The announcement got here Monday at 10 a.m. sharp, straight from Pac-12 HQ:
One of many convention’s two mega-collisions on Nov. 19 — both Utah at Oregon or USC at UCLA — would obtain primetime therapy from Fox (5 p.m.). The opposite can be relegated to the evening window on ESPN.
At 10:01 a.m., the criticism on social media started.
By 10:02, the storm had reached Class 5 ranges.
“Because of this we’re leaving,” roared USC and UCLA followers.
“That is so unhappy,” howled Utah and Oregon followers.
“Usually Pac-12,” bellowed everybody else.
Why on this planet would the Pac-12 place a showdown with School Soccer Playoff implications within the 7:30 p.m. broadcast window, when the japanese half of the nation is shutting down for the evening? (Which recreation goes the place will likely be introduced this weekend.)
In any case, Nov. 19 stands as the most important soccer Saturday the convention has produced in eons. Each video games deserve primetime kickoffs.
Enable us to elucidate the state of affairs.
To begin with, the Pac-12 didn’t assign one of many video games to the late window. ESPN and Fox management the schedule and are paying a median of $250 million per yr for that proper.
Actually, the convention was simply as pissed off with the choice because the followers. Everybody related to the Pac-12 needed each video games to begin when viewership is highest coast-to-coast.
You already know who else needed each video games proven in primetime? ESPN executives, that’s who.
However extra on that in a minute.
Two key factors:
— ESPN and Fox carve out 4 broadcast home windows every Saturday for faculty soccer, however the first — at 9 a.m. Pacific — isn’t an choice for Pac-12 programming.
The opposite three home windows are early afternoon (12:30/1 p.m.), primetime (4-to-5 p.m.) and the evening slot (7:30 p.m.).
— Fox has the No. 1 choose of Pac-12 video games on Nov. 19 primarily based on the TV choice draft that happens properly upfront of the season. And the window Fox reserved for that prime choose is primetime on the East Coast (5 p.m. Pacific).
Which means Fox has exclusivity: No different Pac-12 recreation may be proven on the Disney networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and many others.) in that window.
(The identical exclusivity applies when ABC has a Pac-12 recreation in primetime, stopping the Fox networks from exhibiting one concurrently.)
However there’s a twist.
A number of sources advised the Hotline that ESPN requested for a waiver permitting it to air the opposite Pac-12 showdown in primetime, alongside the Fox broadcast.
Not surprisingly, Fox stated no. Another response would have been a nasty enterprise determination.
That left ESPN with two broadcast home windows obtainable for its Pac-12 recreation (early afternoon and evening), besides there actually was just one alternative: 7:30 p.m.
Why? Contractual commitments pressured ESPN to schedule one other recreation — one from a distinct convention — within the early-afternoon window.
We don’t know which recreation or which Energy 5 convention as a result of the complete broadcast lineup for Nov. 19 hasn’t been launched.
Nevertheless, we all know it’s a convention that can't present video games at 7:30 p.m. Pacific, as a result of solely the Pac-12 can do this.
It’s clear ESPN realized a top-15 matchup had been relegated to the late window, nevertheless it had no alternative as a result of 1) Fox wouldn’t budge off the exclusivity and a pair of) ESPN was contractually sure to indicate one other convention within the 12:30 p.m. window.
Our guess: That convention is the Massive Ten and the sport will likely be Illinois-Michigan.
Massive Ten colleges should approve on-campus evening video games beginning in November. If the faculties concerned didn’t agree to begin at 7 p.m. or later Japanese time (the primetime slot), ESPN would don't have any alternative however to fit them into the early window (12:30 p.m. Pacific), thereby boxing out the Pac-12.
So it seems that the 12:30 p.m. slot is being stuffed by a convention that can't/won't play later and that the primetime slot is blocked by the exclusivity clause, leaving just one window for ESPN to broadcast the Pac-12 showdown: 7:30 p.m.
(It’s additionally potential that programming choices earlier within the season performed a job within the course of.)
Once more, that is guesswork on our half. However the contract stipulation inside the Massive Ten gives a glimpse into the intricate strategy of scheduling video games throughout 5 main conferences and 4 time zones.
Even ESPN acknowledged each Pac-12 video games deserved primetime home windows.
Ultimately, there was nothing the community might do about it.
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