I want to congratulate the NCAA Officials

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Especially their concern for "student" athletes, and that includes the many "student" fans that aren't even in college, but HS and Jr High.

The Pittsburgh games (which last checked was in the Eastern Time Zone) finished after midnight on Saturday night. The ND/Butler (both teams who are in the Eastern Time Zones playing at a site in the Eastern Time Zone) started after midnight.

Last night, pretty much the same thing with WVU and Maryland, only this time it was a Sunday night.

UCLA/UAB (one of which was on Central Time Zone and UCLA is on Pacific Time Zone) started on Saturday at Noon, so that means the city of LA got to get up and watch their Bruins play at 9:00 AM, while the good fans of the Irish were staying up past midnight.

Let's look ahead to the Sweet 16 Matchups.

Thursday: Not much you can do here, but UK/WVU will start at around 10:00 on Thursday night in Cleveland.

Friday is my favorite. In the South Regional in Houston you have UCLA and Gonzaga, both Pacific Time Zones, playing at 7:15. Followed by Duke/Utah. Duke is on the East Coast. I know this is done for ratings, but wouldn't there be more fans on the Eastern part of the country who root for Duke, and on the West Coast for the two West Coast teams?

 

[wbrpanther]

Got to agree with you. Some of these starting times are really out of whack. It also slays me how the NCAA sets up their Sunday schedule on the first weekend. With 8 games to play, 5 of them start after 5pm. During the afternoon they play one game at a time so if it turns out to be a dud you have no other alternatives.

 

[Pitt79]

This is why I never watch the final anymore, it starts at like 9:30 and since I don't care who wins, I never watch. If Pitt ever makes it, I'll stay up!

I'd stay up for a November Pitt game vs. Florida A&M or Sienna that started at 9:30 though.

Really the Final should be on Sunday at 6:00 PM like the Super Bowl, so that it's over by 10:00 and people can get to work and school.

 

[noelr]

Very disturbing. Even the nfl playoffs start at 1 pm on Sundays and this is their full time job.

Lots of dead air times up until 5

 

[JSSTartan]

Totally agree with this thread. The scheduling is terrible. Why on earth do they have a noonish game on all by itself, then a 2:30 ish game too. Followed then by successive tips with multiple games at 5:40ish, 8pm ish and then 10pm ish?

If they would start some earlier to compete with the earlier games, the late games would not be so late.

 

[IamHeisenberg]

Originally posted by recruitsreadtheseboards:

Especially their concern for "student" athletes, and that includes the many "student" fans that aren't even in college, but HS and Jr High.

The Pittsburgh games (which last checked was in the Eastern Time Zone) finished after midnight on Saturday night. The ND/Butler (both teams who are in the Eastern Time Zones playing at a site in the Eastern Time Zone) started after midnight.

Last night, pretty much the same thing with WVU and Maryland, only this time it was a Sunday night.

UCLA/UAB (one of which was on Central Time Zone and UCLA is on Pacific Time Zone) started on Saturday at Noon, so that means the city of LA got to get up and watch their Bruins play at 9:00 AM, while the good fans of the Irish were staying up past midnight.

Let's look ahead to the Sweet 16 Matchups.

Thursday: Not much you can do here, but UK/WVU will start at around 10:00 on Thursday night in Cleveland.

Friday is my favorite. In the South Regional in Houston you have UCLA and Gonzaga, both Pacific Time Zones, playing at 7:15. Followed by Duke/Utah. Duke is on the East Coast. I know this is done for ratings, but wouldn't there be more fans on the Eastern part of the country who root for Duke, and on the West Coast for the two West Coast teams?

Originally posted by recruitsreadtheseboards:

Especially their concern for "student" athletes, and that includes the many "student" fans that aren't even in college, but HS and Jr High.

The Pittsburgh games (which last checked was in the Eastern Time Zone) finished after midnight on Saturday night. The ND/Butler (both teams who are in the Eastern Time Zones playing at a site in the Eastern Time Zone) started after midnight.

