Pac-12 to experiment with 15-minute halftimes, fewer commercial breaks
LOS ANGELES — Selected non-conference games broadcast on the Pac-12 Network will have fewer commercial breaks and reduced halftimes, conference Commissioner Larry Scott announced Wednesday.
“We’ve worked with our universities on these proposed modifications and over the next few weeks, we’ll be finalizing exactly which games during the non-conference season we will be piloting,” Scott said during his introduction at the annual Pac-12 Media Days.
Halftimes will be reduced to 15 minutes from 20. Scott said he spoke with coaches around the conference when looking into the matter.
“I was delighted to hear our coaches feel like 20 minutes is more than you need from a student-athlete’s health and rest — and X’s and O’s — perspective,” Scott said.
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The move is in part to help maintain viewer interest — “You could lose as much as 30% of the TV audience at halftime,” Scott said — and that ESPN provided research. An NFL game typically lasts three hours, but Pac-12 games can lag for 3½ hours. And many Pac-12 games also are at night Pacific Time, which can run really late for East Coast audiences.
Reducing TV timeouts in number and length isn’t the only option, Scott said, citing British Open television coverage as a model.
“You would’ve seen some new ways of some split screens instead of breaking away from the action,” Scott said. “We are going to be on the forefront of experimenting with some of those techniques.”
Washington coach Chris Petersen is a fan of the move.
“I love it. I can’t stand how long college football games — I don’t like the games at all,” Petersen said. “You do a drive and then you have to wait. You get a first down and then you have to wait for another commercial. That just pains me.”
Instant replay is another new facet of technology the Pac-12 is tinkering with. After experimenting with instant replay at California and Oregon during the 2016 season, the conference will unveil a new centralized replay command center. It will be in the conference’s office in San Francisco.
“Our team in the command center will work in concert with our in-stadium replay officials to manage the replay process of all Pac-12 home hosted games,” Scott said.
Scott also said the Pac-12 Championship will remain at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, where it moved in 2014, through at least 2019 with an option in 2020.
“Levi’s Stadium offers a big time atmosphere and an incredible venue for our most important game of the year. Our student athletes love it,” Scott said.
The commissioner briefly mentioned the conference’s two best teams last season — Washington and USC. With quarterbacks Jake Browning and Sam Darnold returning to the respective teams, Scott also acknowledged the strength at the position around the conference.
“Both the Huskies and the Trojans appear to be loaded again this season and ready to continue their winning ways," he said.