This weekends game between Washington State and Oregon will not be available on live TV anywhere. It’s such a rare occurrence that a top 5 team plays without being televised that it right raised some eyebrows. Did WSU not want a beating at the hands of Oregon to be seen by the masses? Was Bill Moos getting back at his former employer? Well, no, not exactly.
The Spokesman-Review’s Vince Grippi explains.
A waiver was proposed for a 12:30 start, but the game could not have been on FSN in Washington. Instead, it would have been shunted off to the same cable programming (FSN alternative) that caused such a problem with the Oklahoma State game. And there was no money involved. In fact, with a 12:30 instead of a 2 p.m. start, WSU estimates it loses about $30,000 in pregame concession sales.
In short, there was no incentive for WSU to move the start time. The game would’ve received very little exposure and, with no money to be made, it simply wasn’t worth rearranging everything to accommodate the needs of FSN.
It’s a shame that televising a top-ranked Pac-10 team, even playing bottom-feeder WSU, wasn’t a priority for the flagship network of the conference. With TV negotiations coming up next year, this should be something taken into account by Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott.
For those not in Pullman on Saturday, the game will be replayed on a delay later in the evening or the next day. For everyone else, it’s radio or nothing at all.