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As the article explains, the net effect of the changes meant to speed up the games is that the fans will see less action than their tickets formerly provided them. Less value is the equivalent of a price increase.
But, as anyone who has attended a major college game can attest, the main reason for the slow pace of football and basketball games is the many commercial time-outs.
Years ago, when the NCAA sold the rights to televise the games, it gave away the right to control the schedule and the time-clock. The NCAA allows an on-the-field TV "official" to call timeouts, even for games not being televised (ostensibly to maintain similar conditions from game to game).
The result of this "anything to get on TV" attitude is about 30 minutes of dead time for each football game and an extra 20 minutes for a basketball game.
In addition to the longer games, there are additional side effects from the advertising timeouts. Some schools, including Iowa State, fill many timeouts by playing recorded music, replacing the atmosphere of college football with all the class of a county fair or a sock-hop. We'll see if fans cheer or boo this car radio stagecraft when the temperature drops in November and they get to watch more minutes of less action while freezing in place.
How much better the game would flow if the NCAA were to return the time clocks to the players, coaches and officials. Other televised sports have shown how this could be done.
For example, the Indianapolis 500 has used a split screen to show both commercials and the race, recognizing the impracticality of stopping a race for advertising. Televised golf has made extensive use of taped replays so viewers can see the action from around the course, although not necessarily in real time.
The TV people could also replace their standard 30-second repetitious commercials with shorter messages that could air between plays. But the advertisers won't innovate unless they are faced with losing the audience that only major college sports deliver.
By reducing the enjoyment from attending a game, while ignoring the real time killer in college sports, the NCAA risks driving that audience away.
C.K. Walter
132 Broadmoor Circle
Ames
