Late starts price to pay for making money
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – With all the money that the Big Ten Conference receives annually from television revenue, there are little prices to pay along the way.
Like, for example, playing a basketball game that starts at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday, as the Iowa men’s basketball team will do this Wednesday when it faces North Florida at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The mid-week 8 p.m. tip-off certainly isn’t ideal for attracting fans, but the money generated from television revenue takes priority over almost everything else.
“When you sign a seven-billion dollar TV deal, the games are when they are, and you just show up and play them,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “And if the fans make it, great. And if they can’t, our fans support our team whether they come or not.”
McCaffery doesn’t spend any time worrying or complaining about the late starts because he knows that wouldn’t accomplish anything.
“You’re either going to come to the game or not,” he said. “Complaining about what time it starts, that’s over. The games start when they start. That’s the way it is.
“Now we do make it easy for you to watch it on TV, so we’ve got a lot of loyal fans that don’t come. But they’re incredibly loyal and we appreciate that.”
Iowa (4-2) has played three home games so far and the largest announced attendance was 9,536 for the 88-74 victory over Arkansas State last Thursday.
The first three home games all started at 7 p.m. and were available through a streaming service.
Iowa’s 92-84 loss against Creighton on Nov. 14 in Omaha started after 9 p.m. because it was part of a triple-header on FS1.
“I don’t think anybody likes it,” Fran McCaffery said of the late starts. “Nobody wants to play at 9:20. Players, coaches, fans, I don’t think the fans mind it that are watching it on TV. A lot of people watched that Creighton game on TV back east. It started later, real late.”
“Obviously, it’s for TV. They had a triple-header on that night, and we were the third game. Don’t talk about it. Don’t make them think about it. It’s not a positive. It’s not a negative. It’s whatever time the game starts. You’ve got to be ready to play. It’s maybe not necessarily the best thing for the fans, but it’s not changing.”
And though the Iowa women’s basketball team has sold out all its home games, they have a unique situation in that Iowa is led by arguably the greatest player in program history, and one of the best in Big Ten history in All-America senior guard Caitlin Clark.
The Iowa women are also coming off a historic season in which it finished as the NCAA runner-up.
The Iowa men don’t have nearly as much hype as the Iowa women, but the men have participated in the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons, and in four of the last five seasons.
The one exception was the 2019-20 postseason that was canceled due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Iowa finished the 2019-20 regular season 20-11 overall and 11-9 in the Big Ten and would’ve almost certainly made the NCAA Tournament that season.
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SAME STARTING LINEUP: The same five players have started for Iowa in each of the six games this season, and don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
“I mean, they’re all going to play,” Fran McCaffery said. “Whether they start or not, it’s a possibility. Right now, we’ll go with what we’ve got.”
Iowa’s starting lineup consists of seniors Tony Perkins and sophomore Dasonte Bowen at the guard positions, senior Patrick McCaffery at one forward position, junior Payton Sandfort at another forward spot and graduate transfer Ben Krikke at the third forward position.
Iowa has 10 players, including four true freshmen, that are averaging at least 10.7 minutes playing time per game.
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SCOUTING NORTH FLORIDA: The Ospreys are 4-3 and have wins over Coastal Georgia, Charleston Southern, Northwestern State and Maine.
North Florida lost to LSU 75-63 on Nov,24.
Chaz Lanier leads North Florida in scoring with a 16.3 per-game average. He has made 22 shots from 3-point range and is shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 88.9 percent from the free throw line.
The Ospreys average 10.9 3-point field goals per game and are shooting 34.7 percent from behind the arc.
North Florida (4-3) vs. Iowa (4-2)
When: Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network
Series record: Iowa leads, 2-0
Last meeting: Iowa won 83-68 in 2019 in Iowa City.