A few years ago on a different website
named after primates, I wrote about how horrible the Pac-10's teevee
contract was after a game involving undefeated and 2nd-ranked Oregon
originally wasn't allowed to be broadcast live in Eugene (you know,
where the university is located) because of exclusive broadcast
“windows” the conference had negotiated with the ABC/ESPN
conglomerate. Since then, the conference has expanded by two, and
gotten their own TV network in order to show all their football games
live to at least the area where the home university is located
(Oregon and Oregon State fans are guaranteed to see Ducks and Beavs,
Arizona gets Sun Devils and Wildcats, etc and so on).
But what is the good part about having
your own network when you have football teams playing at bizarro,
unheard-of times? The game between #3 Oregon and Wyoming on Saturday
on the Pac-12 Network will kick off at 11 in the morning. The game is
not in Cheyenne, where the game would start at noon Mountain time,
but at Autzen Stadium, the home of the Ducks. This is the reward they
get for being a top five team? Now, I understand that the start time
for this game was determined months ago. But by then, the Ducks were
already known to be a top-five preseason team, and even if they had
lost to Michigan State last weekend, they were guaranteed to still be
ranked in the top 15. And yet they have to start a football game
before Rennie's Landing stops serving breakfast.
For the players and coaches, this
shouldn't matter much. For several years the Ducks have their regular
practices from 9 to 11 am. Starting a game that early isn't an issue
for them. It is an issue for the fans, and the exact opposite
scenario of a problem Oregon tailgaters have had since the team
became a national power. Fans coming from Portland and Medford and
all over Oregon have complained that the late start times have made
it difficult for them to see their team. For if a game starts at 7:30
pm, then they have to decide whether they're going to drive back 130
miles or more after watching a four hour game and then spending 90-
minutes getting through post-game traffic- so they're not even
getting on the road until 12:30 or one in the morning- or trying to
book a room in a university town that rarely has any vacancies on
gameday weekend anyhow. So they would end up driving an hour north or
south anyway to get to a hotel in Salem or Roseburg, and if you've
already driven an hour towards your house and you have an hour and a
half to go, why not keep going? But that means not getting home till
3 ayem, and that's just asking for trouble.
This weekend, the fans coming from
Medford or Portland and all over Oregon have had to decide, for an 11
am kickoff, whether they're going to get up around the time they get
home from those late kickoffs, or if they're going to try and come
into town the night before. Either way, a horrible start time, and
the earliest I can recall a Duck game ever kicking off at Autzen. Even if you live in Eugene or Springfield, you've got to get going before you usually get up to go to work! (Provided you work a regular 9 to 5. Of course you don't drink before you go to work. I assume.)
That the game is against an atrocious Wyoming team almost guarantees
a half-empty stadium at kickoff. That seats are going on StubHub for $25 should tell you something about the fan interest in going to this
one. (Actual sentence about the game: If the Ducks don't lead by 40
at some point, something's gone horribly wrong.)
Not to say that 11 am kickoffs don't
happen- my alma mater, Kansas, regularly has 11 am start times. But
we're one of the worst football teams around, and we are happy to be
on teevee, period. The Ducks deserve better. The Pac-12 deserves
better. But to get a national audience (an 11 am kickoff in Oregon is
a 2pm kickoff in New York), I suppose you have to do what you have to
do. It would help, however, if the people on the east coast could
actually get the Pac-12 Network. But that's a completely different
thing entirely. I suppose Duck fans who can't get to the game should
be glad they even have a chance to see it while they're eating
omelets at Rennie's.
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| Don't forget the Irish Coffee. |
photos courtesy: oregonlive.com, rennieslanding.com
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