Accepting the reality of the current college football landscape is a good way to avoid yourself from getting too frustrated with the Monday kick off time announcements that are likely to continue throughout the Big 12 football season.
The Big 12 announced its Week 5 kick off times, and of the seven games, only one has a kick off time, and that’s Arizona at Utah, which will kick off at 9:15 CT.
The other six games are all going to be announced late on Saturday, or early morning Sunday, as part of the “Six-Day Selection” window that the TV networks are allowed to impose.
Here’s the official announcement from the Big 12 Conference on X on Monday.
Why is this happening?
In part, because the TV networks want to wait to see how this week plays out and decide which games are the best, and then slot those games in Week 5 based on the hype leading up to the next week of the college football season.
While we understand how the game is played, and that these networks are paying tens of millions of dollars to each school for the TV rights, it doesn’t mean fans can’t cry foul on this.
College Football Should Stand Up For Its Fans
The NFL does not allow flexing game times until Week 12 of the season, when we get a feel for which teams are good and which teams aren’t. But to be in September and not know when your game will kick off until six days before is disappointing, to say the least.
In a perfect world, college football should develop a similar system to the NFL, where kick off times are announced in the spring/summer, and games can’t be flexed until November.
The TV networks wouldn’t want it, but on behalf of their fans, the conferences should have the backbone to stand up for their fans. If the TV networks could do it, they’d do the same thing in the NFL. The NFL won’t allow it. And good for them.
So why not college football?
The TV networks have power, but maybe not as much power as those inside the sport seem to think. But without a commissioner to rally everyone to the same obvious conclusion, we remain stuck in this cycle that typically puts the fan last.
