In the new world of college football on television, one thing seems very likely to remain in place over the next several years: More college football games on the Sunday before Labor Day.
Conferences need to get their games in standalone slots which provide more visibility and television exposure. Conferences with a lot of inventory — and more teams, such as the 16-team Big Ten we’re going to see with USC and UCLA next year — need to put some games on non-Saturday days.
Enter the Big Ten and Pac-12. They are both putting games on the Sunday before Labor Day this season, signaling a definite embrace of this particular day on the sports calendar.
The Big Ten will show Rutgers versus Northwestern on Sunday, Sept. 3, at noon Eastern time and 9 a.m. Pacific on CBS. Then CBS will show Oregon State at San Jose State, which is part of CBS’s Mountain West television package. The Pac-12, though, will benefit from it. OSU-SJSU will air at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific.
Rutgers Wire has more on on the Scarlet Knights’ game versus Northwestern:
“On Wednesday, Rutgers football received game times for seven contests from the Big Ten Conference and its television partners.
“Rutgers kicks their 2023 football season off on Sunday, September 3, at noon against Northwestern. The season opener will be a nationally televised conference matchup on CBS against the Wildcats at SHI Stadium. Also, the season opener versus Northwestern will mark the first time the Scarlet Knights open with a home Big Ten game.”
It’s pretty simple: There’s no NFL football on this specific Sunday. It only makes sense for a lot more conferences and television networks to put college football on the Sunday before Labor Day. Expect the Big Ten and Pac-12 to both pursue this opportunity on a regular basis in the future.
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