ASU-Georgia football game to air on ABC

Arizona State will make its second-ever appearance on ABC’s “Saturday Night College Football” when the Sun Devils host Georgia on Sept. 20, with the 5:13 p.m. contest being broadcast to at least 51 percent of the country.

That was one of three games affecting the Sun Devils when Pac-10 broadcast partners ABC and ESPN announced their first round of selections on Friday.

The Dec. 6 game at Arizona is on ESPN, ESPN2 or Fox Sports Net, with a time to be determined. The Nov. 28 day-after-Thanksgiving home contest against UCLA is at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

The Georgia date could be a matchup of two top-15 teams — the Bulldogs, who went 11-2 and blitzed Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl last year, are a possible preseason No. 1 selection — that likely will be played in sweltering early-evening heat.

“(Athletic director) Lisa Love and the university lobbied to have this game as an evening kick,” ASU spokesman Mark Brand said. “(ABC) could have easily insisted on a 12:30 p.m. game, and we would have had to turn it down. But we were able to negotiate a later game.

“That’s significant for ASU because if we want to keep playing highly ranked teams in nonconference games, we have to work with TV.”

ABC will air another game in the same time slot — likely Notre Dame at Michigan State — but the exposure of at least 51 percent classifies Georgia-ASU as a national broadcast, Brand said. The national designation means that the schools will earn double the television revenue of a regional broadcast.

ASU appeared on ABC’s Saturday prime-time broadcast in 2006, losing 28-21 at Southern California.

Fox Sports Net has the next round of selections, with its deadline June 1.

Along with the Georgia and UCLA dates, three other ASU games have set kickoff times, all at 7 p.m.: Northern Arizona on Aug. 30, Stanford on Sept. 6 and Nevada-Las Vegas on Sept. 13.

Brand also said that ASU and Notre Dame are “very close to having a final contract situation” concerning a 2013 game at the Dallas Cowboys’ future facility in Arlington, Texas.