HOW AND WHEN GAME TIMES ARE SELECTED

The Georgia Tech Athletic Association understands the need to learn football game times in advance and we work to publish those game times as soon as possible. However, Georgia Tech, the other 11 ACC schools and basically every school in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), typically don't receive game times until 12 days prior to kickoff.

Here's a synopsis of how the process works:

Georgia Tech's 2009 schedule, for example, currently includes its 12 opponents -- but no dates or times. Early in the calendar year, the Atlantic Coast Conference will provide dates for league games, which in turn allows Georgia Tech to publish its 12-game schedule -- without game times.

As summer approaches, the ACC's television partners (ABC/ESPN/Raycom) will select the games it will broadcast during the first three weeks of the season. This allows schools to publish game times for its first three games. In addition, several games involving ACC teams are selected for ESPN's Thursday night package. Georgia Tech, in fact, has played in an ESPN Thursday night game for several years in a row. Those games are typically set for 7:30 p.m.

Prior to the start of the 2008 season, Georgia Tech was able to publish its game times for the season opener vs. Jacksonville State, its second game at Boston College, and its third game at Virginia Tech. Georgia Tech also published the game time for its Thursday night contest (Nov. 20) vs. Miami.

The remaining eight game times are selected by the TV networks 12 DAYS PRIOR TO KICKOFF. This allows ABC, ESPN and Raycom to broadcast the most compelling games during the course of the regular season. For a particular week, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and Raycom can choose a game or game(s) involving ACC schools. That selection process generally begins on Sundays and concludes near noon on Mondays. Every Monday at approximately noon, the ACC releases the game times for games 12 days out. In other words, Georgia Tech finds out its game time only minutes before the fans do.

The TV networks also have the option once per season to exercise a 6-day window to select a game or games.

Related:
Future Football Opponents
The Making of the ACC Football Schedule