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UCLAlaw94
Joined: 9/07/19 Posts: 692
Can somebody explain why Pac 12 games start at 7pm.
Posted Sat, Feb 19 2:15 pm
I assume it is television related, in that it encourages people on the west coast to watch basketball games they generally do not care about waiting for their game to come on.

The almighty US dollar is the only reason.

Is this correct?
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,124
All the scheduling nowadays is TV related
Posted Sat, Feb 19 2:50 pm
In response to Can somebody explain why Pac 12 games start at 7pm. (UCLAlaw94)
Ever since the current TV deal went into effect, all Pac-12 basketball games have been televised (this wasn't always the case). So, the tradeoff is that the start times have to coincide with the clearances on the TV schedules.

In actuality, the starting times for Pac-12 games are a lot more varied now than before. Before the current TV deal, you could count on most Pac-12 games going on Thursdays and Saturdays, with most of the Thursday games starting at 7pm. Now, you have games starting at 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, or 8pm, with games on Fridays and more games on Sundays.

Because of all the earlier games that got postponed, we're now seeing the rescheduled games going on Mondays and Tuesdays, and those games start at 8pm. Again, TV dictated that because they're all nationally televised.
UCLAlaw94
Joined: 9/07/19 Posts: 692
Nobody starts a BB game to start at 11 pm EST
Posted Sat, Feb 19 7:45 pm
In response to All the scheduling nowadays is TV related (Woochifer)
if they actually want people to watch it. Does the PAC 12 think 11pm is a good time slot for people in NY to watch west coast BB?

TV deal with whom? Isn't the Pac12 TV deal with itself to be broadcast on its own network? Since when do cable companies decide broadcasters' schedule their own content?

I still do not get it. Although I appreciate your answer.
UclanDoIt
Joined: 1/13/14 Posts: 3,919

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Allows prime time games in the West Region (including LV)
Posted Sat, Feb 19 8:47 pm
In response to Nobody starts a BB game to start at 11 pm EST (UCLAlaw94)
I believe the reasoning is not meant for West Region basketball to be shown in prime time in the East. You are correct not many at home will stay up to watch West Region basketball at 11:00 PM EST but it allows bars in the East to show games until they close.

Sports channels want to show games in prime time in every region. Starting some games at 7:00 PM or later in the West means these games are being shown in prime time in the West. Otherwise, prime time on ESPN, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, or even the Pac12 Network in the Western region would be filled with replays or non-major sporting events.

While it may not be talked about, I also think gambling plays a bit into the start times. Las Vegas is in the West Region and there is a lot of sports betting going on. The casinos want games played all day and into the night to keep gamblers interested in placing bets.

The NFL kicks off Monday night games in the East Coast at 8:00 to 9:00 PM so they can be shown at 6:00 PM in the West. These games often don't end until after midnight on the East Coast. Now they've added Thursday night and Sunday night games following this same formula.
tomodach
Joined: 12/27/14 Posts: 5,453
Bars?? lol
Posted Sun, Feb 20 7:38 am
In response to Allows prime time games in the West Region (including LV) (UclanDoIt)
I live on the East and My friends and I hate 11 pm games. You will not get max viewership across the country with games starting at 11:00 P.M. eastern time.
Newport Bruin
Joined: 9/28/05 Posts: 1,448
KTLA 5 televised all UCLA games at 11 pm
Posted Sun, Feb 20 6:50 am
In response to Nobody starts a BB game to start at 11 pm EST (UCLAlaw94)
On a delayed basis with Dick Enberg calling the action. In those days most of the games were not on live so it was either listen to the radio and know the outcome or wait until 11 and watch. I always chose the latter happily watching until 2 in the morning. So the next time you don’t like a 7pm tip-off just remember back to what it could be like.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,124
Try reversing that logic
Posted Sun, Feb 20 10:58 am (Edited Sun, Feb 20 11:01 am)
In response to Nobody starts a BB game to start at 11 pm EST (UCLAlaw94)
Does the SEC think 4pm is a good time slot for people in LA to watch east coast BB? Particularly if we're talking about a weeknight?

Why are you so fixated on east coast viewers when they constitute a small chunk of the viewing audience for Pac-12 schools?

The TV schedule will always have that sweet spot somewhere in the 5pm to 8pm PT time where you have a the largest aggregate audience when taking the whole country into account. But, that also happens to be when the majority of events in the eastern and central time zones are going. The number of non-streaming channels is fixed. With limited slots, ESPN, FOX, CBS, et al is trying to maximize its audience across the board from morning until evening. Since they're not going to start east coast games at 10pm, they will take the east coast and midwest games before they will take the west coast games. The 7pm start time is actually the best time for maximizing west coast TV audiences.

Also, the current Pac-12 TV deal includes all parties that broadcast Pac-12 games -- ESPN/ABC, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and the Pac-12 Network. Before that deal, the Pac-12 games on TV would only include the ones that the networks picked up. All other games would be either not televised or broadcast only if a school had a local TV contract (like UCLA and Southern Cal did with Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket). The local TV contracts were local -- i.e., not nationally televised. To watch UCLA games not picked for national broad if you lived outside the LA market, you needed your own backyard satellite dish to pick up the raw feed (or Directv or Dish with the optional sports package).

The creation of the Pac-12 Network meant that EVERY football and basketball game would be televised. This is why the conference is now involved in the scheduling.
cnet
Joined: 8/07/14 Posts: 9,697
It was 7:30 in the 70s
Posted Sat, Feb 19 8:43 pm
In response to Can somebody explain why Pac 12 games start at 7pm. (UCLAlaw94)
when TV wasn't a player.
ShowtimeUCLA
Joined: 11/19/17 Posts: 1,974
Let me tell you what I remember
Posted Sun, Feb 20 11:25 am
In response to Can somebody explain why Pac 12 games start at 7pm. (UCLAlaw94)
Granted, I’m not as old as some of you old farts here but I’m old enough to remember action packed Saturdays full of college basketball games all throughout the day. I’m talking the Steve Lavin era. UCLA’s Saturday games against Pac-10 teams were on at like 2:00 PM. There were always awesome Pac-10 battles against like Stanford with that Mike Montgomery guy as their coach. I even remember once UCLA won on like a buzzer beater at #1 Stanford when Kareem Rush’s brother made a shot for the win. I was going crazy. **** was exciting back then with mid afternoon games. This was always the way it was. Even later when Ben Howland became the coach Saturday games were always on CBS in the afternoon.

These night games are boring. You have to wait around all day on Saturday. Then when the game starts, you have to watch like 30 minutes of some other lame game while waiting for UCLA. Also, the announcers are kind of boring on the Saturday night games. They aren’t prime time play by play people.
tomodach
Joined: 12/27/14 Posts: 5,453
So true
Posted Sun, Feb 20 3:32 pm
In response to Let me tell you what I remember (ShowtimeUCLA)
Many UCLA and top games were played Saturday after noon. ESPN ruined everything to me.
UCLAlaw94
Joined: 9/07/19 Posts: 692
Absolutely
Posted Sun, Feb 20 7:33 pm
In response to Let me tell you what I remember (ShowtimeUCLA)
I used to watch a couple different Pac 12 games on Saturdays. Now it is waiting for the game to start at 7:30, then going to bed.