What the league should do is cater to the local fans who purchased the tickets that has to work to earn money to pay for the tickets. Getting off work early hurts the local fans with their paycheck. It is better for the health of the league to cater to their local fans, not the networks. The local fans are the league's main gate revenue even before the TV deal. 7pm is the optimization of the fan full experience of their game day experience that included a proper meal time. Fans of the west coast do not get the same benefits if their road games start at 5pm for some of them are still at work, or stuck in the traffic on their way home so ask yourselves, why should we cater to your whim when you get the benefit of watching the game without worrying about your paycheck for you sit at the comfort of the home, go bed at 11pm, wake up to go work without worrying about any early dismissal from work hurting their paycheck. How is that fair? I call it a East coast bias type of treatment for decades.. The bottom line is that the companies in located in the west coast suffer from the ability to conduct their business by not able to finish their business hours at its full capacity.