Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson said that he has asked ESPN to "try and find a way" to get the Boise State football team "at least one game with an earlier start time" in '17 amid growing frustration from the team's fan base, according to B.J. Rains of the IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE. BSU has started 17 of its past 23 home games after 8:00pm MT, including five of six after 8:15 in '16, and the result is "unhappy fans" and a nearly 19% "drop in season ticket sales the past four seasons." Thompson on Thursday said that he has spoken with BSU AD Curt Apsey and coach Bryan Harsin and "explained the situation with ESPN." BSU "hasn’t started a Saturday home game" prior to 8:15pm since a 1:00pm start against Tennessee-Martin in '13, and that game was only available on ESPN3. BSU "sold about 19,600 season tickets" in '16, which was a "drop of roughly 4,500 tickets from the program-high 24,109 season tickets sold" in '12. That drop has "coincided with the increased number of late kickoffs as more and more fans have decided to watch games from home instead of staying at Albertsons Stadium until after midnight." BSU "gets $300,000 for a non-Saturday night home game televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC and $500,000 for a Saturday home game on one of those three networks." While BSU "enjoys getting the $500,000 check" for an 8:15pm game on a Saturday, the decreasing season-ticket sales and "rising frustration amongst the fan base has forced them into a tough dilemma" (IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE, 1/27).
