Once again, ESPN has extended a giant middle finger to the fans -- this time both the home and visiting fans. If I were a Miami fan I would extend a giant middle finger back by boycotting this and any other game that kicks off at 10:30pm.
Wow, ESPN really f'd up on this one. How many Miami fans will watch a 10:30 start and stay up til 2:30 AM to watch the this game? How will the advertisers like spending money on a commercial and not many people will watch it? I for one, do not like the long drive home to Browns Valley at 11:30 til 1AM. I know many of our seat mates who will skip it to watch it on TV. BOO HISS!
Further evidence ESPN doesn’t give a hoot about the college game day experience for fans on the West Coast. How many more of Cal’s games will be relegated to this crappy “After Dark” slot that is purely a creation/media branding that amounts to putting lipstick on a pig. It’s similar to the ESPN Big Monday concept back in the eighties-nineties. At that time the PAC rejected the late start times for basketball games. This is again nothing more than an East Coast money hungry executives’ brain child, and why ESPN wanted Cal and‘Furd in the ACC for football. I hate this trend of being pushed into the dark-time slots that result in people back east passing on the game. Many will maybe watch the first quarter only. Hence not good for national exposure, which many people thought would be a saving grace of joining the ACC. It’s worsened the experience as well for many of us aging fans who actually go to games. ESPN couldn’t care less.
Cal's game will be the only thing on after about 8:30, so all football eyeballs on us. There are two games starting at 5:00. When I lived on the East Coast, I liked having a late game, but one ending at 2 AM IS pushing it a little.
A late start gives me all day to pregame! I think it's fun to have some games under the lights. Who knows what will happen. Not only did we beat Cam Ward the last time out, but we beat Miami the last time. 2008 Emerald Bowl. That was a fun one, 24-17.
Let's get realistic. Yes we beat them back in 2008. Why does that matter???? . All these players on both sides were just between 4 and 7 years old at that time. Having history against a perennial opponent is one thing it is not one that you played 16 years ago. Let's make new history since We will be playing them maybe at least every other year with a 17 team conference.
I think this game should have been a 4 or 4:30pm game due to a ranked east coast team being involved, but that said . . . these late ESPN games actually don’t get bad ratings historically. Even our game against SDSU got 930k viewers, and that is on the relative low end for the late Saturday time slot.
Last year, CSU-Colorado (in the middle of the crazy Deion circus) got 9.3 million while starting at 10pm ET! That’s an outlier and not typical, but these games often get 1 to 2 million viewers. Our Auburn game last year got over 2 million.
The Cal-FSU viewership (less than our game with SDSU) is instructive of the idea that sometimes it might be better to be in a time slot with less competition from other games, even if it's late.
That's actually surprising. I was told that FSU deserved the big bucks because of all the eyes they bring, though. I guess SDSU belongs in the SEC/Big Ten more than they do.
Yeah, I thought the FSU game would do better just because FSU draws attention. But I guess this shows a couple of things:
1. ESPN gets a bit better ratings than ESPN2.
2. A time slot with less competition helps your numbers too.
The SDSU game fit both of those criteria. I’m now very curious what kinds of numbers the Miami game might do. A Top 10 ranked team, two big media markets, with only one other game (Texas Tech-Arizona) seriously competing for attention? Could be big.
One of the issues w Pac12 After Dark was that no one on the east coast would watch Pac12 games (I recall trying to stay awake at 2am for a Cal/ASU game while back east….), but that’s because they didn’t care about the teams. But now they do! So there will be more East coast eyes on THIS after dark than others!
I'm very excited for this matchup. But this should be an afternoon game. It's an opportunity to showcase our stunning campus and beautiful stadium setting to a national audience. The Tennessee game in '07 is a perfect example of this. All that is lost with a night game. Not to mention the whole Berkeley game day experience.
I'm surprised ESPN decided to stick a Miami game in such a late window (you'd think they'd want to capture more of the east coast audience here). They had other options for a game in the late window (like ASU). But hey, maybe it will be an advantage for Cal!
Once again, ESPN has extended a giant middle finger to the fans -- this time both the home and visiting fans. If I were a Miami fan I would extend a giant middle finger back by boycotting this and any other game that kicks off at 10:30pm.
Ugh. Don't care for night games. Either in person or on TV. Also, Alumni Band Day. Which means us olds trying to stay energized past bed time.
