Nine of the last 11 Red River Rivalry games have kicked off in the 12:00pm ET slotgetty images
The 12:00pm ET college football window "no longer is where lesser matchups are shoved," as Fox and ESPN/ABC now "trot out marquee games early," according to Berry Tramel of the OKLAHOMAN. The change in tactic can be blamed "partly on the SEC." Fox and ESPN have "decided not to butt heads" with the 3:30pm SEC window on CBS. The hope is that people watching at noon will "stay all day" with the networks. Big 12 Assistant Commissioner/Communications Bob Burda said, "We have heard the same thing from our television partners. All things being equal, they're finding better numbers in the early window. That has become their featured (day) timeslot." Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione said of the networks, "They're trying to aggregate ratings points at the beginning of the day." Castiglione added that the noon window is when the target CFB demo "settles in and starts watching football." Tramel notes in recent years, the early kickoff for OU-Texas has "become standard," as nine of the last 11 games have kicked off in the 12:00pm ET slot. As part of the TV deals, OU and UT "mandate that the game cannot be played at night." Castiglione said of a possible primetime Red River Rivalry game, "That's not on the table. It's not going to be on the table, at least not for the forseeable future" (OKLAHOMAN, 10/5).
