The lack of a television venue for this Saturday’s football game at Arizona State is embarrassing.
It’s embarrassing for both schools, and ultimately the Pacific-10 Conference.
But don’t blame Oregon’s athletic department. They’ve been scrambling since the lack of coverage was announced to try and find a way, any way, to get the game televised. After they exhausted several options, they found a loophole in the television contract that would allow them to beam their live feed (intended for Oregon Sports Network replay later on Comcast SportsNet) back to the campus for viewing on closed-circuit campus cable television. This means you can actually manage to see the game if you or a friend live in a dorm room; a group viewing in the Erb Memorial Union is a possibility, and some area bars are even hoping to snag the signal.
So for all of you spouting vitriol toward Pat Kilkenny and the department, take a freakin’ chill pill. Yes, we are all disappointed, probably none more so than the people in the athletic department.
Because when your team fails to secure television for a game, not only is the fan base frustrated, potential recruits miss a chance to see your team. Maybe they even take notice of the lack of television coverage and decide they’ll go somewhere a little more visible.
So thanks, Arizona State. Yes, I’m looking at you, because you could have stopped this from happening.
You see, Fox Sports Net spokeswoman Jill Wiggins told Rob Moseley of the Eugene Register-Guard on Tuesday that FSN Arizona was willing to produce a telecast also to be aired on FSN Northwest if Arizona State moved the kickoff time to 3:30 p.m., but the Sun Devils declined.
FSN would be next in line for the blame game, as they first chose to televise USC versus Arizona as their late game, then exercised their contractual right to block an OSN broadcast of the Oregon game in that timeslot. Which begs the question: If they thought there was a viewer market for the game, why not choose to air it in the first place? Afraid of pissing off the Trojans?
Of course, their willingness to air the game should the time change makes them look a whole lot less culpable for this disaster than the Sun Devils, who just look petty, bitter, and downright ridiculous.
Then again, what do you expect from Dennis Erickson? Class? Don’t hold your breath.
So point your frustration to the right place fans, not at Kilkenny and his department, and not even at the lame Pac-10 television contract, but where it belongs: Tempe.
And though you might be feeling a little frustrated about this whole thing, you are not alone.
“It’s frustrating – frustrating for our fans and frustrating for us (to not have) an opportunity for family and friends who can’t make it to that game to see the guys play,” said Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti.
“Also for us to play a seven o’clock game, get back at 4 a.m. Sunday morning and not have it televised. I understand it’s ASU’s home game and it’s their choice, and I think they’re just trying to sell tickets,” he said. “I would hope we would never schedule a night game unless it was televised because it just puts the visiting team in a really difficult situation for the next week.”
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