(04-22-2015 01:31 PM)Jimmy Wrote:  The price of the NFL Sunday Ticket continues to rise while more games are being placed outside of the traditional Sunday afternoon window. How do subscribers justify continually paying more for less? I kicked ESPN GamePlan to the curb years ago for trying that shenanigans.

From what I have seen, Sunday Ticket subscriptions have definitely taken a dive dramatically. For the average football fan that lives in the home market of his/her favorite team, it provides very little value. The popularity of the Red Zone Channel is probably a bigger factor to Sunday Ticket subscription erosion than the additional games outside of Sunday afternoon.

Still, DirecTV finds Sunday Ticket to be important enough that they actually pay more money to the NFL for exclusive Sunday Ticket rights than CBS and Fox are paying for their rights (and they're the ones actually producing the games that are being shown on Sunday Ticket). There are really two main groups of Sunday Ticket subscribers: the transplanted out-of-market fan (i.e. the Bears fan living in Orlando) and commercial accounts at sports bars/restaurants. Those groups still make up a fair amount of revenue for DirecTV and, more importantly, obligates those subscribers to be DirecTV customers for everything else (especially with respect to the latter group). Almost every sports bar in America is a DirecTV customer specifically because of Sunday Ticket and they pay more as a commercial customer than the normal household, so that's a huge revenue source for DirecTV.

I didn't watch a single nfl game on a Thursday night last year. I'd much rather watch college football. College football teams play different styles.. NFL teams just have different uniforms. NFL games all look the same.

(04-22-2015 02:09 PM)PirateJim Wrote:  I didn't watch a single nfl game on a Thursday night last year. I'd much rather watch college football. College football teams play different styles.. NFL teams just have different uniforms. NFL games all look the same.

Trust me, I will be watching UCF/ECU before Titans/Jaguars.

I think you will be seeing Friday Night becoming the new Thursday night for college football. ESPN has the ACC & PAC 12 Committed to Friday Nights from the P5 and the top two G5, AAC & MWC. I would no be surprised if FS-1 offers the B12 some Friday nights in the future instead of Thursday. NCSU turned down ODU to play Friday night on CBSSN. I am glad NCSU had that clause in the contract since I was planning to go on Saturday.

I believe the shift will be NFL in the next few years that the NFL takes over Thursday to go with Sunday and Monday. College Football having Sat, Fri for the bigger conferences and Tue & Wed for the smaller conferences.

(04-22-2015 12:10 AM)stever20 Wrote:  well looking at the NFL schedule release, they are going for blood on Thursday nights...

Sept 17 Denver @ Kansas City(Opposite Clemson/Louisville)
Sept 24 Washington @ NY Giants(opposite Cincy/Memphis)
Oct 1 Baltimore @ Pittsburgh(opposite Miami/Cincy)
Oct 8 Indianapolis @ Houston(opposite SMU/Houston, Washington/USC)
Oct 15 Atlanta @ New Orleans(opposite Auburn/Kentucky, UCLA/Stanford)
Oct 22 Seattle @ San Francisco(opposite Cal/UCLA)
Oct 29 Miami @ New England(opposite UNC/Pitt, WVU/TCU)
Nov 5 Cleveland @ Cincy(opposite Miss St/Missouri, Baylor/Kan St)

The 2 weeks where the games are on NFL network opposite college football-
Nov 12 Buffalo @ NY Jets(opposite Va Tech/Ga Tech)
Nov 19 Tennessee @ Jacksonville(opposite ECU/UCF)

really only 1 dog game in there at all, and that has one of the weaker Thursday night college games going up against it.

I count four dogs. Miami won't keep it close enough vs. NE. Washington plays borderline unwatchable football and wilts in prime time. Buffalo vs. NYJ is like taking sleeping medication. Tenn vs. Jax is just a pillowfight.

(04-22-2015 10:27 AM)Maize Wrote:  Hate to tell you this...the NFL could show Jacksonville vs. Tampa and it would still destroy almost any College Football Game..it is what it is...

Yes, but these seem like efforts to discourage any good games on TH college football to make the gap even wider.

(04-22-2015 01:18 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 01:06 PM)stever20 Wrote:  Yeah- Texas Tech/Texas or Chicago/Green Bay..

It'll be interesting to see if college football retreats even more off of Thursday nights. I think it's pretty obvious that TNF isn't going away from the NFL.

