11 A.M. Kickoffs in football

[Steakonastick]

Heard some bad news last night. Get ready for espn and the sec network to start having at least 2-3 sec games starting at 11:00 am in the near future. More times then not the sec network and espn had better ratings for 11am games then afternoon and night games.

It's mostly due to the large group of people in California and the west coast who love the sec network. They wake up and watch the early games. But by the afternoon and night they are doing other things.

[Reason2succeed]

It sucks for tailgaters but as someone who lives far from campus it makes sense. It's more likely for people to be sitting around watching games at 11am and noon than 3pm, 6pm and 7pm. I find myself watching random teams at 11am just to get a football fix in the morning. Hopefully we are on ESPN more than the SEC network though.

[Dawgbite]

That just means more people than us will be playing at 11. We are the reason the ratings were so high***

[Hunkaburningdawg]

Heard some bad news last night. Get ready for espn and the sec network to start having at least 2-3 sec games starting at 11:00 am in the near future. More times then not the sec network and espn had better ratings for 11am games then afternoon and night games.

It's mostly due to the large group of people in California and the west coast who love the sec network. They wake up and watch the early games. But by the afternoon and night they are doing other things.

This is the reason I won't be getting season tickets this year.

[Joe Schmedlap]

1100 am kickoffs suck.
Thanks, Obama.

[ShotgunDawg]

If we are going to go down this road, why not just go to NFL game times?

First games: 12:00 CT

2nd games: 3:30 CT

Night Games: 7:30

At least if we are going to do this give everyone an extra hour.

[AROB44]

1100 am kickoffs suck.
Thanks, Trump.

FIFY

[msbulldog]

1100 am kickoffs suck.
Thanks, Obama.


FIFY

Is this a political thread?

[sleepy dawg]

This will hurt ticket sales, but will increase tv revenue, and in the end will be bad for the game.

[msbulldog]

This will hurt ticket sales, but will increase tv revenue, and in the end will be bad for the game.

If it increases TV revenue minus loss of ticket sales, we get more money, we benefit. If we put a good product on the field and are successful we will sell out. If we sell out and get more TV revenue we double win. If we are successful we will move to better time slots.

[nsvltndog]

I understand the need for the early time slot, but they should set a limit on how many times you end up with a home game in that slot during the season. It will likely never happen since TV controls everything.

There are 2 dynamics that are going to be interesting to watch in the coming years and both of them are worry me.

1. Will ESPN has lose enough subs that they have to lower their contracts w/ conferences like the SEC. ESPN has essentially turned into a boat anchor for Disney's stock. Right or wrong, Wall Street drives pretty much everything in corporate America. Right now they are trying to maximize revenue under the existing contract with the SEC which means if ratings are higher at 11 AM then they will do everything they can to take advantage of that situation to increase ad revenues, etc. The real worry is the overall financial health of ESPN when it is time to renegotiate the SEC Network deal.

2. Will your typical SEC fan base have enough fans that are fed up with the 11 AM slot and/or simply enjoy the big screen 4K experience vs the hassle of traveling to campus 7 times per year that season ticket sales begin to suffer and folks start picking up tickets for only the games they want to attend. In the case of MSU you still end up with a full stadium for Bama, LSU, Ole Miss, etc. but instead of having a lot of empty seats for games like South Alabama, the seats are still empty, but also unsold unlike today where a lot of those empty seats are from season ticket holders that decided not to come for an 11 AM non-conference game.

I worry that both of these scenarios are in play. There is really a 3rd scenario that may be even larger which is are the college students and recent graduates that have spent their times as students only attending 1/2 of each game during one of the greatest runs ever of MSU football going to be interested in becoming our future season ticket holders or are they going to be more interested in watching on their smart phone. This situation is not unique to MSU.

Companies and industries often run into challenging times. The best adapt to the situation and come out better. It's certainly possible that we could see the same in SEC Football, but there is work to do every single day to make it happen. Putting the best product on the field week in and week out is certainly good place to be starting from.

[RocketDawg]

My main objection to 11 a.m. slots is early in the season when it's so darn hot. They should reserve those times for midwestern schools that have more tolerable weather at that time of the day. We no longer tailgate but I can see how an early start would not be desirable for those who do.

[IMissJack]

If they would put all teams on a rotation for this BS, I would go for it. But we know they have to "reserve" night games for Baton Rouge and a few select. Bama will get the 2:30 and whoever plays them.

Edited to add: I live 600 miles away, it's difficult to make travel plans when game times change so much. Even when they don't change, 11 sucks for us that drove in.

[RocketDawg]

If they would put all teams on a rotation for this BS, I would go for it. But we know they have to "reserve" night games for Baton Rouge and a few select. Bama will get the 2:30 and whoever plays them.

Didn't we play Bama at 11 this past season? I seem to remember that we did. If so, our crappy record outweighed the Bama influence.

But yes, your idea would be more equitable. I suppose they're not really looking for fairness though.

[IMissJack]

Thursdays are even worse. No way for out of staters that work to get there.

[RougeDawg]

Is this a political thread?

This is why we can't have nice things.

[RocketDawg]

Thursdays are even worse. No way for out of staters that work to get there.

Thursday nights don't really impact me since I'm retired, even though out of state. I can travel most any day of the week. But Thursday nights can impact even locals that work with the late finishing time.

This year, OM game attendance for me is still undecided since it's on Thanksgiving and we normally spend that time with family ... in Atlanta. Might be better in my case to sell or give the tickets away and watch on television.

[ScottH]

i have spoken to a couple of folks in the last week where this topic has come up.

