GoGamecocks.com
Morris: TV too eager to tune out fans
Posted on 07.31.09
Comments
GALLERY: Steve Spurrier media golf outing
IF YOU NEEDED a perfect example of how television runs college football, you got one this week when North Carolina pulled out of its scheduled 2010 game against South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The ABC/ESPN conglomerate went to work this summer and made everything fit nicely into its prime-time packaging of college football. Fans across the country will be the beneficiaries of a UNC-LSU game in Atlanta to kick off the 2010 season. Ultimately, those same national fans also will get to see USC against an attractive BCS opponent.
So, everything worked out just dandy, right? In the words of ESPN color commentator Lee Corso, not so fast my friend.
Fans of the four schools involved in the TV switch-a-roo will pay the price for television's ability to dictate match-ups, sites and kickoff times. The ones who should be looked after the most -the local fans -are the ones who will suffer the most.
UNC and LSU fans will pay extra for premium-priced tickets to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta, because the game will not be included in either team's season-ticket plan. They also will fork out a small fortune to travel to the game and lodge in Atlanta hotels.
As for USC fans - and the yet-to-be-named opponent - they again get stuck in that vortex called Thursday night college football. Despite paying for the tickets as part of their USC season-ticket plans, thousands will eat the expense because they cannot fit a late-night, mid-week game into their work schedules.
"It's a little inconvenient for the fans, certainly, on Thursday night," Steve Spurrier said Thursday at his annual media golf outing. "But that's just the way it is nowadays. You play when television tells you."
That is true more than ever with the Southeastern Conference recently signing a $2.2 billion, 15-year deal with ESPN. If the sports programming network wants the SEC to play a football game at 4 a.m. on a Wednesday in Puerto Rico, you can be assured the league will make it happen.
"For as much money as ESPN is paying all the SEC schools, yes, we'll play when they tell us to," Spurrier said. "That's part of the two-way street of the deal. That's part of college football."
This all got started because the Chick-fil-A Bowl expanded its product a year ago to include a season-opening game between marquee opponents, a game that ABC said it would love to televise. Last year, Clemson and Alabama squared off. This season, the game matches Alabama against Virginia Tech.
The ripple effect of getting UNC against LSU in 2010 is that the Tar Heels do not want two potentially difficult non-conference games against SEC opponents. USC played in Chapel Hill a season ago, and the home-and-home contract called for a Sept. 18, 2010, game between the schools at Williams-Brice Stadium.
ABC helped arrange the game in Atlanta, then ESPN jumped in to help UNC out of the mess it created with USC's schedule. ESPN has promised to land a BCS opponent for USC to open the 2010 season on a Thursday night, presumably not giving one moment of thought to those USC fans who wanted to see the game against UNC.
Television networks never have much cared for on-site fans and the game's participants when they schedule sporting events. Thus, we have college basketball games that tip-off at 10 in the morning and at midnight. Never mind that student-athletes participate in these events.
Rare is the occasion when a school stands up to a TV edict. Georgia apparently is one of those schools. It refuses to play Thursday night football games, no doubt against the wishes of ESPN.
"How do you like those Thursday night games?" Spurrier recalls Georgia head coach Mark Richt once asking him.
"They're fine, especially early in the season, because you get two days off and you have nine days between your first and second (game)," Spurrier recalls telling Richt.
"I'd like to do that, but our athletic director and our school, they don't believe in Thursday night games," Richt said.
With the new deal between the SEC and ESPN, it will be interesting to see if Georgia sticks to its principles. My guess is that we will someday soon see the Bulldogs playing USC on a Thursday night. Kickoff should be sometime around 11 o'clock.
Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM
Most Viewed Stories
- USC recruit could be removed from high school
- SEC basketball: Midseason report
- SEC releases baseball TV schedule
- Morris: USC's Nainima develops into star
- USC Taking Look At Florida Lineman
- Townsend Says Clemson Making Strong Push Right Now
- Break hurts Bradley's hand, USC's lineup
- Mauldin's Norton Grew Up A Gamecock Fan
- Recruiting: Compare and contrast never ends
- Bone named SEC freshman of the week again
@Nyx.CommentBody@