I think the big thing is how the power conferences react to Thursday night scheduling in the future. There was about a 5 year period where Thursday night games were considered to be marquee/top tier games that power conferences wanted to participate in, but I think we'll see that receding dramatically. Other conferences that don't have as much scheduling leverage will take what they can get, so college football won't retreat from Thursday night in terms of quantity, but the days where *great* games were on Thursday night are likely coming to an end.

There used to be good games and I enjoyed TH night college football, but then everybody retreated from it but occasionally the ACC. It wasn't very watchable.

Then in the last few years, others started coming back. However, I think the NFL is sending that away.

There will still be some games for a while. The conferences got some money for doing that in their last contract. But I suspect they won't get much when it renews and will give up on TH. It will be left to the G5. Possibly the ACC will continue, but conferences with better attendance won't do it.

(04-22-2015 03:01 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 12:10 AM)stever20 Wrote:  well looking at the NFL schedule release, they are going for blood on Thursday nights...

Sept 17 Denver @ Kansas City(Opposite Clemson/Louisville)
Sept 24 Washington @ NY Giants(opposite Cincy/Memphis)
Oct 1 Baltimore @ Pittsburgh(opposite Miami/Cincy)
Oct 8 Indianapolis @ Houston(opposite SMU/Houston, Washington/USC)
Oct 15 Atlanta @ New Orleans(opposite Auburn/Kentucky, UCLA/Stanford)
Oct 22 Seattle @ San Francisco(opposite Cal/UCLA)
Oct 29 Miami @ New England(opposite UNC/Pitt, WVU/TCU)
Nov 5 Cleveland @ Cincy(opposite Miss St/Missouri, Baylor/Kan St)

The 2 weeks where the games are on NFL network opposite college football-
Nov 12 Buffalo @ NY Jets(opposite Va Tech/Ga Tech)
Nov 19 Tennessee @ Jacksonville(opposite ECU/UCF)

really only 1 dog game in there at all, and that has one of the weaker Thursday night college games going up against it.

I count four dogs. Miami won't keep it close enough vs. NE. Washington plays borderline unwatchable football and wilts in prime time. Buffalo vs. NYJ is like taking sleeping medication. Tenn vs. Jax is just a pillowfight.

Washington/Giants 2 huge media markets. Will get great ratings. Miami/NE- Miami always plays NE tough. Buffalo/Jets- that's Rex Ryan coming back to New York.... Huge storyline, especially if one or both teams are better this year.

Plus look at the opposition those 4 games face. 3 of the 4 games are complete dogs. Only VT/GT isn't.

(04-22-2015 02:45 PM)msm96wolf Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 02:09 PM)PirateJim Wrote:  I didn't watch a single nfl game on a Thursday night last year. I'd much rather watch college football. College football teams play different styles.. NFL teams just have different uniforms. NFL games all look the same.

Trust me, I will be watching UCF/ECU before Titans/Jaguars.

I think you will be seeing Friday Night becoming the new Thursday night for college football. ESPN has the ACC & PAC 12 Committed to Friday Nights from the P5 and the top two G5, AAC & MWC. I would no be surprised if FS-1 offers the B12 some Friday nights in the future instead of Thursday. NCSU turned down ODU to play Friday night on CBSSN. I am glad NCSU had that clause in the contract since I was planning to go on Saturday.

I believe the shift will be NFL in the next few years that the NFL takes over Thursday to go with Sunday and Monday. College Football having Sat, Fri for the bigger conferences and Tue & Wed for the smaller conferences.

P12 and ACC will probably move more to Friday. B12 won't interfere with HS football in Texas. Just not going to happen.

Very easy solution here. ESPN/FOX shouldn't announce their college Thursday night match ups until after the NFL announces theirs.

(04-22-2015 02:45 PM)msm96wolf Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 02:09 PM)PirateJim Wrote:  I didn't watch a single nfl game on a Thursday night last year. I'd much rather watch college football. College football teams play different styles.. NFL teams just have different uniforms. NFL games all look the same.

Trust me, I will be watching UCF/ECU before Titans/Jaguars.

I think you will be seeing Friday Night becoming the new Thursday night for college football. ESPN has the ACC & PAC 12 Committed to Friday Nights from the P5 and the top two G5, AAC & MWC. I would no be surprised if FS-1 offers the B12 some Friday nights in the future instead of Thursday. NCSU turned down ODU to play Friday night on CBSSN. I am glad NCSU had that clause in the contract since I was planning to go on Saturday.

