A reader tipped me off to something regarding the release of the 2019-2020 UVA Basketball schedule that I hadn’t really noticed before.
Lots of TBAs when it comes to game times.
The reader is a season-ticket holder, and pointed out that renewals come up in June, and that it can be tough to have to commit when you don’t know the dates then, and that even know, basically weeks before the season is set to start, we still don’t know times.
The reader asked me if I could track down whether or not this is an issue related to the rollout of the ACC Network, which I assumed when we were communicating back and forth that it was.
A quick check of the AFP archives to past stories regarding the schedule rollout surprised me.
The issue with a bevy of TBAs for game times seems to date back to the 2015-2016 season, actually, though it does seem to be more pronounced now.
There were seven games in 2015-2016 with game times listed in the preseason schedule rollout as TBA.
Then, five in 2016-2017. Seven again in 2017-2018. And then, seven again in 2018-2019.
For 2019-2020: 16 home games are TBAs.
Another way to put it: we only know the start time for one home game, the Nov. 16 contest with Columbia starts at noon.
Only two other games have start times listed: the Nov. 23 game with UMass in the Armed Forces Reserve Tip-Off Tournament is at noon, and the game at Purdue in the B1G/ACC Challenge on Dec. 4 is at 7:15 or 7:30 p.m.
That’s what we know.
And actually, we still don’t know the exact date of the UNC home game. It’s either Dec. 6 or Dec. 7, a Friday or a Saturday.
Stay tuned, I guess, for dates and times, is the message here.
The reader who brought this up with me says this is the height of arrogance vis-à-vis the customers, who are being asked to buy tickets without knowing more details.
He compared it to buying tickets to watch a movie months in advance without knowing what time it was going to be put up on the big screen that day.
What we’re seeing here, clearly, is where the money is really being made: from TV.
The paying customers are paying to be a part of the set, basically.
More accurately, you’re paying good money to be part of the set.
As long as you know that …
Story by Chris Graham
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