Colorado is ditching the Pac-12 for the Big 12 next year, and one thing Deion Sanders and his team can't wait for is the earlier kickoff times.
Sanders recently told The Athletic that he was relieved to be out of this conference because of the ridiculously late game times.
Sanders said, "Thank God we're not going to be in this conference. Who makes these 8 o'clock games? That is the dumbest thing ever. It's the stupidest thing ever in life. Who wants to stay up until 8 o'clock for a dern game? What about the East Coast? Do they even care about ratings or anybody watching it?"
He has a point. On Friday, the Buffaloes will take on Stanford at 10 p.m. ET. They also played at home against Colorado State at 10 p.m. ET earlier this season.
And coming up in November, Colorado will play Washington State at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Colorado's Deion Sanders is looking forward to Big 12 early kickoff times
Even with the late-night games, Colorado football seems to be a landmine of a market in the Deion Sanders coaching era.
According to The Athletic, Colorado is responsible for five of the 10 most-watched games in the 2023-24 college football season.
The Buffaloes' 43-35 double OT victory against Colorado State in September was ESPN's most-watched late-night primetime game in history; the matchup reportedly drew 9.3 million viewers.
ESPN was the obvious winner from the huge viewership boost, but the Colorado hype train also gained new bandwagoners after dark.
The Pac-12 also has a handful of 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. local time kickoffs reserved for other teams this year; in general, different television networks will schedule and prioritize certain games over others. Given Colorado's growing fan base, the team may get more Big Noon Kickoffs in the Big 12, but they'll still be at the mercy of television networks' whims.
