Pac-12 TV selection process explained: Why Oregon State’s duels with USC and Utah are on the Pac-12 Networks and not ESPN or Fox

Oregon State is 3-0 for the first time since 2014, halfway to bowl eligibility and preparing for two of its biggest games of the season.

But for a few hours Monday morning, the prevailing sentiment among the OSU faithful was (take your pick) confusion, frustration, annoyance or abject indignation.

For the second consecutive week, the Pac-12’s media partners, ESPN and Fox, passed on a chance to broadcast the OSU game. And not just any games: successive showdowns against No. 7 USC and No. 13 Utah.

Instead, both games will be shown on the Pac-12 Networks, which have a low profile and limited reach.

“I’m disappointed for our student athletes and coaches,” athletic director Scott Barnes told the Hotline on Tuesday. “They have earned the opportunity to play on a Tier 1 national platform.

“Our (media) partners, in my mind, are missing two good games.”

That could very well be the case. But the decision to pass on OSU’s consecutive Saturday showdowns had little to do with the Beavers themselves and everything to do with their opponents.

“It’s not a Pac-12 issue, and it’s not our issue,” Barnes said.

At the heart of the issue is an aspect of the TV selection process that requires each team to make a minimum number of appearances on the Pac-12 Networks. And that minimum is equivalent to the number of non-conference home games it plays.

So USC, with three non-conference home games this season, must appear on the Pac-12 Networks at least three times.

Meanwhile, ESPN and Fox want to select the best possible matchups — a process that’s not as simple as it seems.

Interest in college football (i.e., ratings) typically peaks later in the season, when the best teams have emerged and conference title and playoff bids are at stake. As the networks contemplate whether to select the USC-Oregon State game in September, they have to keep in mind what it means for their matchups in November.

If the Trojans are as good as they look under Lincoln Riley, they will play a series of high-profile games down the stretch.

If ESPN and Fox select a USC game now, they reduce access to the Trojans later because of the Pac-12 Networks’ minimum game requirement.

The same goes for the Oregon State-Utah duel next week. If ESPN and Fox pick the Utes now, their options for showing them later are limited.

There are two additional complications:

1. Both USC and Utah have weeknight games later in the season. Those can’t be passed off to the Pac-12 Networks, further squeezing the late-season (Saturday) selection options for ESPN and Fox.

2. The networks could not utilize a six-day pick and wait until Saturday night to make a decision on the Oct. 1 lineup, in case Oregon State were to beat USC and set up a ranked-vs.-ranked game in Salt Lake City. Why? Because Oct. 1 is Homecoming for the Utes, and Homecoming games must be picked two weeks in advance.

Oh, and one more important point: The networks schedule their weekly broadcast windows months before the season and base those decisions on both the conference schedule and their own projections for each team.

When ESPN and Fox examined the Pac-12 schedule for Week Five (Oct. 1), they probably didn’t envision that Oregon State’s visit to Utah would be the quality matchup it now appears.

As a result, they only assigned two windows for the Pac-12 — windows that will show USC (against Arizona State) and Oregon (against Stanford).

The fact that the Pac-12 has four ranked teams (USC, Utah, Oregon and Washington) and three teams that are unranked but undefeated (OSU, Washington State and UCLA) means more teams than expected are deserving of quality TV windows and platforms.

It’s a good problem to have, except that one of the available platforms (the Pac-12 Networks) has paltry distribution.

The Hotline has published details of the TV selection process in the past. But given the uproar over the Oregon State matchups against USC and Utah, this seems like a fine time to review some of the basics:

— ESPN and Fox receive four priority picks that can be used for any week of the season. Those games (think: Notre Dame at USC) become unavailable for the weekly draft.

— ESPN and Fox typically pick games 12 days in advance — two Mondays before the Saturday in question. However, each network has the option to use a six-day pick (the Sunday before kickoff) twice per season. Those are often held until November, when contenders have emerged. (Other conferences have six- and 12-day picks, as well.)

— The special-date games (Thursday and Friday) are not part of the draft; they are selected before the season.

— There is no cap on the number of night games a team can play. The conference tracks the totals and works closely with the networks to avoid overloading a specific team with night games.

— The Pac-12 Networks have the No. 1 pick in the weekly draft once each season, the No. 2 pick four times and the No. 3 pick five times. However, the week of the No. 1 pick is subject to the four “priority selections” owned by ESPN and Fox, so it could be the second-biggest game of that Saturday. (The conference does not disclose the week of its No. 1 pick.)

— Homecoming games must be picked 12 days in advance to give the schools proper notice to plan festivities. The networks can request a six-day selection, but it must be approved by the school involved. Family Weekends are not protected from six-day windows, but the conference works with the networks to avoid conflicts whenever possible.

— ESPN, Fox and the Pac-12 Networks are prohibited from scheduling September day games at Arizona or Arizona State unless the schools agree. There is no equivalent cold weather policy for night games in Salt Lake City or Boulder in November.

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