65 Comments
Sep 15, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Since Amazon doesn't use a TV channel, would that make it possible for Pac-12 to schedule games at reasonable hours?

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Addresses the kickoff times, yes. Could play earlier in the day. But do you lose your advantage of the time zone if you do it? Now you're head to head with the SEC and Big Ten.

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Sep 15, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Yes

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Sep 15, 2022·edited Sep 15, 2022

the issue with late kickoff times is not something that is the fault of (or largely in control of) the conference.

1) TV partners will pay more for the PAC to play at 7:30pm when no one else can play then they will pay to play afternoon games

2) those games will get better ratings on the whole (which is why they are worth more money) than they would going up against the BIG and SEC in earlier time slots

Plenty of blame to place on a decade of Pac-12 leadership, but the direction the Earth rotates is not one of them, nor is general fan apathy in the Pac footprint

Amazon will have the same desire as ESPN - a game being played with as little of competition as possible.

at the end of the day, you can either maximize the media money, or you can reduce late kicks. it's impossible to do both.

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Sep 15, 2022·edited Sep 15, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Love this idea! We have Prime (not Apple TV) and so I would not have a problem picking up games. Right now here in Scottsdale, I use Hulu-TV, a streaming service, with great satisfaction. But Hulu (ie Disney) does not carry Pac-12 (but does Big 10) and so I am cut off from Beavers games much of the time. With Amazon, I would get all that I want. If ESPN wanted to buy rights to specific games, I am sure Amazon would negotiate. Selling rights to individual games has become a regular thing. From the Pac-12 perspective, this is a chance to set itself apart and be part of the "cool crowd". The younger generations around the world will love this and it will elevate the Pac-12 profile. Since Amazon and Apple are West Coast based companies, they also can take care of their employees and stakeholders in the process. Win-Win-Win... I sure hope this all works out and then I can get all my teams in one place.

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I think blending espn and digital would be ideal.

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I believe that is where this is headed. I have David Carter, USC professor, on my radio show later today. We'll discuss.

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Feels to me like this comes down to a competition for digital rights between ESPN+ and Apple/Amazon. Which is good for the P12 since at least there's some leverage, as you said, John.

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this is where i bet we land. ABC/ESPN package for tier 1 and tier 2, with the current Pac12 network content (tier 3) all flowing onto a streamer

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I say, go all in with Apple/Amazon. Everything in this world is changing so rapidly so be creative and leave all the others wondering and second guessing their situation. As long as the PAC 12 will have access to college football championships with competitive revenue coming from Apple/Amazon, I don’t see a dramatic downside. Maybe we can truly once again become the conference of champions.

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I am in! I have Amazon and Apple TV. Might save me some money in the long run and so far both of those streaming platforms know how to produce sports since I watch an occasional game on there now.

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As the owner of a sports bar I am interested in how they would handle commercial accounts for streaming games. Amazon Prime signed a deal with Directv to air games for Thursday Night NFL this season for bars. Interested to see if this is a one time deal or if using a carrier such as Directv is how games will be shown commercially in the future.

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I would not be averse to taking such as risk, as long as you're certain a streaming service is going to go all out to promote and market your product, which if they pay a premium I'm sure they would. Amazon is intriguing because they would have the Thursday NFL games to promote upcoming games that weekend.

If nothing else, Amazon Prime and AppleTV+ are far more accessible to the public than Pac 12 Network is.

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As a person who has stubbornly stuck with cable TV, what the Pac-12 does might influence what do with my own technological future. I am not old, but am not thrilled with jumping around on internet based networks. Fortunately, I do have Amazon Prime. Curious to see what the conference does.

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This is the NHL leaving ESPN for SportsChannel in 1988. It absolutely kneecapped them. The Pac-12 HAS to be on TV if they hope to be relevant.

Otherwise they're the Big Sky.

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Prime may only be in 40% of households, but who is it who wants to watch Pac 12 games? Those 60% may be NFL fans or not football fans at all. I don't watch broadcast TV and rarely watch Netflix, but I LOVE Pac 12 football. Some of these numbers are meaningless.

