It may not be fair to characterize Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott’s job status as “embattled.” None of the conference’s member schools have publicly called for him to be replaced. He sure does seem to be having to constantly defend his conference’s media rights deals though, which includes dealing with outside scrutiny and unhappy fans.
On Saturday, Scott spoke to reporters ahead of Oregon State’s game against Arizona at Reeser Stadium. He answered questions about the late night kickoff times on the East Coast that Fox and particularly ESPN reserve for Pac-12 competition. Some conference members, most notably the University of Washington, have complained that late night start times for most of the country’s fans don’t give their team enough exposure and results in being excluded from the College Football Playoff and worthy players being left off of Heisman voters’ ballots.
Scott says he is sympathetic to those concerns, but calls the late night kick times a business decision. “The reason we play almost a third of our games at night is that was a way to unlock significant value from television in our last negations. ESPN and Fox placed a high value on us giving them a little more flexibility and being willing to play more night games.” It isn’t a satisfying answer for football fans, but given the well-documented struggles of the Pac-12 Network to gain clearance on cable and satellite systems across the country, it is understandable that the conference would make a decision that netted them more money.
The 10 PM Eastern kickoffs allow networks like ESPN and FS1 to sell ad inventory for 14 hour football days. The Pac-12 is the only Power 5 conference with teams in the Pacific time zone. Scott says that is where the value is. “Playing more night games than we did in the past unlocked the kind of value our schools were looking for.”
Pac-12 football is not completely excluded from daytime kickoffs, but so many networks have exclusive deals with other conferences. The afternoon slot on NBC is reserved for Notre Dame. It’s CBS for the SEC. Fox rotates between the Big 12 and the Big Ten. The only real slot for the Pac-12 would be as part of ABC’s national game, which would have to share space with a number of conferences, most notably the ACC. Assuming no Pac-12 team wants to kickoff at 9 AM (or 10 AM for Utah and Colorado), it means that the audience and television time isn’t really available for Pac-12 football until night time hours.
