According to Sports Business Daily, ESPN offered to televise the decisive game of the College World Series on the flagship ESPN station in primetime Thursday, , and the NCAA turned them down.
Instead, the NCAA opted for an afternoon start to the game between Coastal Carolina and Arizona, and because Wimbledon was locked into ESPN and a Euro 16 quarterfinal was slotted for ESPN2, the network was forced to air the CWS title game on ESPNU. ESPN explained the situation in a statement emailed to SBD:
“We offered a primetime window on ESPN as a preferred rescheduling option for Game 3 of the NCAA College World Series Finals. The NCAA made the decision to play the game at 1 p.m. ET. ESPN and ESPN2 have previously scheduled Wimbledon and Euro games airing this afternoon. We were able to find a window on ESPNU and look forward to televising the matchup.”
The game was initially scheduled for Wednesday night but was postponed due to lightning in the area.
Per the Omaha World-Herald, the NCAA’s meteorologist cautioned against playing Thursday night as well.
“There is more of a chance of weather coming in (Thursday) night than today,” NCAA executive Ron Prettyman said. “If we had delayed it to evening and went through this again, we might have been in same scenario.
“We may not get the TV assignment we had hoped for. But we’ll be able to play our national championship game in a window that will allow us to finish it.”
Not only will the game likely draw poor viewership on ESPNU, which is broadcast into more homes than ESPN and ESPN2 and is located less centrally on the TV dial, but it also seems that attendance at TD Ameritrade Park has suffered due to the start time.
Not many people here today.. Kind of a shame considering what's on the line #PeopleHaveToWork pic.twitter.com/OrvttPBYpu
— Brad Fralick (@_BradFralick) June 30, 2016
Meanwhile, weather.com projects no more than a 15 percent chance of rain in Omaha at any point or tonight, with no thunderstorms in sight. The NCAA presumably decided to start early with the best of intentions — they have no incentive to drive down TV ratings — but it sure seems someone made the wrong call.
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About Alex Putterman
Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.