Monday In Mid-October During A Pandemic

October 19, 2020October 19, 2020 Alan Snel

By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com

Some stuff on a Monday in mid-October during a pandemic.

Pac-12 back in business and here’s how.

The 2020 Pac-12 Football season is slated to begin on Saturday, Nov. 7 and feature a seven-game Conference-only schedule to culminate the weekend of December 18-19 with the Pac-12 Football Championship Game, presented by 76®, featuring the North and South champions alongside a full slate of Pac-12 games for all teams.

All football competitions will be conducted in accordance with the Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee health and safety recommendations and guidelines, as previously announced on September 24 when the Pac-12 CEO Group voted to resume football, basketball and winter sport seasons.

Game Cancellation

The Pac-12 has established minimum thresholds to play a football game of at least 53 scholarship players available to participate and the following minimum number of position scholarship players available to begin a game: seven (7) offensive linemen, one (1) quarterback and four (4) defensive linemen. Each institution shall provide a complete roster by position to the Conference office prior to the season. The impacted institution has the option to play the game with fewer than the 53 scholarship players or fewer than the minimum number of position players listed above if it elects to do so. Otherwise, upon approval by the Commissioner, the game would be rescheduled or declared a no contest.

Mountain West football sked

Speaking of the Mountain West, here’s the UNLV vs San San Diego State preview for Saturday’s season-opener.

NFL TV ratings

The Sports Business Daily came up with some insightful looks at TV ratings in NFL markets. From John Ourand:

The best story for Fox came in Chicago, where the 5-1 Bears posted a 28.9 local rating for its win over the Panthers — a season high for the market. The NFL has viewed Chicago as a sleeping ratings giant. When the Bears are good, Chicago ratings lift the rest of the Midwest. If the NFC North remains competitive between the Bears and Packers, it would offset weakness in the NFC East this season.
CBS execs have to be relieved by the numbers in Pittsburgh, where the 5-0 Steelers drew a season-high 36.6 local rating for its blowout win over the Browns. Coming into this season with a Patriots team that did not have Tom Brady anymore, CBS’ schedule of AFC games was reliant on good results in Pittsburgh and Kansas City. Both teams, and their local TV ratings, have started the season strong.
Other notes:
- The Titans‘ OT win over the Texans brought a season-high 25.6 rating in Nashville.

The PBR bull riders have forged ahead with a schedule for 2021, which includes two stops in Las Vegas in 2021. The bull riders will not be at T-Mobile Arena in November for its annual world finals, choosing Texas instead.