Last night, pretty much the same thing with WVU and Maryland, only this time it was a Sunday night.

UCLA/UAB (one of which was on Central Time Zone and UCLA is on Pacific Time Zone) started on Saturday at Noon, so that means the city of LA got to get up and watch their Bruins play at 9:00 AM, while the good fans of the Irish were staying up past midnight.

Let's look ahead to the Sweet 16 Matchups.

Thursday: Not much you can do here, but UK/WVU will start at around 10:00 on Thursday night in Cleveland.

Friday is my favorite. In the South Regional in Houston you have UCLA and Gonzaga, both Pacific Time Zones, playing at 7:15. Followed by Duke/Utah. Duke is on the East Coast. I know this is done for ratings, but wouldn't there be more fans on the Eastern part of the country who root for Duke, and on the West Coast for the two West Coast teams?

Hey man, I want to watch two games at once, can't you NCAA officials spread out the start times so games aren't overlapping. The complaining can go both ways.

 

[Atch]

What really irks me is, when their is one game on by itself, it is always Duke or another very high profile team. You're stuck having to listen to all the bull s..t accolades of that team. It reminds me of the Rose Bowl. Their are always four games opposite each other, but no games opposite the Rose Bowl.

 

[Harve74]

There is a very simple explanation

The tournament is scheduled to maximize ratings, thus commercial payments and TV money.

CBS pays the NCAA something like $2 BILLION dollars. If they wanted to schedule and televise games at 3 AM, the NCAA would do it and gladly. The Men's Basketball Tournament funds the NCAA.

If not for the TV money, the tournament would likely not exist in anything near its current form. Certainly, we would not have 350+ schools in Division 1 and quite possibly, Division 1 would not exist. It's quite possible the NCAA would not exist.

 

[upj87]

I have no recollection of them handling things this way in the past. What on earth could be the logic in this? Just does not seem right to start a game after 9pm anywhere (and I still hate the 9pm start for its lateness). Let's have you play an entire year being used to a steady constant array of common tip times and throw something out of the ordinary at you now at tournament time. Reminds me of the half hour halftimes at the Super Bowl....

 

[sck1025]

UPj87- I think they started these "new" start times when the CBS/Turner conglomeration happened.

In the years prior CBS would have 4 games televised Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

Start Times Saturday would be 1 game at 12:00, 2 games at 2:30, 3 games at 5:00 and then 2 games tipping at 8:00

Sundays were 1 game at 12:00, 4 games at 2:30 and then 3 games tipping at around 5:00 and, then obviously for CBS 60 Minutes in its entirety.


I seem to remember Notre Dame playing Florida St the year it started at the 9:40 time slot on a Sunday night in Chicago.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Re: There is a very simple explanation

Originally posted by Harve74:
The tournament is scheduled to maximize ratings, thus commercial payments and TV money.

CBS pays the NCAA something like $2 BILLION dollars. If they wanted to schedule and televise games at 3 AM, the NCAA would do it and gladly. The Men's Basketball Tournament funds the NCAA.

If not for the TV money, the tournament would likely not exist in anything near its current form. Certainly, we would not have 350+ schools in Division 1 and quite possibly, Division 1 would not exist. It's quite possible the NCAA would not exist.

Harve.....I appreciate the insight, I didn't realize the NCAA was about money. BUT..........looking ahead to this week, UCLA/Gonzaga at 7:15 EST? Duke/Utah at 9:45 EST? Wouldn't the first game get better ratings in the later time slot than Duke, I know Duke is a big draw, but UCLA and Gonzaga are two West Coast powers.

That doesn't make sense.

 

[Harve74]

Re: There is a very simple explanation

Doesn't make sense to me but obviously some consulting service decided that was the best way to maximize viewership. Both Utah and Gonzaga are located in fairly "rural" areas with not a lot of TV market to draw viewers.

