http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-...v-ratings/

I'm going to 'cherry pick' some numbers (use one example):

I see 856K for NIU @ Toledo (Nov 3).

I see 851K for Cal @ Oregon (Nov. 7, a Saturday).

MAC has a number of other mid-week games in the 500 - 750K range.

Like isn't Oregon one of the biggest names in CFB?

Sure we'll never draw in the multi-millions like the B1G or SEC, but beating an Oregon game is quite an accomplishment.

Ohio @ BG outdrew Utah @ Arizona.

MAC midweek games with BG, NIU, Toledo, WMU, etc. are real winners for ESPN.

(The PAC-12 is faced with those late night games on Saturday which don't draw well in much of the country).

I'll repeat a thought I had in another thread:

If the MAC has say 750K, 850K or even 500K watching a mid-week game on an ESPN network, does it really matter if the attendance is 25K or 20K or 17K???

The big story is getting those games in the 500K or higher range.

That is what ESPN wants to see... and ESPN is our PARTNER.

I can see a very strong MACC game. Another one of the 1M plus viewer championship games. Maybe numbers only surpassed by NIU/Kent back in 2012.

The MAC has the advantage of often being the only game(s) on in midweek. Any Saturday game has tons of competition. There are sometimes 3-4 games on ESPN+2+U+News, games on NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox, plus CBSSN, FoxSports1, NBCSN, the regional channels, BTN, SECN, and so forth. There can be upwards of 10+ games on at a time. That really fragments the audience. Overall, the Saturday audience is enormous, but people are flipping all over the dial.

And that doesn't even factor in the ESPN3/streaming games which are becoming more and more available to viewers by various means on their main TVs.

I see more MAC games pop up on Fan Duel (noticed the Thursday night ESPN3 and CBSSN games), if other states dont follow New York and Fan Duel / Draft Kings stays main stream and grows and keeps including more games like Tues/Wed #Maction, then I feel the mid-week interest and rating will grow much higher. MLB and ESPN own a stake in this. Interesting.

The games actually on TV are great. My issue is when MAC teams are playing on a weeknight and only on ESPN3.com.

I've been pleased with CBSSN coverage of MAC games. I was glad to see
the CBSSN noon start for Toledo-WMU on Black Friday.

(11-18-2015 12:41 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  The games actually on TV are great. My issue is when MAC teams are playing on a weeknight and only on ESPN3.com.

That is true, but the exception.

The MAC seems to be doing 2 games per night (say Tuesday and Wednesday). One gets prime billing the other gets shuffled to ESPN-U or ESPN3, based on (whatever).

(11-18-2015 11:37 AM)axeme Wrote:  The MAC has the advantage of often being the only game(s) on in midweek. Any Saturday game has tons of competition. There are sometimes 3-4 games on ESPN+2+U+News, games on NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox, plus CBSSN, FoxSports1, NBCSN, the regional channels, BTN, SECN, and so forth. There can be upwards of 10+ games on at a time. That really fragments the audience. Overall, the Saturday audience is enormous, but people are flipping all over the dial.

And that doesn't even factor in the ESPN3/streaming games which are becoming more and more available to viewers by various means on their main TVs.

Exactly, that's why these Tuesday/Wednesday games are so good for the MAC (Thursdays has NFL games).

I agree 100 or even 1,000% that Saturdays are completely clutter with games. I've had DirecTV for 20 years and I don't have enough eyes and ears to keep up with all of the games. The number of games seem to double every few years. Eventually 100% of FBS games will be available on DirecTV or ESPN3.

When I was in Vegas (around Labor Day) I picked a couple teams to win the FCS championship because I could follow those games on TV, if I wish (IL. State was one of my teams).

So, has the exposure helped?

(11-18-2015 03:37 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  So, has the exposure helped?

I don't think so other than defeating P5 teams more often due to a small handful of better recruits.

(11-18-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 03:37 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  So, has the exposure helped?

I don't think so other than defeating P5 teams more often due to a small handful of better recruits.

That is probably true, but the MAC has to keep up with the rest of the football conferences.

If they televise 100% of their games and we televise 50% we fall behind.

That said, how can increased exposure be a bad thing?

(11-18-2015 03:37 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  So, has the exposure helped?

You'll have to ask the enrollment people at the MAC schools ... the reason that MAC schools pay the subsidy to stay in the FBS is for the marketing exposure it gives us. If it keeps delivering ratings like that on national basic cable TV, it'll keep the schools subsidizing FBS football.

(11-18-2015 10:51 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 03:37 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  So, has the exposure helped?

You'll have to ask the enrollment people at the MAC schools ... the reason that MAC schools pay the subsidy to stay in the FBS is for the marketing exposure it gives us. If it keeps delivering ratings like that on national basic cable TV, it'll keep the schools subsidizing FBS football.

It hasn't helped NIU's enrollment.

(11-19-2015 12:24 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 10:51 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 03:37 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  So, has the exposure helped?

You'll have to ask the enrollment people at the MAC schools ... the reason that MAC schools pay the subsidy to stay in the FBS is for the marketing exposure it gives us. If it keeps delivering ratings like that on national basic cable TV, it'll keep the schools subsidizing FBS football.

It hasn't helped NIU's enrollment.

Ah, so you work as one of the enrollment people at NIU.

Or else, if not, why do you say so?

Guys, without D-I football and basketball a lot of MAC schools would be like Wayne State U. in Detroit, a school with dozens of Ph.d programs, med school, law school, engineering school, mortuary science, etc. etc. but D-II (GLIAC) athletics and little regional acclaim and no national reputation (not known to many except for those in education).

Take FB away from NIU and it is Northern Who U? Ditto for a lot of other MAC schools.

It is bowl games, e.g., Orange Bowl, MACtion, March Madness, etc. which make our schools known.