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Why would a person want to watch amazon for Thursday Night Football? My comcast, which includes high speed internet,a home phone with free long distance, 800 channels with voice activated remote controls on 3 tvs, and a sports package that includes the SEC, Big 10, ACC, the pac 12, the NFL channel, the NBA and MLB channels and also the NHL , suits me fine, and is a great deal. when you compared soccer to futbol Americano , you lost me. Any sport where you cannot touch the ball with your hands, you can watch for many hours and see it end in a 0-0 tie, and in some south american countries, there is a moat around the field, and in Europe fans have been known to riot in the stands, is not for me. If I want to watch people run with no scoring allowed, I will watch track and field meets, which I like. 0-0 ties? why even play? the timbers are a joke to me. their owner is like donny trump; his daddy fronted him some money to get started. the city of Portland, even before the Bureau of Land Management and the tents on the sidewalks, was real stupid. They let soccer play in Multnomah Stadium, but will not let PSU football play their home games there? I saw the last baseball game there on September 6, 2010. I saw Stan Musial play there with the St. Louis Cardinals in an exibition game vs. the Portland Beavers, their AAA, team in 1957. My grandfather worked for a lumber brokerage firm in downtown. The company had two box seats, side by side. I was pretty young but the Cards were already my favorite team, as my dad loved Stan the Man. I saw Jimmy Buffet there and I have always liked him a lot. I saw Pokey Allen and the PSU Viks play college play-off games there in the late 1980s. I viewed great high school games there. I was in high school and saw my teams win state championships there in football and baseball with Ad Rutschman as coach. Ad's grandson, Adley Rutschman now is a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles. Some feral cats who lived under the stadium, attacked some fans there one night. I saw the Beavers get buried there in 1986 vs. UCLA. It was the last time the Beavos played there. I saw my first college football game there in 1958 and Air Force was playing. I took a picture with my first box camera of the real falcon flying at halftime. I saw Mel Renfro and also Terry Baker there in their college years. The Beavers and Ducks used to play their biggest games in Portland, and my dad and I would go. NFL football played pre-season games there! I saw my first live NFL game , on a Saturday night My first live NFL game!! Wow, and I did not know I was getting to go until late in the day. According to John Canzano, Harry Glickman arranged for a regular season NFL game there, which I did not know. It was before the worst team currently in the NBA, Your Portland jv team, coached by an alleged sex offender, who was not a very good player, and is a horrible coach, started using Memorial Coliseum for their home games. The year was around 1970, and Glickham helped bring the Blazers to Portland. I used to have season tickets to the team in the early 90s when Clyde Drexler and Rick Adelman lost, in the 1990 and 1992 finals to Michael Jordan. The Blazer games were fun and they sold alcohol in MC. Now at the Rose Garden or whatever you want to call it, Jody Allen rips you off for 15 dollars for a watered- down well drink. The Blazers are so bad, I will not watch them on my comcast, and I get all 82 regular season games. They tanked amost all their games last year, as they wanted a higher draft pick. . They ditched C.J. Mccollum, who played in the play-offs last year with New Orleans. The other guard they have, Lilliard, needs more tats, and is not a guy to build a team around; you need some good big men. They have none; their only one is very injury prone. Jody Allen, and the vulcan from Seattle, who was a close friend of Paul Allen, and in control allegedly of this train wreck, know nothing about the game. Jody never even went to games when her brother owned the team. The only thing I liked about Blazers was when they were in the play-offs very recently. I bet against them in each game. Like taking candy from a baby. All the bros I used to work with told me Portland was going to win the title; they were serious. I told them in 1977 I saw the Blazers win the title and it would not happen again until 2030 if they were lucky. They thought I was a stupid wanna be who did not know or like the game; because I was caucasian and 70% of the players were non-white. They called me a racist; I laughed and told them to look in the mirror. Why do minorities always cry and use the race card if things do not go their way? Why does a portland city commissioner, who up for re-election, dislike cops so bad? Why did she lie on nationwide tv and say she saw portland cops setting fires when the BLM started rioting in Pdx three years ago? She had to go on tv the next day and admit she lied. I am voting against her for sure., in Nov. 2022. Fact check me on anything as I am USA citizen who votes, was born here in PDX and still live here. I have the best piece of photo ID in the world, a valid USA passport. I am a self- employed registered travel agent and I work from home. I wager on football at the casino in Sheridan, Or regularly. So far this year I have gone 2-2. I lost on the Beaver game because Jeff Tedford iced the OSU kicker. I won on USC over the Cardinal. For the NFL, my two locks went 1-1. Tampa Bay buried the Cowboys, and the new Denver coach, asked his kicker to kick a short 64- yarder, when his career long was 63, and he was 1 of 7 on 60 yards or more, NFL kickers have gone 2 of 43 on fg over 60 yards; fact check me. The Bronco coach was worse, than sub super Mario Cristbal , on clock management. Denver wasted 40 seconds near the end, and with Wilson as qb tried the field goal when they could have had a 4th and five. The tv announcers, and the Mannings, and myself, were saying when Denver should have called a TO. In football at the end in a close game, the oc play caller, up in the booth, has to think and call 3 plays at once in advance during his time-out. The next day the coach admitted he was wrong. Tonight, I have Kansas City at home straight up with the money line. KC has won 6 straight home openers. Their qb is one of the best in the game. He has won a super bowl, Chargers had to travel, Herbert will not have his favorite receiver, who got hurt last week,and most of all, LA beat Mahones in week 2 last season in KC. I have said before I dislike the Cowboys, and always have. Their season is over and they will not beat Cincy this week. Their owner has no general manager; only team in league without one. He refused to put his qb on ir. The guy, who is way over-rated anyway, had surgery for a broken bone in his throwing hand. If a owner or gm puts a player on IR, they have to sit out a minimum of 4 weeks. Jerry Jones thinks his team can still have a good season. They have not won a super bowl in only 27 years. Their season is for sure over. If Prescott comes back in 3 weeks it will not matter. The cowgirls will be lucky to win a game before that. They will have a losing season no matter what, but their ignorant owner thinks they will make the play-offs. Damn idiot, reminds me of donny trump. I have to run to get to Sheridan casino before game starts. It is a 60 minute drive from Portland. You have to bet in cash in person, unless you are not smart. I will post my college picks tomorrow, and my pro games either Friday or Saturday. I have a column called Donnie Duck's Latest on substack.com, and I got inspired by Mr. Canzano; I am bald too, and I know football. An early pick is USC over Jeff Tedford from LA Saturday night. Ducks might lose to BYU. Beavers should beat powerhouse from SEC, Montana State, in Portland. Later gator, and afterwhile crocodile. Donnie Duck

