[OutsiderFan]

Yesterday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA (like all sports) is a television league and needs to cater to TV audiences more than in-person ones. He also cited that 50% of the possible TV audience is in the Eastern time zone. He then said the evidence shows most people stop watching between 11 and 11:30 ET. As a result, Silver said the NBA needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games. 

Larry Scott should feel quite dumb today, following Silver’s comments. Scott has accepted late football start times and pissed off Pac-12 fans under the guise of “doing it for TV,” yet here comes Adam Silver effectively saying hardly anyone is watching Pac-12 games. Why alienate your own fans appealing to a minuscule audience? As much as Larry Scott thinks bowing to TV execs to have late start times is smart, the reality is it is dumb.

The PAC-12 reaches maybe 1/3 of the audience with late start times via Fox and ESPN. There is simply no way the conference can grow this way. If the NBA is saying it needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games, the PAC-12 certainly does as well. It would be advisable to take less money to get more viewers even if on other networks not ESPN and Fox.

My personal belief is the PAC-12 should target a deal with NBC that gets games at “reasonable” start times no later than 6pm PT on NBC and NBCSN, while getting it away from Fox and ESPN who are all up in the SEC, B1G, Big 12, and ACC. Use the Notre Dame gravitational pull to have college football double headers every Saturday. The fact ND plays Stanford and USC every year gives the Pac-12 some natural appeal to the ND/NBC audience.

[OutsiderFan]

Yesterday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA (like all sports) is a television league and needs to cater to TV audiences more than in-person ones. He also cited that 50% of the possible TV audience is in the Eastern time zone. He then said the evidence shows most people stop watching between 11 and 11:30 ET. As a result, Silver said the NBA needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games. 

Larry Scott should feel quite dumb today, following Silver’s comments. Scott has accepted late football start times and pissed off Pac-12 fans under the guise of “doing it for TV,” yet here comes Adam Silver effectively saying hardly anyone is watching Pac-12 games. Why alienate your own fans appealing to a minuscule audience? As much as Larry Scott thinks bowing to TV execs to have late start times is smart, the reality is it is dumb.

The PAC-12 reaches maybe 1/3 of the audience with late start times via Fox and ESPN. There is simply no way the conference can grow this way. If the NBA is saying it needs to look at earlier start times for West Coast games, the PAC-12 certainly does as well. It would be advisable to take less money to get more viewers even if on other networks not ESPN and Fox.

My personal belief is the PAC-12 should target a deal with NBC that gets games at “reasonable” start times no later than 6pm PT on NBC and NBCSN, while getting it away from Fox and ESPN who are all up in the SEC, B1G, Big 12, and ACC. Use the Notre Dame gravitational pull to have college football double headers every Saturday. The fact ND plays Stanford and USC every year gives the Pac-12 some natural appeal to the ND/NBC audience.