No relief for West Coast teams heading east (1 Viewer)

[kevjones22]

From Mike Sando's NFC West Blog, amazing that the West coast teams don't get the same treatment...

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcwest/0-8-464...ading-east.html

DANA POINT, Calif. -- West Coast teams were entitled to a collective roll of the eyes when NFL owners passed a resolution sparing East Coast teams from hardships associated with playing on the West Coast.

The Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals, Raiders and Chargers have long dreaded playing East Coast games with 10 a.m. PT kickoff times. From their perspective, the rest of the league has largely shrugged. But after the Patriots faced back-to-back road games on the West Coast last season, owners acted decisively to fix the injustice Monday.

Owners passed a resolution adjusting the scheduling rotation so that teams drawing the AFC West and NFC West would not play San Diego and Oakland in the same season or Seattle and San Francisco in the same season.

"I understand the inequity of the Patriots playing two games back-to-back on the West Coast," 49ers president Jed York said. "We need to come together as a group of West Coast teams. You've got [five] teams that are literally traveling 3,000 miles for one game two or three times a year. If it is playing a later game, I think it makes sense."

Even though owners didn't vote on the West Coast teams' concerns, the league could still allay some of their protests by reducing those 10 a.m. PT kickoffs when feasible. The NFL generally releases its schedule within the first two weeks of April.

York joined Cardinals president Michael Bidwill and Raiders executive Amy Trask in lobbying for owners to consider their concerns.

"We always had 4 p.m. games growing up in Ohio," York said. "I still can't get used to watching Notre Dame playing at 9:30 a.m. It's just weird, very weird."

The resolution passed Monday was worded this way:

Be it resolved that commencing with the 2010 NFL season, the League Office will realign the pairings of teams within the AFC West and NFC West as follows:

Denver and Oakland will be paired together and Kansas City and San Diego will be paired together so that teams within a division playing games against the AFC West will have either:

(a) road games against Denver and Oakland and homes games against Kansas City and San Diego, or,

(b) road games against Kansas City and San Diego and home games against Denver and Oakland.

Arizona and San Francisco will be paired together and St. Louis and Seattle will be paired together so that teams within a division playing games against the NFC West will have either:

(a) road games against Arizona and San Francisco and homes games against St. Louis and Seattle, or,

(b) road games against St. Louis and Seattle and home games against Arizona and San Francisco.

 

[Tanner9919]

sunday and monday night games start very late out here on the east coast..

a 4pm game in NY is 1pm out west..

so while we're watching NFL Games at 12.30/1 AM, you're watching the same game at 9.30/10pm..

and whats worse, you're watching 1pm eastern games , at 10am!! you lucky dog!

 

[KellysHeroes]

sunday and monday night games start very late out here on the east coast..a 4pm game in NY is 1pm out west..so while we're watching NFL Games at 12.30/1 AM, you're watching the same game at 9.30/10pm..and whats worse, you're watching 1pm eastern games , at 10am!! you lucky dog!

no kidding, you wake up and turn on the tube and games are getting ready; or pre-games are on.We have to wait until 1 pm for our kick offs... then it doesn't end until 11:30 PM Sunday night and after 12 AM Mondays

 

[Prof. Chaos]

sunday and monday night games start very late out here on the east coast..a 4pm game in NY is 1pm out west..so while we're watching NFL Games at 12.30/1 AM, you're watching the same game at 9.30/10pm..and whats worse, you're watching 1pm eastern games , at 10am!! you lucky dog!

 

[TankRizzo]

From a viewership standpoint the East gets screwed, ESPECIALLY with the NBA.

Here's a fun fact, nearly 80% of the US population is in the Central and Eastern timezones.

Time zone..........Percent

Eastern..............47.0

Central..............32.9

Mountain..............5.4

Pacific..............14.1

Alaska and Hawaii.....0.6

So WHY do they cater so much to the west coast? I don't get it.

 

[Gold Plated Nails]

sunday and monday night games start very late out here on the east coast..a 4pm game in NY is 1pm out west..so while we're watching NFL Games at 12.30/1 AM, you're watching the same game at 9.30/10pm..and whats worse, you're watching 1pm eastern games , at 10am!! you lucky dog!

no kidding, you wake up and turn on the tube and games are getting ready; or pre-games are on.We have to wait until 1 pm for our kick offs... then it doesn't end until 11:30 PM Sunday night and after 12 AM Mondays

Its not about the viewing time of games for fans. Its about the players playing a football game at 10am. That is the problem. It sucks to have to play a game at 10am, its too early, the body isnt adjusted for it, it is quite a bit more of a handycap then the poor Pats having to fly on an airplane to both *gasp* San Diego and Oakland in the same season, wow, cross country?!?. But the east coast teams dont want to have to fly in airplanes all the way to the west coast, whaaa whaaaa, we changin the rules....

 

[GroveDiesel]

Seems like a dumb rule. I do think that they needed to make sure that teams don't have back to back away games on the opposite coast, but that's a scheduling issue that the commish can take care of without a rule.

It wouldn't surprise me if this rule got changed because of the Patriots having to go through it last season. Robert Kraft carries a lot of clout in the league.