Pac-10’s second stage status limits exposure
If you’ve ever been to Lollapalooza, Ozzfest, or any other glorified riot disguised as a concert, then you are familiar with the dismal notion of the second stage.
Tucked behind the trees, sequestered from the rest of the venue, a couple of banjo-toting local hacks wail incessantly as a half dozen people wander by. Meanwhile, merely a football field away, hoards of screaming fans crowd the main stage, trying to catch a glimpse of whichever band du jour is headlining that day.
Sadly, in the world of college hoops, the Pac-10 has been relegated to the second stage. While the other elite teams around the nation are showcased every week on ESPN, Pac-10 powers like Arizona and UCLA are confined to Fox Sports Net, the red-headed stepchild of the sports broadcasting industry.
This season’s Pac-10 television package features 60 regular-season men’s basketball telecasts, but only six of those will be on ESPN or ESPN2. All six of those games are in November or December.
That means until the Pac-10’s three-year contract with Fox Sports Net runs out, the conference will get about as much exposure as a group of Amish men sunbathing in Waikiki.
Former Bruin Earl Watson has yet to see his Alma mater play thus far this season.
“I’m so far away that I can’t get Fox Sports,” the Memphis Grizzlies’ point guard said. “I haven’t seen them play yet. The Duke game was the only nationally televised game that came on, and I had a game that day.”
It’s not that FSN embarrasses itself with its basketball coverage. Former UCLA All-American Marques Johnson and current Anaheim Angels play-by-play man Steve Physioc are an unlikely combination, but they do a credible job (though every time Physioc gets any airtime, I wonder if he has to use spackling compound to get his hair to stick like that).
But ESPN is the foremost source of college basketball news, so a weekly appearance on the network could only improve the coverage that the conference receives.
Even Associate Pac-10 Commissioner Jim Muldoon readily admits he would like to see ESPN work out a deal with the conference, but the two sides have been unable to come to an agreement in the past.
“ESPN has approached us before, but they have offered us the late time slot on Monday nights,” Muldoon said. “That would offer us excellent exposure, but the games would not tip off until 9 p.m. PST or 10 p.m. in Arizona. It’s not worth it to sell out the schools like that.”
Right now most ESPN talking heads have a very cursory knowledge of Pac-10 basketball to say the least. Since most West Coast schools including UCLA do not appear on the network all season, the ever-shouting Dick Vitale must still think that UCLA guard Dijon Thompson is some exotic type of French mustard.
While this ignorance may seem harmless enough, it has certainly contributed to the perpetuation of “East Coast Bias” in the national media.
ESPN does not promote Pac-10 schools like it does teams from conferences like the
Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big-10 that have signed lucrative contracts with the network. This has a negative impact on national recruiting and affects the public’s perception of the Pac-10 come tournament time.
“Exposure in the East is a problem we have in every sport,” Muldoon said. “Fox has done a great job for us. We are one of their premier clients, and we have one of their better time slots.”
Their premier client?
That doesn’t mean much when you are playing the second stage.
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