Breaking News: ESPN's Attempt At Acquiring The ASU-Oregon Game Succeeds (An Update)

Tuesday, October 30, 2007


So I broke the news last night that ESPN had acquired the ASU-Oregon game this Saturday and I wanted to pass along some of the particulars that they released today....

Through an agreement with the Pac-10 Conference and Fox Sports Net, ESPN has added the conference showdown between undefeated #4 Arizona State and #5 Oregon to its national television schedule for Saturday, Nov. 3. ESPN will also offer the game – with coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m. ET – in high definition on ESPN HD. Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe will call the game.

Originally scheduled to be only televised locally in Oregon, Arizona and Southern California, the matchup will be been by a national audience through the agreement of the two networks and the conference. ESPN will show the matchup across the United States except Arizona, Oregon, Southern California and New Mexico where Fox Sports Net will televise the game. The Oregon Sports Network will distribute the game in the state of Oregon.

With the addition of the game, Oregon State at #19 USC will be televised on ABC in the Saturday Night Football window at 8 p.m. (along with Florida State at #2 Boston College and Texas A&M at #6 Oklahoma) and South Carolina at Arkansas will be on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.
Again....ESPN did an amazing job of bringing this top game to the masses. So much so that I won't even make fun of them for putting Mike Patrick on the call. Good job....America thanks you.

Breaking News: ESPN's Attempt At Acquiring The ASU-Oregon Game Succeeds
College Gameday Goes Back To Oregon (Awful Announcing)

9 Comments:

Gotta give props to ESPN for that one! That is going to be THE game of the day!

Jay said...
Oct 30, 2007, 1:05:00 PM  

ESPN gets no props from me. If ESPN had first dibs on the Pac 10 game this week, then why the hell did they choose the USC game for primetime FOUR MONTHS AGO?

Maybe they should have waited to pick their games, instead of just assuming that USC was going undefeated.

Anonymous said...
Oct 30, 2007, 2:14:00 PM  

Hmm...interesting angle. If they did that they'd run into the problem CBS faces every single week by moving games around.

Oct 30, 2007, 2:24:00 PM  

ESPN gets no props from me. If ESPN had first dibs on the Pac 10 game this week, then why the hell did they choose the USC game for primetime FOUR MONTHS AGO?

Maybe they should have waited to pick their games, instead of just assuming that USC was going undefeated.


They also decided not to show any Pac-10 games this past week that early as well. I think it might be part of their contract with the Pac-10, which is a pretty old contract. (I think it came before ESPN ever dared to put the Pac in the same sentence as the SEC.) Doesn't make it any less dumb to have the no-flexing weeks come this late into the season, or for the Pac-10 to have no backup plan in case something unexpected happens. The next time it comes up for renewal (as does the FSN contract) is after the 2011 football season.

Oh, and blame FSN for this situation too. I read that the Sun Devils were actually picked to finish ahead of the Ducks this year - a Ducks team that people were picking to beat USC. So what game does FSN decide to show, again four months in advance? Mediocre Washington State against Cal! WTF!

Morgan Wick said...
Oct 30, 2007, 3:53:00 PM  

ASU/Oregon is giving me wood.

GMoney said...
Oct 30, 2007, 3:56:00 PM  

One more thing. If you think ESPN/ABC salivating over USC is bad, at least Oregon State-USC is the second-best game in the Pac-10 that day. You want a bad choice, look at the afternoon Pac-10 game on ABC: UCLA and a downright awful Arizona team!

Maybe this episode will convince networks like ESPN and FSN to pick games on non-flex weeks based on potential competitiveness, not just OMG BIG SHINY MARQUEE NAME!!!! (Hey, did you know Arizona State is like in the top three in terms of enrollment in the country? They might pull decent numbers on their name alone too, ya know!)

Morgan Wick said...
Oct 30, 2007, 3:59:00 PM  

I just want to know if Britney will be watching.

Anonymous said...
Oct 30, 2007, 4:13:00 PM  

whats the over/under on Brittany Spears references?

Steve M said...
Oct 30, 2007, 4:14:00 PM  

The World Wide Leader never takes no for an answer.y

Oct 30, 2007, 6:25:00 PM  

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