Colorado coach Deion Sanders criticized late kickoff time, plans to sleep
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders was happy to leave the Pac-12 conference this year because he thought it would be an earlier start against teams in his team's new conference, the Big 12.
But that didn't happen. On Thursday, Sanders teased his team's next game Saturday at home against Kansas State with a 10:15 pm ET start time.
“Who does it?” Sanders said Thursday on the Colorado Football Coaches Show. “I mean, who has the power to sit there and say, 'Yeah, I'll let them play at 8:15 (MT)?'
The show's host, Mark Johnson, told him that the television network made the decision in this case, ESPN.
“But how stupid is that?” Sanders said. “How stupid is that?”
“That's what happens when you get a program that everybody wants to watch,” Johnson said.
“But it's not smart for a television executive to say, “We're going to turn the game on this time,'” Sanders said. “Because you're thinking about eyeballs. You're thinking about selling merchandise in advertising. That's all you're thinking about. Why would you do that when half of America is asleep?”
ESPN sees it differently
ESPN would disagree with Sanders' analysis. Last year, ESPN televised a game between Colorado and Colorado State that ended after 2 p.m. ET. It drew an average of 9.3 million viewers and was the most-watched endgame on the network.
ESPN still wants to fill its late timeslots with attractive inventory even if the old Pac-12 West teams leave for leagues based on previous time zones.
Besides, Colorado still draws television crowds, even if the Buffaloes (4-1) aren't ranked in the top 25.
Four of Colorado's five games this season have started at 7:30 pm ET or later. Yet the Buffs are still at number 10m Nationally, the fifth week of the season averaged 4.3 million viewers, according to data shared by the university.
It's a pet peeve for Sanders, who admitted Thursday that 8:15 p.m. local is usually when he can go to bed. He said he plans to sleep before the game.
All the players and plays: Sign up for USA TODAY's sports newsletter.
Follow Brent Schrotenbauer @Schrotenbauer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com.
The USA TODAY app takes you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, eNewspapers and more.
About The Author