(11-19-2015 03:28 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 12:24 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 10:51 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 03:37 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  So, has the exposure helped?

You'll have to ask the enrollment people at the MAC schools ... the reason that MAC schools pay the subsidy to stay in the FBS is for the marketing exposure it gives us. If it keeps delivering ratings like that on national basic cable TV, it'll keep the schools subsidizing FBS football.

It hasn't helped NIU's enrollment.

Ah, so you work as one of the enrollment people at NIU.

Or else, if not, why do you say so?

The last few years NIU's enrollment has dropped more than at any time in recent memory. You would have to assume a real catastrophic collapse of enrollment to argue that the current state of affairs is better than it would be without MAC games on TV.

(11-19-2015 04:04 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Guys, without D-I football and basketball a lot of MAC schools would be like Wayne State U. in Detroit, a school with dozens of Ph.d programs, med school, law school, engineering school, mortuary science, etc. etc. but D-II (GLIAC) athletics and little regional acclaim and no national reputation (not known to many except for those in education).

Take FB away from NIU and it is Northern Who U? Ditto for a lot of other MAC schools.

It is bowl games, e.g., Orange Bowl, MACtion, March Madness, etc. which make our schools known.

NIU's enrollment had been increasing before the Orange Bowl, or the TV deal with E$PN. More recently, at least flat. The fact that it is decreasing implies (though doesn't prove) that the TV deal has had little to no impact on NIU's enrollment. People in Illinois know that NIU is there. They don't need to see NIU on football for that. And we don't attract a lot of out-of-staters so nationwide exposure gains us nothing.

(11-19-2015 04:04 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Guys, without D-I football and basketball a lot of MAC schools would be like Wayne State U. in Detroit, a school with dozens of Ph.d programs, med school, law school, engineering school, mortuary science, etc. etc. but D-II (GLIAC) athletics and little regional acclaim and no national reputation (not known to many except for those in education).

Take FB away from NIU and it is Northern Who U? Ditto for a lot of other MAC schools.

It is bowl games, e.g., Orange Bowl, MACtion, March Madness, etc. which make our schools known.

NIU's enrollment had been increasing before the Orange Bowl, or the TV deal with E$PN. More recently, at least flat. The fact that it is decreasing implies (though doesn't prove) that the TV deal has had little to no impact on NIU's enrollment. People in Illinois know that NIU is there. They don't need to see NIU on football for that. And we don't attract a lot of out-of-staters so nationwide exposure gains us nothing.

The MAC plays on E$PN for the money, let's face it. The exposure is said to be the reason, but I haven't seen any advantage from that yet.

(11-19-2015 04:05 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 04:04 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Guys, without D-I football and basketball a lot of MAC schools would be like Wayne State U. in Detroit, a school with dozens of Ph.d programs, med school, law school, engineering school, mortuary science, etc. etc. but D-II (GLIAC) athletics and little regional acclaim and no national reputation (not known to many except for those in education).

Take FB away from NIU and it is Northern Who U? Ditto for a lot of other MAC schools.

It is bowl games, e.g., Orange Bowl, MACtion, March Madness, etc. which make our schools known.

NIU's enrollment had been increasing before the Orange Bowl, or the TV deal with E$PN. More recently, at least flat. The fact that it is decreasing implies (though doesn't prove) that the TV deal has had little to no impact on NIU's enrollment. People in Illinois know that NIU is there. They don't need to see NIU on football for that. And we don't attract a lot of out-of-staters so nationwide exposure gains us nothing.

Here are the actual numbers from NIU. The weeknight Nov MACtion games started in 2004.

(11-19-2015 04:06 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  The fact that it is decreasing implies (though doesn't prove) that the TV deal has had little to no impact on NIU's enrollment.

On its own, it does neither. You'd need to see the marketing surveys to get a glimpse of whether it does or not.

Quote: People in Illinois know that NIU is there. They don't need to see NIU on football for that.

There is a big gap between "Awareness that it exists" and "Decision to attend" that is left untouched there. That is a particular challenge that NIU faces, though ... much of its recruiting is in a market that is much more focused on NFL football than on college football.

Quote: And we don't attract a lot of out-of-staters so nationwide exposure gains us nothing.

This is a lot closer to on point, and could make NIU a bit of an outlier among the MAC schools ... the Ohio MAC schools that I am most aware of focus strongly on out of state recruitment.

So it may be that NIU is not the kind of school that benefits from FBS football. In which case, maybe y'all ought to stop subsidizing it, and drop down to FCS or Division II, because if you aren't getting a benefit from it, why subsidize it?

Quote: The MAC plays on E$PN for the money, let's face it.

OTOH, the MAC in its prior contract traded away money for additional exposure, so that claim does not seem an open-and-shut case.

And its not enough money for the cost of FBS football, so that would be, "having decided to pursue FBS football, the MAC plays on ESPN for the additional money."

Quote: The exposure is said to be the reason, but I haven't seen any advantage from that yet.

The exposure is the strategic reason for a Go5 school playing FBS football ... its not the money, since its a money sink.

Now, it may be that the additional exposure does not actually justify NIU's commitment to playing FBS football ... different schools have different circumstances. But if playing FBS football makes strategic sense for a university, then ratings like the ratings that the #MACtion games have been getting are good news of a marketing investment paying off.

(11-19-2015 04:02 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  The last few years NIU's enrollment has dropped more than at any time in recent memory. You would have to assume a real catastrophic collapse of enrollment to argue that the current state of affairs is better than it would be without MAC games on TV.

You only have to have a collapse without the exposure be a bit more than it is at present, and there's no prima facie reason to rule that out. Given the small marginal cost of teaching another student at an institution with declining enrollment, any small increase in numbers would have substantial benefits.