HEADLINE

Pac-12 punts a.m. kickoff plan

Field Level Media

August 22, 2019 at 2:23 pm.

Pac-12 officials are allowing the sun to set on a plan to introduce morning kickoffs for the 2019 season.

Initiated to compete with Eastern-rooted conferences with games in the noon and 1 p.m. ET timeslots, the Pac-12 Conference considered starting games as early as 9 a.m. in the Pacific time zone.

Arizona schools play a portion of their season on the equivalent of Pacific time because most of the state doesn’t observe daylight saving time. Utah and Colorado are in the Mountain time zone.

Some schools were more interested in the early starts than others, Pac-12 spokesman Andrew Walker said, and the plan is expected to be reviewed and reconsidered in 2020.

The wake-up call for players, fans and stadium management were raised as primary concerns.

On the season’s first full weekend, No. 13 Washington will kick off at noon PT on Aug. 31 against Eastern Washington. Stanford, ranked 25th in the preseason poll, follows at 1 p.m. local time.

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