Grizzlies announce fall football kickoff times, TV schedule

The University of Montana athletic department announced the full slate of Grizzly football kickoff times and broadcast details for the upcoming season on Friday. Five games televised nationally on ROOT Sports and four more games televised locally on SWX Montana highlight an expanded broadcast schedule for 2017.

The majority of Montana's home games this year will kick off in the traditional early afternoon time slot at 1:00 p.m. with the exception of the early autumn night game against Eastern Washington on Sept. 23 which is set for 6:00 p.m. The Nov. 4 home game against Northern Arizona will also be a later kickoff at 3:30 p.m.

In addition to ROOT Sports and Montana's local broadcast partner SWX Montana, Griz football can also be seen this season on the Big Sky Conference's newest media partners, Pluto TV and Eleven Sports.

With Pluto TV, the Big Sky becomes the first mid-major conference with its own 24/7 linear "Over the Top" streaming channel available on all on almost any digital device including Apple TV, Roku, Xbox, smart TVs and more. Pluto TV is the leading free Internet-based TV service in America with more than 6 million active users per month.

"I'm excited about Pluto TV. I think it's something that will be the future of the way TV is delivered. To have a 24/7 channel on Pluto TV that's devoted to Big Sky content is a great step forward," said Montana director of athletics Kent Haslam.

The Griz will be shown on two other networks this year as well. When UM faces off against Washington in Seattle, the Pac-12 Network will carry the game on TV and online.

Montana's Oct. 7 game at Idaho State will be the first Griz game broadcast on Eleven Sports, which is available on the Direct TV sports package on channel 623 and will feature Big Sky content in multiple sports. The game will also be available to stream on WatchBigSky.com and Pluto TV. Visit http://elevensportsusa.com/where-to-watch/ to find where you can watch Eleven Sports in your area.

"The Eleven Sports agreement is a good step forward as well," added Haslam. "It will impact us a little bit with football because our partnership with ROOT Sports is so strong, but Eleven Sports opens up production for men's and women's basketball, soccer, softball – our Olympic sports will receive some very high-quality coverage as well."

The Griz Walk, Montana's newest football tradition will once again take place two hours and 15 minutes prior to kickoff at all Grizzly home games. The Griz walk gives fans one last opportunity to cheer on the team as they walk across campus from their final pregame meeting into the locker rooms deep in the heart of Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Montana opens the season against Valparaiso at 1 p.m. on Sept. 2 in Missoula, and can be seen on SWX Montana and GoGriz.com.