Pac 12 Network proceeding without live football games

The delayed and long-awaited Pac-12 football season kicks off in just days. The first game will pit Arizona State against USC at 10 a.m. Saturday in a game that will be televised nationally on Fox. The USC brand has long been regarded as one of the most traditional in college football and it’s a chance for the Sun Devils to grab a share of the spotlight too.

This season all Pac-12 games will be on major networks — FOX, FS1, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU — with none relegated to the Pac-12 Network. When the schedule was first announced that lack of Pac-12 Network games struck many as odd, but there just aren’t enough games for the conference to satisfy its obligations to the major networks and have some left for the conference network as well. It’s the revenue generated from those major networks help drive college athletic programs.

In a normal season the Pac-12 has 80 or so games to offer, with between 40 and 45 of those going to network partners. That would still leave a good balance of games for the conference network to air on Fridays or Saturdays.

With each team playing only seven games at the most it means there are just 41 total, with the 42nd being the conference championship game, which is already spoken for in a national spot.

“We’re all one big family so we’re happy for our games to be on those major networks,” said Larry Meyers, executive vice president of content for the Pac-12 Network. “It’s good for those schools and our conference. It’s up to us to promote our schools across platforms and that includes the Pac-12 Network.”

Like every other business, the network has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. There have been budget cuts and staff reductions. While the network furloughed most employees when it had no live content to offer, Meyers says most have been summoned back, although there are changes.

There will be no weekly studio shows on the regional networks, and the Satur

day pregame show has been scrapped in all forms, with nothing from the campuses or the studio headquarters in San Francisco.

Meyers said the network, which launched in August of 2012, is retooling its one-hour highlight show “Pac-12 After Dark” which will air on Saturday nights and feature footage from all six games, with replays later in the week. It will be hosted by Ashley Adamson with Yogi Roth as analyst.

Special guests will be brought in remotely to discuss the bigger games and look ahead to compelling matchups.

“We want to get them out from behind the desk, keep it fun, conversational and light but still informative,” Meyers said.

Meyers added that the network will still be able to take those games that air on other networks and condense them down to the one-hour version dubbed “Football in 60” for airing multiple times the following week as well.

The network will also continue to reach into the archives to air “classic” games as it has already been doing to fill air time for the void left without live games the last two months.

While there are no live football games to fill programming space, it won’t be long before there are other events. Meyers said the network is planning to air 100 or so men’s basketball games, beginning with a handful of contests tipping off on Nov. 25. Schools are still finalizing nonconference matchups, so who will be featured has yet to be determined.

The network will also is also planning to air a full slate of women’s basketball with the Pac-12 the premier conference in the county in that sport.