So - I think that EVERYONE watches east coast sports. And west coast people watch west coast sports.

I think that the broadcasters want content. And live content trumps pre-recorded content. Particularly on sports stations. So they love playing the eastern content early - when it would be too early for western teams to play. And they love having west coast teams start later so that they have content to play later.

I'm not saying there are no fans watching on the west coast. I'm saying that there has always been and will always be more people watching at an earlier time zone. So unless the broadcasters are OK showing west coast content early, there will always be more viewers of east coast teams.

And because they're paying for content - of course they want to use as much as they can and put as many games on live as they can. So it makes sense to stretch it out and have local teams play at prime time in the local time zone. And to do that, means that games on the west coast will often start when the east coast is going to bed.