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I'd be happy with a mixture of ESPN and a streaming service. Prime, Disney+, YouTubeTV and all the rest are available here in New Zealand. Bring it on. Working from home today and will have the Bolts/Chiefs game open whilst getting my work done! 12:15p kick :)

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I was wondering about Asia Region as a growth market for American Football games and if they are factoring this in at all. As you pointed out, the time differences seem to be favorable for US West Coast night games. I have read where interest in NFL (I don't know about College) is increasing especially in China. But I think Amazon Prime Streaming is not available in China,. However, Apple TV is through licensing agreements with Tencent.

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@Chip, things are changing, fast. With a blowtorch broadband service you can get almost anything now, sometimes needing to use a VPN but increasingly available without. The NFL is popular all over the world - the NBA more so IMO. One of my colleagues here in Wellington - a Kiwi - is the biggest Celtics fan I know - and I know a fair few. He pays for League Pass and records the games to watch when his kids have gone to bed.

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Linear television is dying a slow death. Most kids that are college age and younger spend a lot more time on streaming services than they do on linear networks. A move by the PAC to Amazon would be a huge win financially and set up the conference for the future world of digital sports streaming. I expect the success of the NFL "experiment" on Amazon will open the door for college sports and by the time the next media cycle comes around the linear networks will be left in the dust.

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Agree. My college kid is into Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Hulu.

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The PAC-12 and ESPN will be watching viewership numbers for tonight’s Chiefs-Chargers game with great interest. A bigger-than-expected audience will give the conference some negotiating leverage with the Worldwide Leader. We’ll see.

On a related note, there’s something to be said for audience quality. Streaming brings a younger, more affluent viewer—an audience for which advertisers are willing to pay a premium. Again, TBD.

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I have five days left on

My trial Amazon prime account. I absolutely hate the fact that you have to pay Amazon for games. I get their marketing but it will isolate over half of nfl fans minimum and make Thursday night football obsolete. I can see the nfl two years from now eliminating Thursday games, which they should have anyway. If the PAC12 goes with a streaming service, where there’s a fee for the consumer to cough up, it’ll kill the PAC12. On a side note, it’ll be interesting how smooth this steam goes tonight. I hope they have all kinds of issues.

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I think it's why the NFL is balancing the streamers with their linear products.

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If you have cable, you’re paying for games. Amazon is simply a different provider.

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I need a primer on streaming. I am a cable fan and do not understand streaming. Do I need new equipment? I assume I pay a monthly fee to the streaming service. Do streaming services provide the same or similar content as cable if I "cut the cord"? I only need sports and news but my wife watches all sorts of other stuff that I never see. (I still have a landline too!). Sure will miss seeing Herbert tonight.

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These conversations will be important. There's a swath of people who will have to learn new habits. I'm glad you asked.

Help him out...

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If you have Comcast Xfinity or Charter Spectrum, you likely have the ability to add the Amazon Video "app" (really just a link through to Amazon using your cable / Internet connection) right now. You would log in with your Amazon account credentials (assuming you pay for Prime, as you must do that to have access to Amazon Video) and then it's available to navigate with your remote and TV.

I have found this to be a bit clunky and slow with my Xfinity X1 box but it might be improved with newer ones.

Our household has an Apple TV and use that device to visit streaming video providers. Amazon also has an item called a 'Fire TV stick' that plugs into an HDMI port on your television.

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Thanks. I am in Bend. I'll check my provider.

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I guess I will NEVER see another Thursday Night NFL Football game as long as amazon is involved. I'm proud to say that I have never had amazon deliver anything to me and that will go for amazon video. Sure hope amazon doesn't get involved in the Pac-12.

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Feels inevitable that Amazon/Apple are players.

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The may be players in the future, however I don't have to play in their leagues. I despise both companies. amazon because what it has done to small business and apple for cramming down our throats MP3 music files. First time in history where the new format was worse sounding music quality than the previous format it seeked to replace.

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Apple lets you listen to lossless music now, you might want to get over it. Hating corporations is a mug's game, they all do things you would despise if you knew.

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