ESPN Big Monday with Big 12

T

TheFied

2,500+ Posts
Ron Franklin was doing our Big 12 "Big Monday" Texas/OU game last week (as he does all the Big 12 Big Monday games) and made a great point.

When the Big 12 secured the 8pm CST Big Monday time slot, that was a coup. This is a huge timeslot. We are basically in the same time slot and station as Monday Night Football. And although people know that MNF is not on, many people want to watch sports on monday night and we have the primetime slot. The 6pm CST slot for Big East is not as good; that is too early here and on the west coast it is at 3pm PST.

Did you guys catch what Franklin said about the Big 10? Did he say that they had it and turned it down? We have been on Big Monday for what seems the length of the Big 12?
 
I also heard that comment. I think he's exactly right. That Big Monday spot is huge for the conference. I believe he did say the Big 10 turned it down, but I don't recall the reason. So, their loss is our gain. I love Big Monday. Especially since Texas has a pretty good record on it (except for last Monday).
 
I think it came down to time slots. Most of the Big 10 is in the Eastern time zone.

So an 8pm start time would be a 9pm tip on the east coast. TOO LATE. So they chose a day that had a better time slot... Tuesday. (They wanted 6pm time slot... 7pm tips on east coast) (More TV's on East coast anyway from 7-9 rather than 9-11)
 
The schools in the EST were (IIRC) uniformly unhappy about the late starts. It was Bob Knight who raised the issue and essentially forced the B10 to move to early Tuesday slots.

Interestingly, the SEC apparently doesn't give a flip. Just tell them what time to be there.

The story Ron did not tell is that waaaayy back in the day, the infant ESPN (with few homes to sell) approached the Southwest Conference about playing a GOTW. They were turned down.

It's hard to tell what kind of politics would have been played once ESPN proved itself to be a boon for college sports -- that is, at what point the big conferences would have pushed the SWC out of the way -- but overall, I'd have to say that decision was a mistake.
 
The basketball being played in the SWC was so atrocious, I think I could make the argument it was a wise move. But I still get your point.
 
No, this was in the early '80s. SWC hoops was still decent to outstanding.

W------- did his share of taking it down, of course. But by the mid-'80s Guy V. was on the way out, then Sutton left for Kentucky, and it was over.
 
Bob is right. We stuck with Raycom. Probably a good decision as the SWC needed to die.

We were in the SWC for the 1st 3 years of my undergrad days at UT so I have some fond memories of the SWC. It needed to be replaced though; everyone in the same state just doesn't fly anymore.

That said, I've said it before and I'll say it again. I wish I had Dan Beebe's phone #. I wish that the Big 12 would rename the Divisions. South -> Southwest. North -> Midwest. The 4 teams from the South get to keep the "Southwest" name plus Oklahomans consider their area the Southwest. Plus I don't think that people in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska consider themselves northerners as much as they do "Midwesterners". Anyway, I think that would be a better name.
 
As someone who grew up with Big Monday all the way back to the days of the BIG EIGHT (yes, the BIG EIGHT), Monday nights after the first of the year for me have ALWAYS been reserved for basketball watching. It's tradition.
 
Isn't that silly? They won't go up against their ESPN game so they push their own start to 9 PM. Comcast in Houston gets Big Ten (Eleven) Network, and I remember watching Purdue/Penn State with virtually no one in the stands for the 9 PM tip.

I wonder how many UT fans will come out for the 8:30 game with Missouri. Who will be the first to complain about the start time on Hornfans?
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