Pac-12 to reduce late football games, fine court stormers

Those late-night Pac-12 football contests that stretch to midnight aren't going away but they're getting reduced, the conference announced Wednesday.

The Pac-12 CEO Group – made up of the conference's presidents and chancellors – approved a recommendation from the Pac-12 Council to modify the conference's television agreements with ESPN and FOX to reduce the Pac-12 football games on the Pac-12 Networks starting at 7 p.m. or later.

Under the modification, a Pac-12 Network game can start at 2:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. local time and can overlap with an ESPN or FOX TV window. This change is expected to reduce Pac-12 Networks night games by as many as four.

Arizona State opens coach Todd Graham's fifth season Sept. 3 against lower-division Northern Arizona. The times for those contests have not yet been announced.

BOIVIN: Despite criticism, Pac-12's Scott determined

Stand down

In addition, basketball fans at Pac-12 schools might want to think twice about storming the court after big wins. Starting next season, schools will be fined for such celebrations -- $25,000 for the first offense, $50,000 for the second and $100,000 for the third.

Last February, Colorado fans stormed the court after the Buffaloes upset No. 9 Arizona. After the game, Arizona coach Sean Miller called for the Pac-12 "to do something to protect both teams." Miller worried that the court storming eventually would lead to a bad situation, such as a player hitting a fan out of self defense.

This rule also applies to field storming in football.

RELATED: Extra 30 seconds could keep court storming safe

Other news

The CEO Group continues to study the time demands put on student athletes. From February to April, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott visited member schools and met with 250 student-athletes covering more than 30 sports. Among the resulting potential legislative initiatives: giving student-athletes "rest days" in addition to regular days off; establishing time periods for student athletes to recover after road trips; and requiring coaches to schedule the dates and times of practices at least one month in advance.

-The CEO Group gave the Pac-12 Networks the green light to commence eSports competitions with conference schools. Starting this year, teams from campuses will participate based on a specific game and the competitions will include head-to-head matchups in studios as well as a tournament that will run in conjunction with a a conference championship event.

Contact Doug Haller at 602-444-4949 or at doug.haller@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter.