about how the Pac 12 is in a worse place than it was prior to the the conference realignment due to the fact that we do not have one guaranteed time slot on a major network during the 3:30 PM ET sweet spot at all and that the Pac 12 network is a disaster with carrier service.

This hurts with viewership, and even recruiting because of the loss of potential viewers with such late times.
Many people simply aren't familiar with Pac 12 teams because they don't have the opportunity to watch them.

In my opinion, Larry needs to seriously restructure the Pac 12 Network to ensure it is carried on all major carriers and also negotiate more favorable regional/national broadcast times for the good of everybody (players, fans, recruits, viewers) involved.
 
I agree. It is a big failure of the network. It seems obvious as well. Short term and long term damage due to little exposure for the conference.
 
maurice-jones-drew-is-busting-out.gif
 
1) Is makes the most sense logically.
2) If Pac-12 teams generated the ratings the other conferences do they would be put on TV over those teams.
3) The Pac-10 had the same issue before Larry Scott came aboard because again, it makes sense logically.
4) The Pac-12 Network definitely needs to rethink the structure of the programming like we have said this entire time. One National network would greatly increase the chances of being put in DirecTV.
5) Larry Scott and Wilner even said the ratings for the late night games on the Pac-12 network are not really the issue, the networks and the Pac-12 are very happy with those ratings, it is the terrible ratings for the olympic sports that are bad.
6) Even if the Pac-12 games were on at a decent hour on the east coast I doubt it would change ratings that much as there would be competition and you know those viewers are going to watch other games anyways.
7) Just a lot of bitching from Chris Peterson.
 
UW likely won't play a game this season that kicks off before 5pm PT.
 
My only concern is recruiting.

Does it really matter to HS kids who stay up until midnight or later every weekend night anyway? Maybe not. But it might matter to mom, dad, grandma, etc.....
 
I really don't understand the frustration with any of this. The PAC is a a PST Conference. It wouldn't make any sense to have 10am PST kickoffs, just so someone on the East Coast could watch them at 1p. How is a local kickoff of 5pm too late?? Or Even 7p or 8p?
 
How much money are you willing to forego to get onto ESPN2 at 3:30 pm Eastern Time? The networks are paying for that "late night" content for a reason and the Pac is the only conference that can deliver it.
 
BuffsNYC said:
How much money are you willing to forego to get onto ESPN2 at 3:30 pm Eastern Time? The networks are paying for that "late night" content for a reason and the Pac is the only conference that can deliver it.
Click to expand...

Depends on your long view. Minimal national viewership is very possibly going to hurt the Pac 12 brand long term and limit future negotiating power. I honestly don't think the conference needs to forego revenue for the sake of some better time slots.

College football is a desired commodity and Larry Scott should negotiate with the networks with the realization that he has a premium product that they want access to. It is time that the conference and schools negotiate more favorable time slots with the networks.
 
Last edited:
buffedup said:
Depends on your long view. Minimal national viewership is very possibly going to hurt the Pac 12 brand long term and limit future negotiating power.

College football is a desired commodity and Larry Scott should negotiate with the networks with the realization that he has a premium product that they want access to. It is time that the conference and schools negotiate more favorable time slots with the networks.
Click to expand...

There are literally dozens of college football games that the networks can choose from on Saturday afternoons. Many of those will involve SEC or B1G teams or ND and will draw higher ratings on the East coast than any PAC game. That’s not a strong negotiating position. None of those teams is going to play at 10:00 pm Eastern. The PAC will and the networks will pay them to.
 
Number of teams, by conference, in Top 25 recruiting rankings for 2017 and so far in 2018:

2017
SEC - 9
Big 10 - 5
Pac 12 - 5
ACC - 3
Big 12 - 2
Ind - 1

2018
SEC - 9
Big 10 - 4
Pac 12 - 4
ACC - 4
Big 12 - 3
Ind - 1

Obviously, the SEC is head and shoulders above everybody else in recruiting, which makes sense considering they are in the biggest hotbed, but the Pac 12 is right there with the other conferences, even though they have late starts.
 
BuffsNYC said:
There are literally dozens of college football games that the networks can choose from on Saturday afternoons. Many of those will involve SEC or B1G teams or ND and will draw higher ratings on the East coast than any PAC game. That’s not a strong negotiating position. None of those teams is going to play at 10:00 pm Eastern. The PAC will and the networks will pay them to.
Click to expand...

What game would you have chosen at 3:30 ET last weekend as a college football fan?
#5 USC at #16 WSU
Baylor at KSU
Indiana at #4 PSU
FSU at Wake Forest

Because all of those other games were on at 3:30 last weekend. Not a very tough call. The Pac 12 has very good football that deserves better national recognition.
 
The late start times are bad, but what about the conference scheduling Wazzu-USC and Stanford-Washington on Friday nights? Arguably the two best games of the regular season and both get the Friday night treatment.
 
Duff Man said:
The late start times are bad, but what about the conference scheduling Wazzu-USC and Stanford-Washington on Friday nights? Arguably the two best games of the regular season and both get the Friday night treatment.
Click to expand...
I think it's brilliant if:

A - the network strategy is to take over Friday night as a college football night
B - the Pac-12 is positioning itself to own Friday night with this "Pac-12 After Dark" event branding
 
Buffnik said:
I think it's brilliant if:

A - the network strategy is to take over Friday night as a college football night
B - the Pac-12 is positioning itself to own Friday night with this "Pac-12 After Dark" event branding
Click to expand...
Owning the lowest rated TV watching night of the week is brilliant?
 
