UGA and South Carolina kicks off CBS's 3:30 coverage with our game in Columbia on September 13th.
The other complicating factor is that the new SEC Network will have up to 3 games slots per Saturday, with the likely kickoff times on those Saturday only weekends being noon (see our Troy game), 4pm, and 7:30 pm. Several of those timeslots may have co-broadcasts, most likely noon and 7:30, to avoid competition with CBS's game. ESPN also will grab games for their networks as they see fit.
For my money, the biggest upside of the SEC Network is that the SECN has acquired the third tier rights for all football games. That means the PPV/WSB/local channel games, like Charleston Southern, will now be on the SEC Network. Essentially, there are two tiers now: CBS gets the first tier and ESPN/SECN gets the second tier. Any game not covered by either CBS or the ESPN/SECN will likely be picked up by Fox Sports South (or their other regional sports networks).
I believe CBS still has their two 6 day window options per season, but have to assume we'll know on most games 12 days out, like in years past (if you have info on that, please share it).
Times and networks in bold are confirmed.
Date
|
Opponent
|
Time
|
TV
|
|
8/30/2014
|
Clemson
|
5:30pm
|
ESPN
|
|
9/13/2014
|
at South Carolina
|
3:30pm
|
CBS
|
|
9/20/2014
|
Troy
|
12:00pm
|
SECN
|
|
9/27/2014
|
Tennessee
|
7:30pm
|
ESPN2
|
|
10/4/2014
|
Vandy
|
4:30pm
|
SECN
|
|
10/11/2014
|
at Missouri
|
7:00pm
|
ESPN
|
|
10/18/2014
|
at Arkansas (in Little Rock)
|
4:30pm
|
SECN
|
|
11/1/2014
|
Florida
|
3:30pm
|
CBS
|
|
11/8/2014
|
at Kentucky
|
7:30pm
|
ESPN2
|
|
11/15/2014
|
Auburn
|
3:30pm
|
CBS
|
|
11/22/2014
|
Charleston So.
|
12:00pm
|
FSN or SECN
|
|
11/29/2014
|
Tech
|
7:30pm
|
SECN
|
A couple of notes:
- CBS still has their doubleheader weekends, one with a prime time kickoff and one with a noon kickoff. Those weekends are scheduled for October 11th for the noon/3:30 weekend and November 8th for the 3:30/8pm weekend. Alabama at LSU is a near mortal lock for the 8pm game on November 8th.
- Missouri could end up being the second SEC game on CBS for the 10/11 weekend with a noon kickoff. Unless LSU or Florida is terrible, then we could end up at 3:30. That means 11am central kickoff out there.
- Clearly, I'm betting ESPN nabs UGA at Mizzou as their top game and puts it on at night.
I know. One night game at home. Just the way I think it shakes out.Only two noon kickoffs!- Vandy could be at noon or it could be at 7:30, but I think it'll be the SEC Networks 4:30 game.
- Changed my mind on Tech. Didn't notice the A&M-LSU game is on Thanksgiving night. Doh!
- This is the way I see that weekend's games being picked: CBS is showing Auburn at Alabama; That means ESPN will have the option of grabbing a 'rivalry' game for their inventory. FSU hosts Florida and Clemson hosts South Carolina (Kentucky is at Louisville, too), so one of those games will be on ABC's main network as a lead in to Ohio State/Michigan, the other on ESPN later in the day as a part of their ACC package. The SECN will still have Tenn at Vandy, Miss State at Ole Miss, and our home game with Tech.
- I think we'll end up with the night game, as Georgia and Tech are likely to be the best match up, though the Egg Bowl could trump us because it is an SEC vs. SEC game. Tennessee at Vandy is your noon SECN kickoff there.
Thoughts?
TD
4 comments:
I know ESPN is still working on it, but man it's making me nervous they don't have a deal in place for SECN on Time Warner yet.
I'm wondering if it's time to pull the trigger and move to DISH because I can't get U-verse and TWC is dragging their feet.
If things end up the way your projecting that would be pretty much my perfect home schedule for UGA. Three late afternoon kickoffs between 3:30 and 5:30, two true night games, and two early kickoffs (I'd prefer 1:00 or 2:00 instead of noon, but not a huge deal there).
I really hope things play out this way. It's already our best home schedule since possibly forever, hope we get good kickoff times.
While UGA's philosophy on night games was the primary cause of the plethora of noon kickoffs in years past, the reason we were forced into those was CBS's exclusive broadcast window at 3:30.
I believe the University admin has softened some on night games, but now that CBS's 3:30 game isn't exclusive, meaning only one game be played in that 3:30-6:30 window, it opens the opportunity for UGA administration to have day games that kickoff at a more reasonable time.
Also, the Tech game is so up in the air, it could just as well be 4:30, now that I think about it. The only thing I'm certain of is that it'll be on SECN (which means it definitely won't be on SECN, right?).
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