I believe the shift will be NFL in the next few years that the NFL takes over Thursday to go with Sunday and Monday. College Football having Sat, Fri for the bigger conferences and Tue & Wed for the smaller conferences.

Agreed, The NFL has taken over Sunday, Monday and Thursday and the P5 will have Friday and Saturday.

(04-22-2015 04:28 PM)Maize Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 02:45 PM)msm96wolf Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 02:09 PM)PirateJim Wrote:  I didn't watch a single nfl game on a Thursday night last year. I'd much rather watch college football. College football teams play different styles.. NFL teams just have different uniforms. NFL games all look the same.

Trust me, I will be watching UCF/ECU before Titans/Jaguars.

I think you will be seeing Friday Night becoming the new Thursday night for college football. ESPN has the ACC & PAC 12 Committed to Friday Nights from the P5 and the top two G5, AAC & MWC. I would no be surprised if FS-1 offers the B12 some Friday nights in the future instead of Thursday. NCSU turned down ODU to play Friday night on CBSSN. I am glad NCSU had that clause in the contract since I was planning to go on Saturday.

I believe the shift will be NFL in the next few years that the NFL takes over Thursday to go with Sunday and Monday. College Football having Sat, Fri for the bigger conferences and Tue & Wed for the smaller conferences.

Agreed, The NFL has taken over Sunday, Monday and Thursday and the P5 will have Friday and Saturday.

Is Wednesday the next frontier for P5 weeknight games?

Would any of the P5 conferences say yes if ESPN, during re-negotiation of the current TV deals, offered to increase the payout by a large amount in exchange for, say, 6 Wednesday night games a year? I hope they'd say no, but it wouldn't surprise me if they say yes, because money talks.

(04-22-2015 04:59 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 04:28 PM)Maize Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 02:45 PM)msm96wolf Wrote:  

(04-22-2015 02:09 PM)PirateJim Wrote:  I didn't watch a single nfl game on a Thursday night last year. I'd much rather watch college football. College football teams play different styles.. NFL teams just have different uniforms. NFL games all look the same.

Trust me, I will be watching UCF/ECU before Titans/Jaguars.

I think you will be seeing Friday Night becoming the new Thursday night for college football. ESPN has the ACC & PAC 12 Committed to Friday Nights from the P5 and the top two G5, AAC & MWC. I would no be surprised if FS-1 offers the B12 some Friday nights in the future instead of Thursday. NCSU turned down ODU to play Friday night on CBSSN. I am glad NCSU had that clause in the contract since I was planning to go on Saturday.

I believe the shift will be NFL in the next few years that the NFL takes over Thursday to go with Sunday and Monday. College Football having Sat, Fri for the bigger conferences and Tue & Wed for the smaller conferences.

Agreed, The NFL has taken over Sunday, Monday and Thursday and the P5 will have Friday and Saturday.

Is Wednesday the next frontier for P5 weeknight games?

Would any of the P5 conferences say yes if ESPN, during re-negotiation of the current TV deals, offered to increase the payout by a large amount in exchange for, say, 6 Wednesday night games a year? I hope they'd say no, but it wouldn't surprise me if they say yes, because money talks.

Is there really any difference from the college's standpoint in Wednesday vs. Thursday?

Maybe the next step is the NFL takes over Tuesdays from the MAC. Tuesday actually works with the schedule easier than Thursday. Thursday requires a bye week or only 3 days off. Tuesday still gives you 4 days off before the next Sunday.

So it will be NFL Su,M,T,TH.
W, F and Sat will be the only days for the colleges w/o NFL competition.

NFL has really found a niche. The division games are always close (last year was a big exception though) and it makes sense for travel given the short week. I think CF has to look at Wednesday. Tuesday is pushing it. You can't play on two days rest, unless both teams played Friday or are coming off a bye.

I would say, conferences like the Sun Belt/MAC/Conf USA should schedule Tuesday night off mutual bye weeks. Wednesday should feature MWC or even AAC. Friday should be a P5 team on ESPN. Maybe a BYU, but probably a Pac 12 game. If you tip a game at 8:30 PM ET, you can finish at 9 Pacific, and you can still salvage ratings. The ACC can also roll the dice on Friday night, and they kinda have to. FSU on a down year will see the ACC getting zero exposure on Saturdays. SEC and B1G and even a good Big 12 will always take precedent over the vast majority of ACC games.