April 30, 2004
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The University of Arizona's home football game against Washington State has been moved up a week to accommodate a telecast by ABC Sports.
The game, head coach Mike Stoops' Pac-10 opener, will be moved from Oct. 2 to Saturday, Sept. 25. Kickoff in Arizona Stadium is set for 12:30 p.m. for the broadcast. Oct. 2 will become UA's open date, a week prior to its first road game of the year at Oregon.
The game is Arizona's first on ABC since November 2001 when the network, one of the Pac-10's television rightsholders, showed the Stanford at Arizona game during the Cardinal's 9-3 Seattle Bowl season. The Cats were 4-6 at the time and lost, 51-37.
The network makes the initial selections of conference game for its college football package at this time each year. Other games are chosen during the season based on a 12- or six-day process, with key matchups obviously making for top attractions.
ABC will select games during the season for six other dates Arizona plays -- Oct. 9, 16, 23 and 30; and Nov. 6 and 13 -- with the advance 12- or six-day picks.
League partners Fox Sports Net and Turner Sports, national cable networks, will make their early selections June 1. Each of the three entities has a pecking order for making selections during the season in the advance process.
Fox Sports Net has shown the UA-Arizona State game on its national cable system the day after Thanksgiving for a number of years and will do so again this year on Friday, Nov. 26, from Arizona Stadium.
Arizona also has a local television contract with Fox Sports Net Arizona to cablecast several games not picked by the league rightsholders, if UA games to be shown do not conflict with the Pac-10 games.
"Mike Stoops has drawn some good exposure for our football program in just a short time, and no doubt this was a drawing card for ABC," athletics director Jim Livengood said. "We'll have one or several other 'early' selections and should have good representation in football television this year," he said.
