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    • Colorado coach Deion Sanders criticizes the late kickoff time and plans to take a nap
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    Colorado coach Deion Sanders criticizes the late kickoff time and plans to take a nap

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

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    Colorado football coach Deion Sanders was happy to leave the Pac-12 Conference this year because he thought it would mean earlier start times against teams in his team’s new conference, the Big 12.

    But that didn’t come true. On Thursday, Sanders shortened the 10:15 p.m. ET start time for his team’s next home game on Saturday against Kansas State.

    “Who does that?” Sanders said on Thursday on the Colorado Football Coaches Show. “I mean, who has the power to sit up there and say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to let them play at 8:15 (MT)?'”

    The show’s host, Mark Johnson, told him that the television networks would decide, in this case ESPN.

    “But how stupid is that?” Sanders said. “How stupid is that?”

    “That’s what happens when you have a program that everyone wants to watch,” Johnson said.

    “But it’s not wise for a television executive to say, ‘We’re going to broadcast the game now,'” Sanders said. “Because you’re thinking about eyeballs. They’re thinking about selling merchandise in the commercials. You think about all of this. Why would you do that at a time 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 a.m. ET. It drew an average of 9.3 million viewers and was the network’s most-watched late game of all time.

    ESPN wants to continue to fill its late timeslots with attractive inventory, even as Western teams in the old Pac-12 leave for leagues based in earlier time zones.

    Additionally, Colorado still draws television viewers 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 p.m. ET or later. However, the Buffs still ranked 10thTh According to the university, the national average viewership for the fifth week of the season was 4.3 million.

    It’s an annoyance for Sanders, who admitted on Thursday that he would normally go to bed at 8:15 p.m. local time. He said he wanted to take a nap before the game.

    Follow Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected].

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    Madoc Meredith
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