Coaches association to request kickoff time adjustments to better support athletes

Despite efforts by the NCAA to better accommodate players, the coaches want to take it a step further

The American Football Coaches Association will begin to ask the NCAA to consider a process adjusting game times that better benefit athletes this week.

Time demands on players have become a top NCAA priority. Coaches and administrators have increasingly complained about teams getting back from road trips in the middle of the night -- or early morning -- after night games.

AFCA executive director Todd Berry told CBS Sports, "We feel like there are times when you're traveling cross country or on a long bus ride. If someone is not getting back until 4 in the morning because of a start time, is this really fair to the student-athlete?"

The proposal is preliminary and will be made while Berry is in Indianapolis this week as an ex-officio member of the NCAA Oversight Committee. That committee would have to first consider the measure before it is passed up the chain to become formal legislation.

Berry would not reveal any specifics, but he says there is a detailed plan regarding time zones and when schools return from road trips. Pac-12 types and others have been critical of a so-called "East Coast bias" -- games ending so late on the East Coast they are hard to see in that time zone. 

But the reality for television is that 58 percent of the U.S. population lives east of the Mississippi. Fifty percent lives in the Eastern Time Zone. The 8 p.m. ET time slot has become the prime kickoff time for college football's biggest games on any given Saturday.

Inevitably, any such discussion about earlier game times will have to involve TV partners. Industry sources say such time adjustments are a long shot. The television rights held by the networks allow them to dictate starting times as a way to recoup the money paid to those conferences. The popularity of those games is reflected in ratings and ad revenue.

"These things are all governed by contracts and the quality of the game," an industry source said. "The reason the game has become as popular as it has, they're televised in the best possible time slot."

Another industry source cited ESPN's stance. The network has loads of programming to fit into a day. If it allowed outside influence to impact game times, the network "would be out of business."  

The other part of the discussion is that any coach who complains can trace at least part of his salary to that TV revenue. Nebraska coach Mike Riley is a member of the AFCA's board of trustees. He had not been briefed on the proposal but spoke in general.

"It's very realistic to have the discussion but the big issue is we haven't had any say in the start times for a long time," Riley said. "It's all been dictated by TV. The Big Ten Network is paying this place a lot of money."

Berry said: "We're going to have to give some, they're going to have to give some.

Some of these late start times are creating very, very long days on Saturday. We need to understand we need to take care of our student-athlete.

"We understand the finances that are available through TV."

The NCAA passed wide-reaching time demands legislation at its January convention. That included a "true day off" per week for athletes. Conducting spring practices during spring break -- as Michigan did last year -- was prohibited.

None of the legislation included an adjustment to game times.

Time demand limitations apparently have their limits. NCAA president Mark Emmert suggested in December he would like to see an eight-team college football playoff. Never mind that would guarantee the two championship game participants would play 16 games, equivalent to an NFL regular season.

FCS already seems well past that consideration. The Football Championship Subdivision stages a 24-team playoff. This week the NCAA Council will consider a proposal for FCS teams to add a 12th regular-season game.

Berry's AFCA proposal is not related to a bundle of proposed ground-breaking legislation centering on an early signing period to be considered by the NCAA Council on Thursday and Friday in Indianapolis.

Rather, the AFCA will propose changes to the Oversight Committee, chaired by Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby. Coaches on the Competition Committee include North Carolina's Larry Fedora, South Alabama's Joey  Jones and Wyoming's Craig Bohl. 

"As coaches we want to be collaborative, not dictate things," said Berry, who took the AFCA job last year after 14 years as a head coach.