Playoff Kickoff Times

[Professor Chaos]

I'm not positive of this but I'm guessing that either ESPN or the NCAA was a little more insistent on kickoff times for playoff games at least for the 2nd round games this year. It first caught my eye since NDSU almost always kicks off at 2:30PM CT and, in the past, that 2nd round game seems to have pretty much always been whatever the host institution's preference was so that 2nd round game at NDSU was always a 2:30PM kickoff as well but this year it's 2PM. Looking at the full schedule for the 2nd round it goes Maine at 11AM CT, Colgate at noon, Kennesaw at 1PM, NDSU and SDSU at 2PM, Weber St at 3PM, EWU at 4PM, and UC Davis at 7PM.

For comparison's sake last year the 2nd round kickoff times were JMU/Jacksonville St/Wofford at 1PM CT, SDSU/SHSU/UCA at 2PM, NDSU at 2:30 PM, and SUU at 5PM. So from 2:30 to roughly 4PM CT there were 7 games going on at once and then by about 5:30-6PM only one game (which was done by 8-8:30).

I think it's a good thing that was hopefully orchestrated by the NCAA or by ESPN rather than just working out coincidentally. Hopefully that means they're starting to pay a little more attention to growing the viewership of the tournament.

FWIW the first round game kickoffs are more concentrated with three kickoffs at 1PM CT, two at 2PM, one at 3PM, one at 4PM, and one at 6:30PM but I'm guessing for Thanksgiving weekend they just want the host schools to kickoff whenever they can get a decent amount of fans to show up.


Also, I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but based on the brackets I've seen (https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O0MC1QHihZXdqAhHE9uT1KcMmKg=/0x0:1268x1724/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1268x1724):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13453151/Screen_Shot_2018_11_18_at_12.48.44_PM.png) all of the FCS playoff games that aren't on the ESPN networks will be on ESPN3 rather than behind the ESPN+ pay wall. So that's good news also. :)

EDIT: More good news from a TV perspective. According to that bracket I linked above (https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O0MC1QHihZXdqAhHE9uT1KcMmKg=/0x0:1268x1724/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1268x1724):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13453151/Screen_Shot_2018_11_18_at_12.48.44_PM.png) the Saturday at 11AM CT quarterfinal time slot is back on ESPN and not bumped to ESPN2 like it was last year. That game was typically the most watched of the playoffs (even more than the title game) before they moved it to the deuce last year. And finally, the Saturday semifinal that always used to be on ESPNU looks like it'll be on ESPN2 this year.

[cx500d]

I'm not positive of this but I'm guessing that either ESPN or the NCAA was a little more insistent on kickoff times for playoff games at least for the 2nd round games this year. It first caught my eye since NDSU almost always kicks off at 2:30PM CT and, in the past, that 2nd round game seems to have pretty much always been whatever the host institution's preference was so that 2nd round game at NDSU was always a 2:30PM kickoff as well but this year it's 2PM. Looking at the full schedule for the 2nd round it goes Maine at 11AM CT, Colgate at noon, Kennesaw at 1PM, NDSU and SDSU at 2PM, Weber St at 3PM, EWU at 4PM, and UC Davis at 7PM.

For comparison's sake last year the 2nd round kickoff times were JMU/Jacksonville St/Wofford at 1PM CT, SDSU/SHSU/UCA at 2PM, NDSU at 2:30 PM, and SUU at 5PM. So from 2:30 to roughly 4PM CT there were 7 games going on at once and then by about 5:30-6PM only one game (which was done by 8-8:30).

I think it's a good thing that was hopefully orchestrated by the NCAA or by ESPN rather than just working out coincidentally. Hopefully that means they're starting to pay a little more attention to growing the viewership of the tournament.

FWIW the first round game kickoffs are more concentrated with three kickoffs at 1PM CT, two at 2PM, one at 3PM, 1 at 4PM, and 1 at 6:30PM but I'm guessing for Thanksgiving weekend they just want the host schools to kickoff whenever they can get a decent amount of fans to show up.

Also, I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but based on the brackets I've seen (https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O0MC1QHihZXdqAhHE9uT1KcMmKg=/0x0:1268x1724/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1268x1724):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13453151/Screen_Shot_2018_11_18_at_12.48.44_PM.png) all of the FCS playoff games that aren't on the ESPN networks will be on ESPN3 rather than behind the ESPN+ pay wall. So that's good news also. :)

Time to cancel espn+


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[JSUSoutherner]

Our kickoff time is 115% because of the Iron Bowl.

Gonna get bounced in Primetime this year.

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