With ASU-USC ratings up, could we see more early Pac-12 kickoffs?

Rolling out of bed to catch an early morning kickoff might become more common for Pac-12 fans.

Saturday morning’s ASU-USC season opener outperformed last season’s primetime TV ratings by 6%, according to a tweet from Fox Sports executive vice president Michael Mulvihill.

1.7 overnight rating for ASU-USC on Fox yesterday in the Big Noon window. +6% better than what Pac 12 primetime games averaged on Fox last season.

— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) November 8, 2020

Arizona State’s season opener in Los Angeles was the first game with a 9 a.m. PT in Pac-12 history, with previous seasons including kickoffs at noon local time or later.

With a shortened seven game season and no fans in the stands, Pac-12 could look to potentially continue the morning experiment — especially since Saturday’s game was in competition with election coverage.

Encouraging number given the conditions. Election news viewership at 12n ET made this almost like facing an NFL Divisional. Hope we get another shot at a Pac 12 game at Noon ET in a more normal scenario.

— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) November 8, 2020

Democratic nominee Joe Biden was projected as the winner of the presidential race by most major news networks within an hour of kickoff.

“To schedule the game as early as we did, I think it shows how serious we are about making sure that everyone is paying attention to Pac-12 football,” Merton Hanks, Pac-12’s senior associate commissioner for football operations, told ESPN.

The league first explored the idea of earlier kickoffs back in 2019.

They’ve wanted to focus on drawing in more views from around the country recently, especially Central and Eastern time zones where don’t normally stay up for the late-night games.

And they just may have succeeded this time.

Head coach Herm Edwards was unfazed by the game time, but was proud of his players for adjusting.

“Can you imagine breakfast at 4:45 a.m. for these guys? That’s not early for me … but for these guys it is amazing,” Edwards told reporters via Zoom Monday.

“I think both parties, USC players as well. … I commend all of those young athletes to have to go play a live football game at 9 a.m. Your body clock’s not used to that. It’s one thing to practice, it’s another thing to play in a live game.”

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