[BostonCard]

Chris Petersen is wrong and I agree with Kirk Herbstreit - in substance, if not in tone.

The Seattle Times recently had a strong article on this, the gist of which was that Pac-12 games being broadcast during the late window was optimal in terms of maximizing exposure. A few facts:

Pac-12 games on ESPN2 had 72% more viewers in the late window as compared to afternoon windows. Pac-12 games on any carrier rated 12% higher during the evening window as compared to afternoon windows.

Pac-12 games shown during the late window consist of 65% of viewers from the east/central regions as compared to 60% for games shown in the afternoon windows.

The real issue is that college football is king in the south and midwest, and that having a virtual exclusivity in the evening benefits the Pac-12 because Pac-12 games have always had serious trouble competing head to head against SEC and Big-X games.

Regarding H-man voting, it's clear that more voters saw Luck, Gerhart and McCaffrey during evening games than when they played in games that started earlier. The problem is that voters from the south and midwest (and there are lots of them compared to the west region) are voting for "their guys" regardless of the merits, not that they aren't seeing our guys.

Indeed!  If you look at last night, there were three night games featuring a ranked team (UW vs. Cal, Stanford vs. Utah, and SDSU vs. UNLV).  Shift that to the 4 pm time slot and we would have been up against Alabama vs. Texas A&M, Michigan vs. Michigan State and many others.

BC

[BostonCard]

Chris Petersen is wrong and I agree with Kirk Herbstreit - in substance, if not in tone.

The Seattle Times recently had a strong article on this, the gist of which was that Pac-12 games being broadcast during the late window was optimal in terms of maximizing exposure. A few facts:

Pac-12 games on ESPN2 had 72% more viewers in the late window as compared to afternoon windows. Pac-12 games on any carrier rated 12% higher during the evening window as compared to afternoon windows.

Pac-12 games shown during the late window consist of 65% of viewers from the east/central regions as compared to 60% for games shown in the afternoon windows.

The real issue is that college football is king in the south and midwest, and that having a virtual exclusivity in the evening benefits the Pac-12 because Pac-12 games have always had serious trouble competing head to head against SEC and Big-X games.

Regarding H-man voting, it's clear that more voters saw Luck, Gerhart and McCaffrey during evening games than when they played in games that started earlier. The problem is that voters from the south and midwest (and there are lots of them compared to the west region) are voting for "their guys" regardless of the merits, not that they aren't seeing our guys.

Indeed!  If you look at last night, there were three night games featuring a ranked team (UW vs. Cal, Stanford vs. Utah, and SDSU vs. UNLV).  Shift that to the 4 pm time slot and we would have been up against Alabama vs. Texas A&M, Michigan vs. Michigan State and many others.

BC