Alabama and Florida Battle to NOT be on TV on Opening Weekend

With the season a mere five weeks away, Alabama still has not announced a time for the season opener against Hawaii. Almost every other team in college football has announced their opening day start time.

In a "this could only happen in the SEC" type of situation, Florida (who opens against Southern Miss) and Alabama are battling to NOT have their games televised. The SEC has a deal with Lincoln Financial Sports (formerly Jefferson-Pilot) to broadcast one early game per week.

Both teams have declined the offer to appear on the regional telecast which is forcing SEC commissioner Mike Slive into the odd position of having to force one of the teams to appear on TV.

The main factor in not wanting to play a game that starts at 11:30 a.m. is that in both Tuscaloosa and Gainesville, the heat and humidity will be oppressive on September 2nd and neither team wants to play in it. Alabama has the additional "unincentive" of having to perform dedication ceremonies for the stadium expansion at a ridiculously early hour if forced to play an 11:30 a.m. game.

I figured the university's silence on a kickoff time was over finalizing a pay-per-view deal or something. Something like this would never have crossed my mind.

Commissioner Slive said he will make a decision soon, but that it won't be until after SEC Media Days are over.

Link: GatorSports.com

If Alabama's forced to play the early game, they better be serving breakfast at Bryant-Denny Stadium