I don’t understand the scheduling. You have the game in the West , played indoors in a balmy climate in the afternoon, then you have the game in the East, played outdoors at night in a frigid climate. I’m sorry, seems backward in every regard. I know a small, vocal faction will say, “it’s supposed to be icy, yadayada.” But the NFL gave up on that concept from Superbowl I, when they scheduled it in warm cities or domed stadiums ever since. And so did every college bowl game from Rose Bowl I.
What happens is the later game is worth more money to the networks because it goes into prime time. So Fox and CBS rotate each year on who gets the later conference championship game.
Here it is in a nutshell. The night game gets the better ratings so by contract they alternate year to year which network gets the night game.
Just hazarding a guess here, but as almost every Steeler road game has the near crowd equivalent of a home game, maybe putting the Stillerz game in the optimum viewing time slot makes better ratings sense. That would be my guess:)
By the, Rush is in town...he is a huge fan of the Black and Gold:)