Colorado is in its final season in the Pac-12, a conference known across the college football sphere for its “Pac-12 After Dark” late kickoff times.
Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders seems to despise those late kickoffs, as he strongly stated in his weekly radio show in Boulder on Wednesday night.
“Thank God we’re not going to be in this conference,” Sanders said, per David Ubben of The Athletic. “Who makes these 8 o’clock games? That is the dumbest thing ever. It’s the stupidest thing ever in life. Who wants to stay up until 8 o’clock for a dern game? What about the East Coast? Do they even care about ratings or anybody watching it?”
The Pac-12 also has seen its fair share of 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. local time kickoffs this season, thanks in large part to Colorado’s explosion in popularity behind its first-year coach in Sanders. In fact, Colorado is responsible for five of the 10 most-watched games this season, per Ubben.
Different television networks have different prerogatives regarding approach to television rights inventory, as ESPN and the Pac-12 Network have prioritized late-night kickoffs for their conference coverage, while Fox has tried to include Colorado games in its Big Noon Kickoff window.
Regardless, Sanders isn’t a fan of the team’s night schedule, It remains to be seen just how much better that will get when Colorado joins the Big 12 next season.