I would agree with your original point that the NCAA really doesn't give a hoot about the bedtimes of college students. I'd suggest their opinions about what is best for their concerns is simply different from YOUR opinions.

Sorta like many of our fans and Jamie regarding Barton. ☺

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Re: There is a very simple explanation

Originally posted by Harve74:
Doesn't make sense to me but obviously some consulting service decided that was the best way to maximize viewership. Both Utah and Gonzaga are located in fairly "rural" areas with not a lot of TV market to draw viewers.

I would agree with your original point that the NCAA really doesn't give a hoot about the bedtimes of college students. I'd suggest their opinions about what is best for their concerns is simply different from YOUR opinions.

Sorta like many of our fans and Jamie regarding Barton. ☺

Yeah, but right now I am taking and sticking to my opinion on Barton over Jamie's. Cause right now, I am looking a lot more right.

 

[Harve74]

Re: There is a very simple explanation

Originally posted by recruitsreadtheseboards:

Originally posted by Harve74:
Doesn't make sense to me but obviously some consulting service decided that was the best way to maximize viewership. Both Utah and Gonzaga are located in fairly "rural" areas with not a lot of TV market to draw viewers.

I would agree with your original point that the NCAA really doesn't give a hoot about the bedtimes of college students. I'd suggest their opinions about what is best for their concerns is simply different from YOUR opinions.

Sorta like many of our fans and Jamie regarding Barton. ☺

Yeah, but right now I am taking and sticking to my opinion on Barton over Jamie's. Cause right now, I am looking a lot more right.

You might be right on the East Coast vs West Coast scheduling, too. But message board posts aren't going to change either of them.

 

[braves2121]

Originally posted by sck1025:
UPj87- I think they started these "new" start times when the CBS/Turner conglomeration happened.

In the years prior CBS would have 4 games televised Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

Start Times Saturday would be 1 game at 12:00, 2 games at 2:30, 3 games at 5:00 and then 2 games tipping at 8:00

Sundays were 1 game at 12:00, 4 games at 2:30 and then 3 games tipping at around 5:00 and, then obviously for CBS 60 Minutes in its entirety.


I seem to remember Notre Dame playing Florida St the year it started at the 9:40 time slot on a Sunday night in Chicago.

This is exactly correct. The NCAA wanted every game nationally televised. CBS said we are willing to pay $XX Billion to retain our exclusive window on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. So TBS and TNT don't start broadcasting until nighttime. It's a joke but it is 100% about money.

 

[bwh05]

Originally posted by braves2121:

Originally posted by sck1025:
UPj87- I think they started these "new" start times when the CBS/Turner conglomeration happened.

In the years prior CBS would have 4 games televised Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

Start Times Saturday would be 1 game at 12:00, 2 games at 2:30, 3 games at 5:00 and then 2 games tipping at 8:00

Sundays were 1 game at 12:00, 4 games at 2:30 and then 3 games tipping at around 5:00 and, then obviously for CBS 60 Minutes in its entirety.


I seem to remember Notre Dame playing Florida St the year it started at the 9:40 time slot on a Sunday night in Chicago.

This is exactly correct. The NCAA wanted every game nationally televised. CBS said we are willing to pay $XX Billion to retain our exclusive window on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. So TBS and TNT don't start broadcasting until nighttime. It's a joke but it is 100% about money.I also love the hypocrisy of this when paired with the football playoffs. The NCAA didn't want 2 football teams missing an extra week of class by adding another round to the football system, but it's totally fine to have basketball teams tipping off at 9:45pm 1400 miles away from their campus on a Thursday night

 

[Harve74]

$2 Billion dollars outweighs a lot of academic concerns and hypocrisy.

It's a made for TV event. That's the reason it exists. Without TV, the only spectators would be friends and parents.

The schools will pimp their FB teams out and have them play on Thursday night for MUCH less. There was at least one FBS game played EVERY night if the week last season.