ESPN has responded to criticism over its decision to move the end of Houston’s season-opening win over Oregon State off its main network to make room for Texas.
Houston led Oregon State 26-20 with 9:15 remaining in the fourth quarter on Saturday when ESPN moved the broadcast to ESPNews and the ESPN app. The network instead began its scheduled coverage of Texas’ game against Texas State.
The decision immediately drew criticism from Big 12 fans who had spent more than three hours watching a competitive game, only to have it moved to a less prominent network at its most important moment.
On Sunday, ESPN explained why it made the move.
“ESPN regularly has to make programming decisions when games overlap due to weather impacts, pace of play and more,” an ESPN spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle.
The Houston-Oregon State game had experienced a 30-minute weather delay during the third quarter, pushing the game well beyond its scheduled television window.
“With such a significant amount of time left on the game clock due to the earlier weather delay, the decision was made to shift Oregon State/Houston to ESPNEWS and the ESPN App so the 3:30 p.m. ET game could start on time on its assigned network,” ESPN added.
Houston ultimately pulled away for a 33-20 victory, but ESPN’s explanation probably won’t do much to satisfy Big 12 fans.
The network had a choice between staying with a six-point fourth-quarter game involving No. 23 Houston or showing the opening kickoff of Texas-Texas State. It chose the latter.
For a Big 12 that has spent years fighting for national respect and television exposure, Saturday’s decision was another reminder of the pecking order that exists in college football broadcasting. We all know its true, but ESPN decided to rub salt in the wound, and basically just take the SEC tagline of, “It just means more”. Even if it’s Texas vs…. Texas State?!
Houston did its job by beating Oregon State.
Unfortunately, plenty of viewers had to go looking for another channel to see the Cougars finish it.