Due to the time slot issue coupled campus exit hassles both are non renewing season tickets.They both calculated with license fees they were paying $300+ per club ticket per game.

They will just both buy ala carte on the secondary market for the games they want to see.

Interestingly both have condos and still plan on traveling to town all game weekends. Just some viewing will be big screen.

I wonder if this is the beginning of a trend?

[TUSK]

Didn't we play Bama at 11 this past season? I seem to remember that we did. If so, our crappy record outweighed the Bama influence.

But yes, your idea would be more equitable. I suppose they're not really looking for fairness though.

Yep... and that sucked.

[I seen it dawg]

Yep... and that sucked.

Well welcome to the rest of the 11:00 world big timer

[RougeDawg]

If they would put all teams on a rotation for this BS, I would go for it. But we know they have to "reserve" night games for Baton Rouge and a few select. Bama will get the 2:30 and whoever plays them.

Edited to add: I live 600 miles away, it's difficult to make travel plans when game times change so much. Even when they don't change, 11 sucks for us that drove in.

I hear you. This is complete bullshit and I will not be attending as many games if they are 11 am kicks. Leaving Nola on a Friday can be miserable.

The reason ESPN is losing revenue is their liberal left agenda they've now put out in the public on every broadcast, special clip, etc. To some extent the NFL is feeling the revenue loss too. When people tune into sports they want to get away from the PC police and propaganda media. Now every ESPN analysts is giving political opinions and we have the "Bob Costas" segments during f*cking halftimes and timeouts.

[TUSK]

Well welcome to the rest of the 11:00 world big timer

no shit, fortunately it is a rare occurrence.

[coachnorm]

Heard some bad news last night. Get ready for espn and the sec network to start having at least 2-3 sec games starting at 11:00 am in the near future. More times then not the sec network and espn had better ratings for 11am games then afternoon and night games.

It's mostly due to the large group of people in California and the west coast who love the sec network. They wake up and watch the early games. But by the afternoon and night they are doing other things.

Watching SEC Football at 9AM on west coast time is awesome and you are correct mostly. Out west we can watch college ball until 11PM and get to bed at a reasonable time. Dedicated football watchers just have a better opportunity to watch football because of the time zone. They do not watch the SEC ball and call it quits, they just watch more country wide ball than east coast viewers.

I have to buy plane tickets from San Diego to attend MSU games. I take vacation time to support my commute time. A MSU game is expensive for me and not having tailgate time to bond with the MSU experience can get depressing. BTW going to Starkville and escaping the Southern California rat race is money well spent.

[Dawgowar]

Heard some bad news last night. Get ready for espn and the sec network to start having at least 2-3 sec games starting at 11:00 am in the near future. More times then not the sec network and espn had better ratings for 11am games then afternoon and night games.

It's mostly due to the large group of people in California and the west coast who love the sec network. They wake up and watch the early games. But by the afternoon and night they are doing other things.

Curious where you heard this from? If it is speculative fine, but no way the SEC lets a handful of West coast twits take away the tradition of our evening and night football. Those times are set in the contract anyway. % at 11:00, % at 3:00, % in primetime. ESPN is starting to decline at a faster and faster rate anyway. They either shift their business model or a lot of their contracts are going to fold. You can't keep insulting 40% of your customer base with political rants and keep your market share. Add to that a generation rising that does not watch sports on the level of previous generations and things are not good for the 'World Wide Leader". So glad there is more and more competition for ESPN to contend with these days. Tired of them turning my escape of sports into shouting matches.

[RocketDawg]

no shit, fortunately it is a rare occurrence.

Not that rare for us. I think we had 3 home starts at 11, plus the one in Tuscaloosa for 4. Maybe it was just 2 home starts, but that would still be 25% for our team.

[Steakonastick]

I've heard it from two different people one in the athletic department and the other is a broadcaster on the sec network during basketball season.

The problem is espn does not care about when a game is played. They just care about how many tv's are watching. And they hold the contract for 17 more years.

And for the record I wish every game was in that 4pm to 6pm range except in August. They would all be at 8 then.

[Todd4State]

There are pros and cons to an eleven AM game. I like the fact that I can be home and watch the rest of the games at night. I certainly understand that it kills tailgating and more than understand the heat factor. Those are legit concerns.

I think there needs to be a limit as far as how many times a team can play games at 11.

[Dawgowar]

I've heard it from two different people one in the athletic department and the other is a broadcaster on the sec network during basketball season.

The problem is espn does not care about when a game is played. They just care about how many tv's are watching. And they hold the contract for 17 more years.

And for the record I wish every game was in that 4pm to 6pm range except in August. They would all be at 8 then.

More people will vote with their feet, cash, and tv clicker. So happy the needs of California are paramount to ESPN. They may wish to pay attention to the actual owners of the conference they seek to profit from. Hopefully somebody restrains this idiocy.

[maroonmania]

There are pros and cons to an eleven AM game. I like the fact that I can be home and watch the rest of the games at night. I certainly understand that it kills tailgating and more than understand the heat factor. Those are legit concerns.

I think there needs to be a limit as far as how many times a team can play games at 11.

If we are going to keep having more and more 11 am games then one thing that really needs to change is the fact that the University wants to roll up the sidewalks by 3:30 and send everyone home. For people leaving to go back home its OK and for folks just tailgating its OK but if you want to spend the day enjoying campus then you are out of luck. They shut the Union down (so you can't watch other games there) and pretty much all the stores and restaurants on campus shut down as well. Now compare that to an evening game where most everything is open the entire day. Makes the "gameday experience" much less enjoyable for a good many fans.