clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Pac-12 Institutes Start Time Changes, No Fun Rule

The Pac-12 concluded their annual meeting bringing some big changes. Also, e-sports!

By Jack Barsch
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Some big news dropped from the Conference of Champion's league office today:

This change to the kickoff times is welcome news to many CU fans and definitely to our athletic director, Rick George. He has been campaigning for a change to start times of football games since he walked through Dal Ward's doors, as many Buff fans are more "experienced" than their conference brethren and could not or did not stay up late to watch #Pac12AfterDark. This change to league rules should add more eyeballs to all Pac-12 games, always a good thing, and bring in some extra leverage for the league. NOW GET DIRECTV AND WE'LL BE HAPPY.

Also hiding in that announcement is the change to court and field storming rules. Here's a fan response to the above Brian Howell tweet:

We might as well call this the "Sean Miller Whines" rule. After CU stormed the court (rightfully so, imo) against Arizona, he went off the handle against court storming, given that his team has been stormed during most PAC-12 road games. It seems like Mr. Miller could not take a compliment, and the league office rewarded him by fining teams for having fun. Bleh. As Brian Howell replied to that tweet, I don't think Coach Mac would have a problem paying that fine for a win. Here's another fun response by everyone's favorite Mayor:

Another thing brought up in the meeting was e-sports. The fastest growing section of the "sporting" world, e-sports will now be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks. Here's straight from the Pac-12 website:

"Finally, following an internal review of the growing interest amongst Pac-12 students in competitive video gaming, the presidents and chancellors approved Pac-12 Networks to commence eSports competitions with Pac-12 universities this upcoming year. Teams from campuses will participate based on a specific game, and the competitions will include head-to-head matchups in studios as well as a tournament in conjunction with a Pac-12 championship event. The game titles and event formats are still to be determined, but will be announced in the coming months."

While many of you may snicker and laugh at games getting onto broadcast television, watching game streaming is a multi-billion dollar industry and it is nothing but a good idea to be on the forefront of broadcasting such competition. This increases PAC-12 Network's global brand more than any other measure that could be realistically taken. Good for them.

More From The Ralphie Report