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Hamrick: 'No choice' about shifting game
ESPN2 prompts change in Pirates' home date with
Cincinnati
Bonesville.net
From staff reports and ECU and Conference USA releases
In a reversal of a position it articulated last season, East Carolina has
agreed � under duress � to play a home football game on a night North
Carolina's high schools have zealously guarded as their own.
In a move compelled by what ECU athletic director Mike Hamrick
described as "... special circumstances which dictate that we
have no choice...", the Pirates' game with league opponent
Cincinnati, originally scheduled for an afternoon kickoff on Saturday,
November 2, has been shifted to a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday, December 6.
The game, which will be televised on ESPN2, will be played on the same
evening the N.C. High School Athletic Association conducts the semifinals of
the state high school football playoffs.
Hamrick indicated the terms of Conference USA's national television
contract with the Disney media conglomerate's sports cable giant was at the root of
the shuffling of the schedule.
"In making this change, we are helping C-USA meet its
obligations with ESPN," he said in a statement released by the university.
Alluding to ECU's objections last season to playing a Friday night home
game against Southern Mississippi, Hamrick said the change in
the date and time for the battle with the Bearcats was unavoidable while
noting that his resistance to playing opposite high school games still
stands.
"I've previously indicated to C-USA that ECU will not play
on Friday nights, due to possible conflicts with area high school football
schedules, and we will continue that stance," he said. "However, we have
been asked to reconsider our position in this case due to special
circumstances which dictate that we have no choice but to play on a Friday
night."
The November 23, 2001, conference showdown with the Golden Eagles was
ultimately moved up several hours to an 11 a.m. kickoff, thus avoiding a
head-to-head conflict with high school contests.
Hamrick expressed his belief that the ECU-Cincinnati game
will have little adverse effect on that night's prep games.
"We feel that this particular date will have a very
minimal, if any, impact on high school football," he said.
The league also announced that the Cincinnati-Louisville game has been
moved up two days from its originally scheduled date of Saturday, November
9. The Bearcats and Cardinals will now play on Thursday, November 7 at 7:30
p.m. on ESPN.
The addition of the two matchups to C-USA�s national television lineup gives the
league a minimum of 23 telecasts for the upcoming season. Included are eight
games scheduled to air on ESPN and nine to be shown on ESPN2.
A conference official noted the increased visibility the additional TV games will
provide for the league and expressed gratitude that the schools involved
were able to make the necessary schedule changes.
"Conference USA had an opportunity to pick up additional national
television exposures from its previously released TV schedule," said C-USA
associate commissioner Dennis Helsel. "The league appreciates the three
schools' ability to accommodate this late request from our television
partner."
The Friday night time slot for the ECU-Cincinnati game was the only
available window remaining on ESPN's regular season schedule, according to
conference officials.
However, additional C-USA football television exposures remain a possibility,
according to the league release announcing the schedule adjustments.
ECU has played in five or more national TV games in each of the last
three seasons and has had at least one nationally televised game each year
since 1991 .
The Pirates open their
2002 season on August 31 at Duke.
Visit ECUPirates.com.
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