You have heard the expression “timing is everything.” What is also true: Time slots are everything.
The Pac-12’s ownership of the late-night time slot means it has something other conferences don’t have. USC, however, wanted Big Ten television dollars, which means leaving late-night and being available in more time slots during the day.
Naturally, when USC is on the road in the Big Ten, the Trojans will appear a fair number of times on Fox’s Big Noon Saturday. When Fox gets a chance to feature the Trojans, it certainly will.
Yet, in order to maximize the value of the Los Angeles market, the Big Ten will naturally want to have USC on in the prime 4:30 p.m. Los Angeles window (7:30 Eastern).
It goes without saying that USC home games will almost always be 4:30 kickoffs in the Los Angeles Coliseum. That point requires zero discussion or debate.
All in all, then, if USC will make a few Big Noon Saturday appearances but will play most of its games in that 4:30 L.A. time window, that means NBC Sports is in position to become the main broadcaster for USC football in the Big Ten.
This doesn’t make NBC the official network of USC. That distinction belongs to Notre Dame. Yet, NBC getting the night (4:30 in Los Angeles, 7:30 in the East) game window is a natural pairing with USC. The Trojans are the geographical outlier in the Big Ten. NBC is getting the game slot which matches the Trojans’ market and can fully max out its value to the Big Ten.
We discussed this in the article found at the bottom of this page:
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