Why ABC Got Stuck With Florida - Georgia Men's Hoops Game Tomorrow
Athens, GA (February 13, 2009) - Last fall, I was surprised to see that ABC Sports (you know the free television face of ESPN) was listed as broadcasting tomorrow's Florida - Georgia men's basketball game. Don't Saturday Southeastern Conference (SEC) games belong to CBS Sports? Not always it seems. "Under the existing contract, ABC Sports/ESPN has the right to broadcast two SEC games a season," e-mailed Michael Humes, a spokesman for ESPN. And this one is a regional national broadcast. At least this one is not a national broadcast.
There is no pretty way to look at it. This game, scheduled before the season started is a real turkey. When it was scheduled, the Georgia Bulldogs (9-15, 0-9) had the distinction of being the defending SEC Tournament Champions, and people thought this might be a breakout year for the team.
Well, those dreams were not meant to be, as Georgia is currently on an eleven game losing streak. The day after Georgia suffered an 83-57 loss to Florida (19-5, 6-3 SEC), Dennis Felton was fired as coach. Rumors started flying that Bobby Knight was interested in the job. And Georgia kept losing.
Brad Nessler is returning to Athens for the first time in a while to cover this game. The challenge will be for Nessler and broadcast partner Jimmy Dykes to make this one sound good and keep the audience tuned in.
Of course, Georgia might rise to the occasion. Nah, not likely.
Related Link(s)
UGA basketball: Have Dogs given up? (Chip Towers in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
I think sometime in the next few years as contracts come up for renewal you're going to see increased interest in trying to work out the logistics to make flex-scheduling of national TV games work in college basketball.
With ESPN getting the SEC Tournament under its new contract with the conference, expect some more national/regional games on ABC starting next year.