TSchekler said:
Owning the lowest rated TV watching night of the week is brilliant?
Click to expand...
Yes. Pac-12 owns the late time slot on Saturday. Also owning a similar time slot on Friday makes a big impact on the reach of the network and exposure nationally of Pac-12 football.
 
buffedup said:
Many here already know my personal opinions on the very late kick offs for Colorado, but I was listening to ESPNU radio on the way to work this morning and apparently I am not alone in my opinion.

Chris Peterson basically ripped Larry Scott (without naming names) about the late kick off times in the conference. There is only one Pac 12 game this week that kicks off prior to 8 PM ET.

The hosts were talking about how the Pac 12 is in a worse place than it was prior to the the conference realignment due to the fact that we do not have one guaranteed time slot on a major network during the 3:30 PM ET sweet spot at all and that the Pac 12 network is a disaster with carrier service.

This hurts with viewership, and even recruiting because of the loss of potential viewers with such late times.
Many people simply aren't familiar with Pac 12 teams because they don't have the opportunity to watch them.

In my opinion, Larry needs to seriously restructure the Pac 12 Network to ensure it is carried on all major carriers and also negotiate more favorable regional/national broadcast times for the good of everybody (players, fans, recruits, viewers) involved.
Click to expand...
Not having one game during prime time is bad and a failure by Larry Scott during a given week. What percentage of games do you think the Pac 12 should have in a given week or year during that prime-time? I get the impression you think there should never be a late game, which will never ever happen. CU has only had two out of 5 games that would fall under that late game category.
 
Just look at how happy the college presidents are with the P12N and nothing will change unless at least half of Larry Scott’s bosses start grumbling.
 
patebuff said:
Not having one game during prime time is bad and a failure by Larry Scott during a given week. What percentage of games do you think the Pac 12 should have in a given week or year during that prime-time? I get the impression you think there should never be a late game, which will never ever happen. CU has only had two out of 5 games that would fall under that late game category.
Click to expand...

I actually love having a night game from time to time. I went to some of the blackout games back when having a night game was a special occasion and thought it was amazing and such a fun atmosphere because it was unique and not the norm.

From my perspective, I don't think any Pac 12 teams should have to play more than 1 or 2 at the most "late" games (7 PM or later local time) in a season, so that would equate to one to two late games every week.
 
Larry scott is not impressive. He seems like a giver more than a negotiator and definitely a "yes"man.
 
buffedup said:
I actually love having a night game from time to time. I went to some of the blackout games back when having a night game was a special occasion and thought it was amazing and such a fun atmosphere because it was unique and not the norm.

From my perspective, I don't think any Pac 12 teams should have to play more than 1 or 2 at the most "late" games (7 PM or later local time) in a season, so that would equate to one to two late games every week.
Click to expand...
Would be interesting to see what the game time breakdown was before the new tv contracts and PAC 12 expansion.
 
onealcd said:
Pretty sure Stanford-UW brought in a crazy high rating last year when they played on Friday night.
Click to expand...

They won't this year....Stanford has 2 losses and Washington is head and shoulders above everybody else is in this conference.
 
onealcd said:
1) Is makes the most sense logically.
2) If Pac-12 teams generated the ratings the other conferences do they would be put on TV over those teams.
3) The Pac-10 had the same issue before Larry Scott came aboard because again, it makes sense logically.
4) The Pac-12 Network definitely needs to rethink the structure of the programming like we have said this entire time. One National network would greatly increase the chances of being put in DirecTV.
5) Larry Scott and Wilner even said the ratings for the late night games on the Pac-12 network are not really the issue, the networks and the Pac-12 are very happy with those ratings, it is the terrible ratings for the olympic sports that are bad.
6) Even if the Pac-12 games were on at a decent hour on the east coast I doubt it would change ratings that much as there would be competition and you know those viewers are going to watch other games anyways.
7) Just a lot of bitching from Chris Peterson.
Click to expand...

Here's what the issue is-The Big Ten Network has a partner in FOX. The SEC Network is ESPN backed. Hell, even the Longhorn network got their own TV partner. Larry Scott attempted to do this himself. If these networks have an investment in a conference TV network, they're more than likely to bend over backwards to put that conference's teams on their network. Why do you think Nebraska and Northern Illinois wound up on national TV? Why do you think FOX did a doubleheader that featured the likes of Purdue and Michigan State during the middle of the day on 9/23?

This is not a problem that gets fixed by expansion, and I think the only teams who would answer the phone if the Pac 12 calls at this point play in the Mountain West.....and no team in that league brings in a market we don't already have a presence in via a university or a substantial number of alums (I don't know the exact numbers, but I'd bet all four California schools have substantial San Diego alumni bases-Cal and Stanford have played SDSU on the road the last couple years, and I'd bet UCLA has too recently) outside of MAYBE New Mexico.

Here's the solution-the conference has to give up a chunk of the rights to the networks to somebody who can function as a TV partner. This shouldn't be that hard, as ratings for this sport have increased all year.
 
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