Could it be an accident of location?
Late-night West Coast games are referred to as occurring the “Fourth Window” — after 10 p.m. ET. As much ribbing as the Pac-12 has received for those games (#Pac12AfterDark), there is no way around them. They are valuable programming that fills late-night TV slots with guaranteed ratings.
That’s why the late window is key for the Pac-12. It may be why ESPN could remain engaged with the conference beyond Thursday’s reported expiration of an exclusive 30-day negotiating window. Without the Pac-12, ESPN may not have late-night football. Fox is already set there with its Mountain West contract.
One industry course speculated: If ESPN doesn’t get a piece of the Big Ten, does it go all-in with whatever is left of the Pac-12?
“An alternative to the Mountain West” is a helluva sales pitch, fellas.
Get The Picture 
Re-alignment (or not) based upon TV scheduling time slots. Sounds great!
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While I’m not going to stay up until 1:30 on Sunday morning to watch the finish of a Pac 12-2 game, I imagine there are plenty of people in the central time zone and later who will. That why I really thought a marriage of the Big 12 and the remainder of the Pac 12 would be attractive to the TV guys. While USC and UCLA have the So Cal market, Oregon, Utah and Washington actually play a good brand of football right now.
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Gamblers all over the continental US will stay up and watch those 10:00 pm EST kickoff games they bet on.
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Lots of action on those Pac-12 late games is pure chasing…
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Bail out….
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But damn it, as a college football junkie I love me some Pac12 after dark. And Hawaii home games even better!
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That’s true, but that’s not me. 😉
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The networks do not make contract decisions under expectations that everyone will watch the programming.
My belief is that there are enough cfb bettors in the eastern and Central time zones to give acceptable ratings.
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Yes, I understand that.
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Yeah, I hope SC and UCLA are ready to play at 7 pm local every home game when they move to the B1G.
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Content is King. They should be able to get a good media deal.
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If Oregon and Utah can’t draw a TV crowd then the Pac12 is dead.
Those two should be able to bring in a late night east coach audience
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“Without the Pac-12, ESPN may not have late-night football.”
Don’t be so sure about that. If espn doesn’t get a piece of the contract, can we safely assume we’ll be seeing MAC starting times at 10:00 eastern? Maybe ACC too. There’s gotta be a way of ‘doing it for the players’ in there somewhere.
This comment is tongue-in-cheek, but who knows…
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You are closer to the truth, than the MAC/ACC cares to admit…
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I love Pac 12 After Dark games. There is nothing better than a College Football Saturday starting our tailgate at 7 AM, watching the early games and then walking down the hill to Sanford Stadium at 3:30 pm and then heading back to my buddy’s place in Athens with takeout to hit the 7 pm and later games. You can’t ask for a better Saturday.
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agreed with godawgs1701 – – ain’t nothing finer than coming home after a huge Georgia win, having some dinner, then letting the wife fall asleep while I semi-watch #Pac12AfterDark and continue basking in the glow of victory. #FeelsGoodMan
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David Shaw approves this message.
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