Wow, ESPN really f'd up on this one. How many Miami fans will watch a 10:30 start and stay up til 2:30 AM to watch the this game? How will the advertisers like spending money on a commercial and not many people will watch it? I for one, do not like the long drive home to Browns Valley at 11:30 til 1AM. I know many of our seat mates who will skip it to watch it on TV. BOO HISS!
Whoa, I live in Browns Valley too, the Napa one, not Vacaville. It is a bit of a haul for these 7:30 PM games.
My Browns Valley is 20 miles west of Grass Valley, just off highway 20
Went past that Browns Valley on a camping trip once. That is a real trip for a 7:30 game in Berkeley.
Cal beat Cam Ward last year, they can do it again
Further evidence ESPN doesn’t give a hoot about the college game day experience for fans on the West Coast. How many more of Cal’s games will be relegated to this crappy “After Dark” slot that is purely a creation/media branding that amounts to putting lipstick on a pig. It’s similar to the ESPN Big Monday concept back in the eighties-nineties. At that time the PAC rejected the late start times for basketball games. This is again nothing more than an East Coast money hungry executives’ brain child, and why ESPN wanted Cal and‘Furd in the ACC for football. I hate this trend of being pushed into the dark-time slots that result in people back east passing on the game. Many will maybe watch the first quarter only. Hence not good for national exposure, which many people thought would be a saving grace of joining the ACC. It’s worsened the experience as well for many of us aging fans who actually go to games. ESPN couldn’t care less.
Cal's game will be the only thing on after about 8:30, so all football eyeballs on us. There are two games starting at 5:00. When I lived on the East Coast, I liked having a late game, but one ending at 2 AM IS pushing it a little.
A late start gives me all day to pregame! I think it's fun to have some games under the lights. Who knows what will happen. Not only did we beat Cam Ward the last time out, but we beat Miami the last time. 2008 Emerald Bowl. That was a fun one, 24-17.
Let's get realistic. Yes we beat them back in 2008. Why does that matter???? . All these players on both sides were just between 4 and 7 years old at that time. Having history against a perennial opponent is one thing it is not one that you played 16 years ago. Let's make new history since We will be playing them maybe at least every other year with a 17 team conference.
I think this game should have been a 4 or 4:30pm game due to a ranked east coast team being involved, but that said . . . these late ESPN games actually don’t get bad ratings historically. Even our game against SDSU got 930k viewers, and that is on the relative low end for the late Saturday time slot.
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/
Last year, CSU-Colorado (in the middle of the crazy Deion circus) got 9.3 million while starting at 10pm ET! That’s an outlier and not typical, but these games often get 1 to 2 million viewers. Our Auburn game last year got over 2 million.
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/2023-season/
Thanks for the link. Cal FSU at 887k.
Hopefully the Miami game will be 1-2 million.
One has to admit that we are in a far better position than the PAC 12 network days
The Cal-FSU viewership (less than our game with SDSU) is instructive of the idea that sometimes it might be better to be in a time slot with less competition from other games, even if it's late.
That's actually surprising. I was told that FSU deserved the big bucks because of all the eyes they bring, though. I guess SDSU belongs in the SEC/Big Ten more than they do.
Yeah, I thought the FSU game would do better just because FSU draws attention. But I guess this shows a couple of things:
1. ESPN gets a bit better ratings than ESPN2.
2. A time slot with less competition helps your numbers too.
The SDSU game fit both of those criteria. I’m now very curious what kinds of numbers the Miami game might do. A Top 10 ranked team, two big media markets, with only one other game (Texas Tech-Arizona) seriously competing for attention? Could be big.
Or……..
One of the issues w Pac12 After Dark was that no one on the east coast would watch Pac12 games (I recall trying to stay awake at 2am for a Cal/ASU game while back east….), but that’s because they didn’t care about the teams. But now they do! So there will be more East coast eyes on THIS after dark than others!
I'm very excited for this matchup. But this should be an afternoon game. It's an opportunity to showcase our stunning campus and beautiful stadium setting to a national audience. The Tennessee game in '07 is a perfect example of this. All that is lost with a night game. Not to mention the whole Berkeley game day experience.
Exactly
I'm surprised ESPN decided to stick a Miami game in such a late window (you'd think they'd want to capture more of the east coast audience here). They had other options for a game in the late window (like ASU). But hey, maybe it will be an advantage for Cal!
Let’s see, Miami body clock 10:30 at kick off, after 1:00 AM by the 4th quarter.
I like these night games. I hope we have many fans in attendance. We got our tickets. You tell them we are coming, and hell's coming with us.
Who’s gonna be our Ike Clanton?
Sebastion the Ibis.
Fact